Snow berries WIP

It is a good sign when you look at something with fresh eyes in the morning and feel happy about the progress (read 'changes') of a piece of work. After a rather frustrating start, I am now (finally) feeling happy with the progress of this piece.

Before...

The first step was to change just one of the tones in the large top petals from the aqua-teal to a blue. It never stops to amaze me just what a big difference a subtle change of shade can make.

Before

 

The idea of a dainty sprig of buds was replaced by some more solid shapes and now look more like berries - Snow Berries. 

The stem is double blanket stitch in dark teal and a light golden hazelnut. I love double blanket stitch for stems like this - the purl edge of the stitches form such a neat, defined line along each side. The first time I really took note of the stitch used like this was in a project by Hazel Blomkamp - she uses so many different stitches in really clever ways so if you are ever looking for inspiration I can highly recommend her kits and books.

This new project is not just about looking 'right' - it is intended as a class project for Bath Textile Summer School next year. I am over the moon to have been offered the opportunity to visit the UK and teach and of course wanted to do something special for the girls in Bath. One of the reasons I am constantly drawn to crewel embroidery is that it offers so much scope for exploring stitches to create texture and subtle variation of colour. Snow Berries certainly has been a bit of a challenge but I am confident that it will allow students to have good fun and play with all of those things.

I just need to finish those last little bits now...

Have great week.
Anna x