Stitching Sundays 8

 I can't believe I have been joining in with Stitching Sundays for 8 weeks - where has the time gone?  So, on to my next project. 

This image was one I saw in a magazine showing someone's sitting room and my eye was immediately drawn to this appliqued cushion.  Ah, I thought, I could do this using little bits of felt!  So, off I went, made a background piece of felt, cut out leaf shapes, messed about with placement of said leaves and finally pinned them in place, fully intending to get them sewn.

 Here it is, pieces pinned, ready to sew.  There it sat...waiting...being ignored...moved round the room...for about a year...until Stitching Sundays happened and I finally decided to get on with it!  I was then faced with the decision of how would I sew the leaves on?  Would I add any stitching to the background?  If so, what? I scanned the felt into my computer and printed out four little versions, so that I could draw on top of them.  This was something I did a lot of when I did my art course, and I found it really useful.

 Above are the first two designs drawn on.  The top one shows different decorative patterns on the leaves.  The second shows a stitched background line, joining the leaves together.

 The third one shows a spiral effect on the background and the final one shows more lines on the background, giving a 'bunch of flowers' look.  After some deliberation, because I do like the spiral background, I (with Chris' help) decided on the second version - the lines sewn on the background, joining the leaves together.  I am going to make something using the spirals though, but that's for a future project.  It was really helpful to see the designs, without having stitched anything that would need to be undone.

So, having decided on the design, I am stitching the leaves on, using a sort of stab stitch. I have just completed the yellow and brown leaves on the top row.  I think I am going to enjoy this project, even if I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with the finished piece...centre piece of a cushion cover, or a bag, or just framed as it is...

Stitching Sundays - 3

 Week three of Stitching Sundays and not a huge amount of progress this week, due to doing lots of other things instead - oops!  However, I have managed to add a few more leaves to the bare branches.

I'm not quite sure about the falling leaves - I do want some falling ones and some already on the ground and turning brown, but I am uncertain whether these particular ones look quite right. 

I also need to decide whether to add more to the tree trunk and am thinking that it might look nice with some bark patterns.  I have also decided what to do with it when it is finished.  I have a 'seasonal tree' decoration which Chris made and it looked lovely at Easter because I made lots of flowers to hang from it.  However, since then it hasn't had a lot of decorations on it and has looked a bit sad.  I am thinking of making this into an autumn decoration and hanging it on the central part of the tree (I think it will be too big to be on the branch).  However, if it doesn't look right, I am sure I can find another home for it - hanging on a door handle, perhaps?  We shall see.  I'll try to make more progress for next week.

Stitching Sundays 2

Well, here I am again, sharing the progress I have made with my autumnal tree.

 As you can see, I have stitched the outline (using a mixture of my version of stem stitch and a few backstitches thrown in for good measure.)

 Here's a closer view (you can tell that it has taken on a character of its own now).

 This afternoon, I sewed on a few leaves, using backstitch again.  I'm not quite sure it is how I imagined...it certainly doesn't look much like the original, but then I have made it my own!  I'll keep going with the leaves and then need to decide what to do with the trunk/branches.  I am really enjoying the freedom of being able to 'make it up as I go'.

Here's a reminder of the original design (I was just doing the autumn part).