The prompt for this exercise was to use cretan stitch in neutral shades. I felt a bit of a cheat as I used some of my lovely variegated thread from Winifred Cottage (sadly no longer available), and it worked really well instantly. I added a bit of light brown wool over the top to show willing, but the beauty of the soft shades did all the work itself.
As happens so often with massed cretan stitch, it looked a lot like grasses. I decided to play this up and to use some thick linen knitting yarn to make pebbles by using colonial knots. I prefer colonial knots to french knots now as they are easier and less likely to go wrong. I know that misshaped french knots can be useful for creating texture but I am a full convert to the colonial, as taught to me in the middle of the Festival of Quilts by Sandy Lush. I added in some neutral looking beads and was pretty pleased with the result:
I hope that this has some of the texture of some of the drawings that van Gogh made:
That’s the end of the workshop pictures. The pieces were all made on a piece of linen mix furnishing fabric with a fairly loose weave, and all done in a hoop.
