Second April TIF Finished

Here's the plant lifecycle - I must have had roses on the brain, left over from the March challenge...




I started by making up a background using the colours I could find in my stash, in the Fibonacci sequence 1,1,2,3,5,8, then used automatic patterns on the machine to stitch them to a plain calico backing. As I didn't really like the colours in my stash, I added a couple of squares of organza to shift some of the colours more to orange or red. It still wasn't pleasing my eye, so I added a layer of the darker red organza, then started to stitch scraps of pink shot metallic organza on top to make the full flowers.



Then I went outside and photographed some of the shrub and climbing roses to study bud, leaf, blossom. I particularly like the way the new leaves come up dark red before turning glossy green.


Then I used the oyster stitch (among others) from SharonB's Take A Stitch Tuesday challenge from last year, thinking they looked like buds and leaves.

Finally I added a couple of beads to represent the rosehips et voila I think it's finished. It's pinned up in the studio now while I go through my "I don't like it" period, before it tells me what it wants to become - not a bag, this time I think - perhaps a wall hanging?