Did I ever tell you that I have always loved trees?
I love to observe them in their natural habitat and to interpret them in drawing and stitch.
We have a deodara tree in our front garden, first planted about 15 years ago that is now nearly as tall as our house. This year I decided to make images of it for my family Christmas cards.
These first two are free machine embroidered in three different greens on some sun printed fabrics.
This is hand embroidered in thick yarns on to a black linen background.
The background for this one is something I made a few years ago, dyed interfacing that went all crinkly and produced those lovely lines that look like a wintry forest.
Earlier this year during the lockdown I decided to make a little wall hanging from a photo of trees taken at an arboretum I visited with Justine last year, it's woven on a small pin loom.
My granddaughter Sarah is also passionate about trees so I made her a woven tapestry cushion cover with a forest on the front.
Last year I used another photo taken at Winkworth arboretum to make this autumnal tapestry.
This is an earlier attempt at embroidered weaving, it's a bit rough but was useful as a learning process.
When we go away in our camping car I'm always on the look out for interesting trees to depict in hand stitching, done while we're away as a sort of postcard to myself. There are lots more but I'll post them another day.
Have a very happy, safe Christmas and lets hope for a much better 2021.
