More ferns

The second sheet of ferns next.  I have to confess, I don't like doing them much.  They'll look fine as part of the overall design, but on their own they're a bit dull, and pretty tedious to do.  So I'll just say that I've done them, and leave it at that.

And here they are:

The next sheet is a bit more interesting, you'll be glad to hear!

North East Art Collective

I said the other day that I had some exciting news, and here it is: some of my work is forming part of the opening exhibition for a brand new gallery!

The North East Art Collective has only just opened, in Eldon Garden mall in Newcastle upon Tyne.  It features a wide and eclectic range of original fine art and prints, and some wonderful art craft, mainly glass, ceramics and some terrific wooden furniture.

All three of my Spirograph panels are included, along with two character cushions.  One of the panels was waiting to be hung when I went in earlier today, but here are the other two and the cushions:

Here's Spirograph I close up:

And Spirograph II:

I never did get a decent photo of that, so this is the first time you've seen it completed!  And finally, the cushions:

So what do you think?  John, the gallery owner, has done an amazing job against a very tight deadline, and I'm sure we all wish him the very best of luck with this new venture.

If you're ever in the centre of Newcastle, pop in!

Wood avens - petals and centres

I've finished the second sheet of wood avens.

After buttonhole stitching round the edges of the petals:

I added the first band of stitches in the palest shade.  I put more in than last time, to give a slightly more pronounced effect:

Then a band with one strand of the paler and one of the (slightly) darker colour:

Then finally finishing off the petals with split stitch using the darker shade:

Finally, I filled in the centres with French knots in green, and the darkest yellow I'm using on these flowers, a shade darker than the petals:

Here's the full sheet, completed:

More wood avens

Next, another sheet of wood avens.  There are just five on this sheet rather than six like before, so it should take a little less time to do.

Otherwise, it's the same as before.  Using Madeira 1410, I buttonhole stitched round the edges of the sepals (the green bits):

Then a band of stitches in 1410 around the edges:

Partial filling in with a thread formed from one strand of 1410 and one of 1411, to start the shading effect:

Then complete the rest with 1411:

Here's the full sheet:

Petals next!

Finished ferns

Sorry it's been such a long time since my last post, I have been busy, honestly!  Actually, that's been most of the problem - I've been too busy.  Anyway, I'm back now, so I can start to bring you up to date.

To begin with, I've finished the first sheet of ferns.  Previously, I'd completed the buttonhole stitch around the edge; after that, I used the darkest green, Madeira 1412, to work a few stitches in the centres of the largest leaves:

This was followed by stitches using a thread formed of one strand of 1412 and one of 1411, both on the largest leaves and in the centres of the rest:

I then finished the leaves by filling in with split stitch in just the lighter shade, 1411:

(Sorry the background fabric looks a bit ripply, I forgot to take a photo until it was off the frame.)

So here are all the ferns on the sheet, completed:

They're a bit dull compared to the flowers, but they should work nicely as part of the overall design.

I should have some very exciting news for you in the next few days, so watch this space!

Mountain Male-fern

The next sheet I'll be working on is of three ferns.  The design for these is based on mountain male-fern (Dryopteris oreades), though as they appear quite small on the Banner design, and unlike the pearlwort and wood avens flowers, they've been stylised to the point where they're not recognisable as any fern in particular.  In fact, as Fiona's design disappears into tiny leaves that look great as an image but would be impossible for me to stitch, cut out, and apply to a ground fabric, I've simplified them even further.

Here they are, transferred to the fabric:

I'm sure you can see what I mean - hopefully they should be recognisable as ferns, especially in the final version when the leaves will be a lot closer together, but they're generic ferns, rather than the mountain male-fern in particular.

Onto the stitching: this time, I'm using the two darkest shades of green in the Banner palette, Madeira stranded cotton 1411 and 1412.  I'll be using the darker shade in the centre of the leaves, where they join, so I used the paler of the two, 1411, to buttonhole stitch around the edges:

And a close-up:

These are simpler than the flowers, but a bit on the fiddly side!

French knots

Having completed the petals, I now need to fill in the space in the centre of each flower, and I'm going to do this using French knots.

From photos, the middle of the wood avens' centre area is a light green, surrounded by a darker yellow, so I'm going to use Madeira 1410, the lighter of the two greens I've already used here, and 0106, the next-darker shade of yellow from the ones I used on the petals.

Taking photos of stitching the knots was a bit tricky as ideally you need both hands for this (to keep the thread taut), and I was trying to hold the camera with one of them, but hopefully you can more or less see what I was doing.

The knots are going to be thickly worked to fill the entire space, so I brought the thread up at a random point within the centre area:

I then wrapped the thread around the needle, twice:

I was taught a long time ago that you should never wrap the thread more then twice around the needle to make a French knot; if you need a larger knot, use a thicker thread.

I then put the needle into the fabric close to where it came up, but don't yet take it through to the back.

I then pulled the thread, so that the loops around the needle are pulled tight, and are next to the fabric:

I then pulled the needle through to the back of the fabric; this takes the thread through the loops around the needle:

And forms the knot:

As I'm just using two strands, the knots are quite small, and I need a lot of them to fill the space, but they're quite quick to do.  I did all the green ones first, forming a cluster in the centre of each flower, with a few dotted around the edge:

I then filled in the remaining space with more knots in the yellow:

And in close-up:

And that's the first sheet of the wood avens finished!