Well, after last week’s frivolous cat it's back to Serious Stuff, and it’s the Scottish bird series again. One of my favourite birds has got to be the curlew, with its weird, otherworldly cry. We usually get a few up here in the spring, but they’re becoming a lot rarer than they used to be. This started out as another illustration of camouflaged animals, but the colours of the birds blended more and more into each other, and as I liked the confusion of shapes and colours I just carried on until the shapes of the birds were in danger of getting totally lost.

The Complicated Curlews

I know I go in for complicated designs, but this one was excessive even for me – it had 52 colour changes and each of the five birds was appliqueed on separately, so stitching it out was a big job

I don’t necessarily like everything I do, but I have to admit that this one makes me smile. It’s not perfect – there are several technical flaws (as you can probably see) but these can be easily corrected. I got the idea from Cherri (http://thecherritree.blogspot.co.uk) Thanks, Cherri!

Scruffy cat after a fish dinner

When I finished the first version – well, it was OK, but even that silly smile didn’t really give him all that much of a personality. But then I had a sudden inspiration and added the scruffy coat by running a feathered outline around the whole body. That really made a difference and turned him from a sleek cat into an untidy, mischievous alley cat who’s made off with something he clearly wasn’t allowed to have

I never quite realised how much I liked crows until they began turning up in large numbers in these designs. They have such strong personalities, and there are certainly a lot of them around here, so there’s no getting away from them. They seem to like old trees and derelict buildings, and I couldn’t resist sketching some of them as they flew around Glenbuchat Castle, which is an old ruined 16^th century castle not far from here. Their hoarse, echoing cries seem to suit this ancient building in a way that more melodic birdsong wouldn’t

Crows over Glenbuchat Castle

There are a lot of wonderful historic castles around here and I keep meaning to do a series of designs featuring them, so I hope this will be the first of several

 

I was browsing through the old files to find something I could use for May’s freebie and came across a big fish that I’d done a long time ago. Originally it was intended to be cut out and made into a stuffed, three-dimensional fish, and I stitched it with metallic fabric on the body to give it a bit of shine. It worked very well, and I sold it at a craft fair to someone who said they were going to hang it in their bathroom. To me it looks a bit fierce to be used as a decorative object, but that’s what she wanted!

The original three-dimensional version was a bit complicated to give out as a freebie, so I’ve converted it into a more conventional applique, simplified it, made it smaller, and changed a few more things about it to make it easier to stitch out.

The converted fish

By the way, if you’re new to my designs you may be puzzled by the weird, irrational way that the scales (on the top of the fish) stitch out. But there is a reason for doing it this way, so trust me – just keep stitching and it will all work out OK in the end!

The .pes file is here, and the worksheet is here

Sorry to have missed posting last week. To be honest I’ve been a bit depressed about my recent designs, mostly because the colours tend towards the dark and gloomy. I know why that is – Aberdeenshire in winter just about defines dark and gloomy (except when it’s snowing, which it is now) And because I always draw what’s around me, everything I do now inevitably takes on the colours of an Aberdeenshire late winter. Oh well, there’s no point in trying to fight it, so here’s the next in the Camouflage series.

The camouflaged deer

This deer was trying to blend in to the leafless trees and tall grass down the hill from the house, pretending that he wasn’t really there, and actually doing a pretty good job of it. Technically it was an easy design to do – just a background of grass shapes, then the deer appliqueed on top, and then more overstitching over the appliqueed fabric

Now – I’ve been meaning to say for some time that I’m happy to sell many of the designs that I post, even if they’re not listed in the “Designs for Sale” section. The only ones that I can’t sell are commissioned pieces, because of course they properly belong to the person who commissioned them. But I’m happy to pass on most of the others. One reason that I’ve hesitated to do this in the past is that not only are many of these designs very complicated and tricky to stitch out, they also depend on hand-painted fabric for their effect. However I can describe how to paint the fabric, or even send you some fabric that I’ve painted myself. If you’re interested, get in touch and we can discuss it

Yes, I know less is supposed to be more, and maybe sometimes it may be. But as far as these embroideries are concerned, I do like a really complicated design. It gives the eye something to play with and the brain something to think about. A while back I did a study of trees on a bank, which was OK (and in fact it got sold at one of our local exhibitions). But – I don’t know – it just looked a bit bare to me.

Bare trees on the slope

So I added some undergrowth and made the tree branches and twigs a lot more complicated, and I think it’s better

Not so bare trees on the slope

That’s one of the nice things about this medium – if you don’t like the way something turns out you can just tweak the design a bit and maybe change the colours, and you can make a real difference. Here’s another example – a study of some trees on the road down to Royal Deeside.

More bare trees…

It’s OK, but again, it looks a bit bare. And again the addition of some undergrowth and bushes in the background improves it

Better…

But it still could use a little more detailing. I think I feel some more undergrowth coming on – and maybe some long grass in the foreground – and maybe some more twigs on the trees…

Right – time for April’s freebie, and this is another one for all you bird-lovers out there (and you know who you are!) This is a modified version of the central bird in the “Dancing Birds” panel that I posted a while back. As always with applique designs, you should choose your thread colours to tone with the applique fabric you use. I did mine in pinks and purples, but you may prefer another colour scheme

 

The Dancing Bird

 

The design file (in .pes v.6) is here, and the worksheet is here

IMPORTANT NOTE! Some people seem to be having problems downloading the worksheet. If you have trouble with it, drop me a line (via the "Comments" facility) and I'll send you the file by e-mail. Don't forget – don't block your e-mail address from Typepad or I won't be able to get back to you!

…and I’m beginning to wonder if maybe I’ve wasted my whole life up to now, because I've never been to Venice before. I always thought I knew what Venice was like – there are so many paintings and photos and films that feature it. But believe me – NOTHING prepares you for the reality of the place. The scale of the city, the light and the way it changes, and of course the overwhelming beauty of everything you look at. If I had to choose just one defining quality of Venice (aside from the spectacular, ubiquitous beauty) it would be the human scale of the place. No buildings over 4 or 5 stories high, no advertising posters or billboards, and above all no cars. So the only noises you can hear in the streets are the echoes of human voices, human conversations, laughter, someone whistling in the next street.

The Lion of St Marks and me. The Lion is the one with the seagull – I’m the one with the hat

 

Oh well, this isn’t a travel blog and even if it were it would take me several years just to scratch the surface of what Venice has to offer. So – back to ordinary, everyday Aberdeenshire. Over the past few weeks I’ve been trying to cope with the brown, withered end of winter by looking at how animals fit into this bleak landscape – in other words, playing around with ideas of camouflage. Here’s the first one in the series – a pheasant (female) in a field of long, dead grass.

The camouflaged pheasant

It didn’t quite turn out as I wanted: I think I should have put more embroidered grass in the background rather than depending so much on painted grass. But it’s good enough to go ahead with

When I was researching scientific images that could be translated into embroidery, I ran across some fascinating photos of transparent fish. I just wish I knew how these creatures manage to “erase” their bodies so that light passes right through them. Here’s one of several that I picked up from the Internet (I think the photographer is Holger Knudsen)

A glass catfish

I can see several ways of using these fish in designs, but here’s the first one I’ve finished. It’s quite straightforward and uses overlapping layers of very thin fill stitching. It’s OK but there’s a lot more that could be done with this fascinating subject and I want to try it again later

Some stitched transparent fish

Now – I won’t be able to post for the next two weeks, because out of the blue my husband has suddenly decided that he wants to visit Venice, which means that next week we’re off to Italy. I’ve never been to Venice either so it will be a new experience for both of us

Back, finally, from a somewhat fraught trip to London. We arrived right into the middle of London Fashion Week, and all Covent Garden was full of lissom creatures wearing the most extraordinary clothes, followed through the streets by packs of photographers with huge cameras slung round their necks. I thought that London might be quiet in the middle of February, but no such luck – the streets were simply heaving with people, mostly tourists. I had hoped to have a look at the David Hockney exhibition, but even in the middle of the week there was a six-hour wait to get in, and there are limits to my enthusiasm for Hockney! So I consoled myself with visits to Tate Britain, Leighton House Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Queen’s Galleries and other old favorites

I arrived back home with a terrible cold, and there’s been no time to organise a new freebie, so here’s (yet) another one from the archives. It’s from a series I did a LONG time ago, with motifs “on point”: that is, diamond-shaped motifs. It’s a 4×4 inch (100mm x 100mm) hoop, and it’s embroidery only (no applique)

free vase of red flowers

The design (in .pes v.6) is here, and the worksheet is here