Needlequest - First Quarter Round-up and April theme - Spring

Well, here I jolly well am again!  Still having some headache/glasses etc problems, but I can manage for long enough today to get this long overdue post sorted.

What you see here is how far I myself got with the March goldwork challenge.  March was a bad month for a lot of things, stitching included, so I didn't really get this one off the ground, although I do still want to do it in the relatively near future.

Here are some people who did manage to produce something for last month's challenge:

* Tingting completed a UFO for her March challenge - a goldwork lotus head.

* Wendy combined goldwork techniques with canvas work to complete a lovely copper and white ornament.

* Elaine spent some time working on a part goldwork bird.

Looking back to February and the Japan theme:

* Tingting wrote a lovely post on her travels in Japan and the Sashiko she worked for the challenge.

* Dorte shared her work so far on a Japan themed quilt using Japanese fabrics and embellished with hand embroidery.

* Wendy shared her quite expansive explorations into Sashiko as part of her February round up post.

January's topic of needle painting attracted a number of people and here are the results:

* Erica produced a lovely floral piece and posted it to Stitchin' Fingers.

* The Whitness worked a pretty pink rose.

* Elaine worked a shaded bird and then mounted it in a box.

* Wendy worked on a shaded crewel floral piece during the month.

If I've missed anyone off, SORRY!  Please let me know and I'll add you at once!  I'll be doing this round up at the end of each month, so as long as you have a link left for me on, say, the previous Needlequest post any time up to the last day of the month, you should be in time to be included.  I'll add 'latecomers' in afterwards, but you'll get more visits by being 'on time'.  Your project doesn't have to be completed, just show us how far you've got and let everyone discover your talent!=)

And now, onto the April theme: Spring.  First of all, my apologies to those in the southern hemisphere for making both this theme and the September one of 'Autumn' coincide with the northern seasons.  If we decide to continue with the challenge and do 'Winter' and 'Summer', I'll do them in July and January respectively, OK?=)

Spring is a relatively easy theme to find inspiration for, even if it weren't visible every time we looked out of our (northern hemisphere) windows!  There are so many lovely flowers, baby animals and blossoming trees to inspire our work!  Here are a couple of photos I purloined from two of my stitching books.

The first is from 'The A-Z of Thread Painting' published by Country Bumpkin and is a tulip.  That also brings to mind Dutch bulbfields as an idea....

This second photo needs little introduction - Trish Burr's wonderful needle painted crocus from her 'Colour Confidence in Embroidery' book.  This was something I thought I might do this month at one point and it's still on my stitching 'to do later' list.  I just love crocuses, especially when you see a whole bank of them - a feast for the eyes in white, yellow and purple against the bright green of the spring grass and the crocus foliage.  Bliss!  I really missed that in East Asia.

Speaking of the Orient, how about Japanese cherry blossom as an idea?  We pass rows of trees here that are also blossoming in light and dark pink - a real picture!

What ideas do you have?  I'll share mine next week....

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014