Stitching Sundays 15

I have made a little progress this week, but not as much as I would have liked.  I have been really busy at work and have only just got around to writing Christmas cards!  Decorations will be going up in the next couple of days, I hope.  So, enough excuses, what have I done?  I looked at the original photo and then did my trick of using a scanned image to draw the design on.  Unusually for me, I only drew one design.  I used a white pen as the background was so dark, so that I could see what I was doing, but the stitching won't be in white - I'll use the photo for inspiration in choosing colours.

 Here is the design, which I am really happy with.  It will probably change as I start actually stitching,  but I am hoping to keep the busy feeling of all the grasses at the front.  I am intending to have some dandelion-type things in the mid ground and some more detailed feathery grasses as well.  I think the stitches will be relatively simple; stem stitch, split stitch, seed stitches, perhaps satin stitch (or a variation on that), couching and french knots.
So, as you can tell, although I haven't stitched yet, I have been doing lots of thinking and decision-making. Now I'm ready to start the stitching, I think!

Stitching Sundays 14

 The eagle-eyed amongst you may have spied that it is, indeed, Monday, not Sunday.  I am making a bit of a habit of this just lately (I blame Christmas preparations which do seem to be rather taking over).  I don't actually have any visible progress on my latest project to show you, but I have been getting more inspiration, from a lovely book (which is a Christmas present to me from Chris, but which I couldn't resist having a sneaky peek through).  It has some lovely designs which sent my brain whizzing again! Details can be found here.

How about this for my design?  Perfect, isn't it?

Then I noticed this one as well.  I think the seed stitch is so effective here.  There are lots more fabulous designs in the book, which I'll save up for other projects.
I think I need to sketch out a design for my felt piece - I could just dive into the embroidery, but I think I would be happier with some sort of  basic plan.  That's my next job and hopefully, next Sunday I may have even started the stitching and have something to show you!