Saturday 26 September 2015

Autumn!

Autumn has always been my favourite time of year.  I love the colours, I love the food, I love the weather!  Although we are two thirds through the year, September always feels a month to start again or turn over a new leaf - something left over from my school days when September saw the start of the new academic year with fresh exercise books and newly sharpened pencils!  I was always one of those children who couldn't wait for the Summer holidays to be over so I could get back to school - less so as an adult working in an educational establishment as September is the most stressful month lol!

I knew this year I wanted to have a project with a real autumnal feel and with a bit of a colour change I found one!  Yet again it is a design by Abi Gurden of Bee's Needleworks, my third this year.  A few years ago Abi released a design called Tree of Stitches, which many of you have seen and no doubt stitched!  It will always remain one of my all time favourite finishes as it was the first time I chose my own colours for a design and my first time stitching speciality stitches.  From that moment on I was hooked and I discovered the two things that now bring me the most joy in my stitching!


Tree of Stitches Framed photo TOSFramed.jpg
Proof that sometimes I do frame and display my finishes!
A few years later Abi released another design, Summer Tree of Stitches and I knew that it would be another must stitch piece for me.  This year, with my need to crack open those skeins of hand dyed floss, proved the perfect time to start it!
 
I had the perfect fabric that I'd been saving for it in my stash - it's Jodyri Designs Sept 2014 Ltd Ed Fall Trees in Brittney Opal, reminiscent of the Indian summer skies we get at sunset here on the coast.  Initially I was going to stitch the whole thing in silks, but I like to use perles for some speciality stitches to mix up the textures (and preserve my sanity!) so I picked out some Wildflowers too:
 
 
 
Autumn Tree of Stitches stash
 
This floss toss is by no means all the threads to be used, but just a taster.  I basically went through my stash and picked out all my autumnal coloured silks and wildflowers and will choose the colour for each section as I go.
 
Here are parts 1-3, there are 12 parts in all:
 
 
Autumn Tree of Stitches Part 1 - 3
Threads used so far: Bark Wildflowers, AVAS 1423, Gloriana Autumn Arbor, Gloriana PPP Cinnamon and PTB48
 
Needless to say I am very much looking forward to stitching this one up!
 
Just a note for my UK readers - Lidl currently have an offer on for a daylight craft lamp for £12.99.  I picked one up on Monday and have been using it all week and I love it!  Particularly useful for my new start on 40ct linen!
 
Happy Stitching!
 

20 comments:

  1. Oh wow your new start is gorgeous. You have chosen beautiful colours for it.

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  2. Lovely start on the tree! I bought one of those lamps on Monday and it's fab :)

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  3. I love September too. Your colour choices for the Summer tree are beautiful.

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  4. oh I agree with you 300%, autumn is by far my favourite season too: the weather, the food, the excitement for all the new books and stationery 😄
    I love the colours you picked for the Tree of Stitches you're working on, I've got some of those on my must-stitch list but I'll think about them in 2018, when I'll (perhaps) have run out of already kitted up projects! 😄

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  5. Looks great! I was the same way in school and am studying to be a teacher right now :). Autumn is also my favorite time of year

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  6. Oh, your framed finish and your Tree of Autumn are absolutely beautiful! They're certainly not something I would do, with all those fancy stitches, so I can definitely admire your skill with those and the different types of thread. Now, hurry up and stitch parts 4-12 please!! :)

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  7. I so love reading your blog and having a look at what you are currently stitching. Your work is wonderful. You mentioned working on 40ct fabric, I would love to do some stitching on 36ct and 40ct linens and I would like to know how many threads of floss you use for both counts and to ask if you stitch over two threads of fabric or one for these higher count fabrics.

    Thank You

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    1. Thank you Amelia 💜, as you are a no-reply blogger I'll reply to your query here I hope that's ok. For 40ct I use use one strand of floss stitched over 2 fabric threads, but for 36ct it depends on the pattern. For example all my Primitive Hare finishes were stitched on 36ct over 2, but I used 2 strands of floss. Whereas for Butterfly Garden by The Drawn Thread I used 1 strand of floss stitched over 2 fabric threads and there was also some over 1 stitching in there too. How I choose to stitch on 36ct basically depends on the fibres I'm using and how I want the finished piece to look. Hope that helps 😊.

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  8. so inspiring. I gotta get this pattern out and get going on it. Your choices are amazing and I cannot wait to watch your progress! Thanks for posting.

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  9. beautiful work, love the autumn colors ♥

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  10. Hi dear
    Wow beautiful stitching
    You used lovely colours
    Also in Italy we have Lidl market :-)

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  11. Gorgeous colours and great start! And I think I fixed my no-reply blogger status. :)

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  12. Fantastic colours & great new start!! It looks wonderful already.

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  13. Lovely colors as usual :) That fabric is fabulous.

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  14. This looks so gorgeous! I adore the colors you've picked out so far. Can't wait to see it grow :D

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  15. Fantastic autumn color choices. I'll be looking forward to watching this tree grow :-)

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  16. So wonderful, your Tree of Stitches. And your new start is quite simply gorgeous. I always love the pictures where you show your fabric and thread choices.

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  17. You have such an eye for fabric colors and floss choices. As always, I am simply amazed by your work!

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  18. So gorgeous!! Love love love the colors you chose!

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Thank you for stopping by, I love hearing from my fellow stitchers so please feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you (provided you are not a no-reply blogger!).