Harvest field.

 I started this harvest picture in September I think and this week finished the trees and hedgerow shadows around the edge. It is layers of silk, painted, machined in rows, cut and fluffed up with a suede brush. (Stitch and slash method ) I have added loop stitches and painted a background. Footstep running stitches around the edges.

February embroidery- finished.

 This one is a partner for the January landscape embroidery. (link on the labels below if you want to see Jan) I started this landscape wanting to keep it light and minimal but it didn't come together until I thoroughly stitched the grasses on the bank. It is the bank at the top of our garden which is completely overgrown now and a wildlife area. There are snowdrops and daffodils on the bank and a path to the field at the top. There are a lot more trees, shrubs and brambles on it at the moment and it needs some work (all in planning stage) before it smothers all the wild flowers out. When we bought this house, forty years ago, this bank was all primroses at Easter time.

 Feb started with snow for us but now it is milder and lighter- this morning the birds were singing early! We have a few early daffodils too.

The Heart of the Field.

 A small embroidery called The heart of the field - 10cms x 13 cms. It has come from my experiments in my winter field book. Winter stubble and the first leaves of the crop appearing. I am a bit obsessed with the stark hedgerows.

 A view from the side to show the loops.

 I have been keeping up with my journal but about one entry a week seems enough when I have other work to finish. I must get on with the Winter book because yesterday felt like Spring for the first time.

february landscape- sunshine and snow.

This is the little landscape on that piece with a snowdrop in the bottom left corner. It is very delicate. That makes it more difficult to stitch - I want to keep it misty and light but I want some stitches on it for texture, otherwise I may just as well be a painter. So trying to keep it a little abstract too, it is more about my feelings than getting a photographic representation. Wet, mist, snow but sunshine too.

Snow and flowers.

Hellebore from my perpetual journal. Yesterday we had at least 5 inches of snow- below are pictures from outside and inside our house. In our little lane only the tractors and four wheel drive vehicles were going anywhere. Very cold at night but we are warm and snug.

 I just keep watching the birds and getting on with work- drawing and stitching.

 Below is a detail from the next tiny landscape - a partner for the previous blog entry.

January - From where I'm standing.

I finished this little misty, wet landscape with Old Man's Beard in the corner. Another piece for the June exhibition called From Where I'm Standing- in the pool room at Quenington Sculpture Trail. This is at the end of roundabout lane in January. From here I saw three Roe deer race across this field and over into the next whilst I was fumbling for the camera. Then they were just 3 spots in the distance. We have had some snow this week, wet and cold. Icy roads caused a nasty accident at the top of our lane. No one hurt but cars written off. It is really a  no go area in the ice and snow but people still use it as a shortcut. 15cm x 25 cms, painted calico and silk panels on felt, backed with calico. Free machine stitching onfelt, elsewhere hand stitched.