Snow berries

I picked up my Snow Berries piece the other day to begin writing the instructions. Instead of sitting down at the computer, I pulled out the sewing machine and sat about turning it into a cushion. Often I simply frame my things, mostly to protect them from getting dirty, while getting packed in and out of bags and dragged around for classes ... (if you look around my house you may be surprised to see there are very few embroideries on display in the house)

I originally designed Snow Berries for Bath Textile Summer School and before that I will be teaching it in Bangkok. Since it will be doing a fair bit of travelling, I figured it would be more practical to finish it in a way not requiring glass and heavy frames...
Luckily I had worked the piece on a decent size piece of linen, so I could easily make a pillow without having to add extra pieces around the sides.

The original plan was just to have a narrow flange around the edge instead of adding piping or any other trim. It looked neat, but a little dull so I grabbed a couple of the blues yarns that were used for the embroidery - the same two shades I had used for the circle around the motif. The idea was to work a double blanket stitch around the entire edge, wide enough to cover the flange. 

It looked fine on the small sample I did, but once worked on the cushion it turned out too 'clunky', so I made away with the second shade. A simple edge of blanket stitches now borders the pillow. If you have followed my stitching for a little while, you will likely have noticed that I do have a bit of a 'love-affair' with blanket stitch. It is such a simple stitch and, I think, often not valued enough for its versatility. 

I used a few variations of blanket stitch in the embroidery, evenly spaced around the edge of one leaf, super close together along the outer edge of the petals and double for the stem.

I will be getting on with the notes this week - or trying to. Classes may seem a long way off, but I know all too well how quickly time passes.
While talking about classes; We have added two other projects to that workshop at Bath Textile Summer School (there are still places) so that there now are three crewel embroidery designs to choose from. It should be fun and I cannot tell you, how much I am looking forward to being part of it!

We are having my 'baby' boys' 21st birthday on the weekend, so any stitching work will need to be fitted in around balloon blowing and birthday cake baking...

Best stitch
Anna x