Wednesday 6 July 2011

In and Out of the Garden.

Every time I set foot outside with a fork or trowel in my hand it starts to rain. However, with a camera I did a little better today and took a picture of this purple plantain leaf with the sun shining on it. I think it looks as if it could have been made from quilted silk. The colour is a bit washed out in my photo and is a lovely deep plummy red with hints of dark green.



I nearly missed noticing this water snail going for a stroll. We have had to put something into the water to get rid of the blanket weed - it has been dreadful this year, but is now under control.



I am so pleased to see this lovely day lily in bloom. I have had to be so patient. A friend gave it to me three years ago and the first year it just disappeared and I thought that was that. Last year the leaves appeared and one small flower, but this year there are three lovely strong stems full of buds to look forward to - this is the first one to open.




I persevered with my littel embellished landscape and kept adding hand stitching which has improved it slightly but more thought needs to go into the preliminary stage. It actually looks a bit better than it does here, but even so, as they say up north 'it's neither nowt nor summat'.




This should give a better result and I have paid more attention to building up areas of colour and texture with the embellisher. I haven't started to stitch on this piece yet.




The colours on this piece are really quite vibrant and rich. I have just been playing with strips of sari ribbon to see how it responds to the embellisher. It has a life of it's own and twists and almost shrivels under the needles. I was worried about ending up with straight rows but needn't have. All of these experiments have been worked over a small piece of knitting. I didn't like the colours of these pieces so haven't minded covering them up almost completely.


It's early afternoon and has suddenly gone dark - another deluge on the way. I'm quite pleased to have the rain and not spend my evenings carting heavy cans of water about, but do hope the weekend will be kind to Tewkesbury's Medieval Festival and all the other events taking place.










10 comments:

The Weaver of Grass said...

It is definitely summat Heather - it is beginning to look really exciting.

Carol Q said...

i really like your embellisher pieces Heather especially the texture created with the ? allium. just discovered I can get an embellisher foot for my Bernina so may invest in that rather than going the whole hog and buying the machine!

Lyn said...

I can't believe we had hailstones this afternoon! but still really warm-crazy weather. I love the colour of your day lily.
xxx

Julie said...

I like your embellisher pieces too, the colours are beautiful and I think the stitching is working well. I love Day Lilies too especially the dark ones.

Ro Bruhn said...

I love your embellished pieces. The top one reminds me of Scotland and the heather.

BT said...

I agree with Weaver - it's really rather lovely. I like the knitted striped piece too. What's this embellisher you talk of?

Maggi said...

Lovely embellished backgrounds Heather. The stitching is really making the more special.

Twiglet said...

I love the latest edition "nowt nor summat" - lol. It really is summat!! The other two pieces look fun too. I think you have inspired me to get my embellisher out. It's had a rest for a few months as I have been making my little Montgomery collages instead.

Maureen said...

I love your embelished landscape - you know I'm feeling the need to get back onto the embellisher just looking at it!!!

Val said...

Your embellished landscaps is coming along beautfully Heather, the thicker threads make all the difference. Worth every stitch you've taken, I'd say! That day lilly is such a gorgeous colour - I've got one that is a sort of stink pink - now that is nowt nor summat!!