A new...

... Crewel Embroidery design is slowly taking shape.
It is not just 'any new project' but something a little special - or I think so anyway.

I am really excited to have been invited to teach at the Alpine Experience, in Les Carroz in the French Alps in 2018. I mean, how amazing is it to be given an opportunity like that?
I have known for a while, and been pondering what to do with the class. Not only is it an amazing place to be invited to teach, but it is not often as tutor or student, you have the luxury of 5 days together.
With that in mind, I wanted to prepare a new project especially for the Alps but was finding it hard to work out exactly what: crewel work, stumpwork, crewel work, goldwork???
And then suddenly it just fall into place about a week ago.....


... when I was doodling between jobs and this 'scribble' emerged.
And with that... Crewel embroidery it is.
I have for a very long time wanted to design a Tree of Life crewel piece. Something that will allow me to use plenty of different stitches and laid fillings. Traditionally this kind of designs will often have a stag or at times a dog or leopard at the bottom of the tree but for a bit of fun, this one will have a goat...
It is funny how we all associate different things with different places. Apart from tall, snow capped mountains, one of the things that springs to mind when I think of the Alps is goats...


... in particular the silly, bouncy goats from the puppet show in 'The Sound of Music'.

The project is going to be a decent size... not massive, but still large enough. At about 45cm wide it will make a very nice large rectangular pillow.


The colour scheme will be that of the alps on a sunny day with GREEN grass and BLUE skies as the primary colours and golden yellows and terracotta reds for accents. Pretty close to the colour scheme for Jacobean Leaves....


... only less yellow and a little bit brighter perhaps.
I never do detailed colour and stitch plans.. I find it hard to plan everything ahead and like to let a design grow and develop as I stitch. However, with bigger things like this one, I will make a 'rough' colour plan.


I start by picking out my main yarns... That doesn't mean I am going to use them all and I may well introduce others... I think of these as my 'colour brief' and like to have the colour scheme in front of me. It is impossible to match colour pencil or any other colouring in tool with the shades of yarn or thread so the plan is only to give me an idea of how to place and distribute the different colours. I am most likely to stray from it once I start, but is is a nice starting point....

So from a little scribble on my notepad, I am now almost ready start stitching my Tree of Life...

Happy Stitching,
Anna X

Comments

  1. another piece of Art. Love your embroideries, Anna

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    Replies
    1. Thank you meri - so lovely to hear from you. I hope you are well. Anna x

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  2. Thanks for sharing this Anna! I've just completed my Crewelwork piece as part of the RSN Certificate so I found your process very interesting! It's a lovely design. The stitching in the Alps is on my ever growing 'one day' list - what a fabulous opportunity!

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  3. I love the inventiveness of your new design; cute little Alpine goats nibbling apples from the tree of life. All of your designs are beautiful and I look forward to seeing the progress on this one.

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  4. Thanks for sharing this post which shows some of your process. This is just so interesting to read and what a lovely design evolved which I'm sure will make a beautiful project.

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  5. Как интересно наблюдать за процессом!

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