Poppies at Trentham

This time my inspiration cam from the formal Trentham estate, but from a corner which has been mainly overlooked.  We often walk around the lake at the cnetre of the estate which is famous for its ornamental gradens. However. my love there is the woodland areas and this year much of the walk has been seeded with wildflowers that put on a glorious display in the early summer, especially patches of poppies that add so much colour.

I used a mix of hand-dyed and commercial fabrics to create the strips of ‘grass’ but found them slightly jarring, so overlaid these with some transfer printed sheer fabric, so that the distinctive Hundertwasser stripes remained but in a more muted form. I added straight stitches to give depth to the grass. The trees, the path and the poppies were added as raw-edge applique, and I used chain stitch to give more detail. Once the batting and backing were added I hand stitched the small flowers in the grass to act as the quilting stitches, and waves of stitches in the commercial fabric that I used for the sky.

I tried to continue the Hundertwasser technique and ethos, even though the results may be slightly more restrained than perhaps would be seen in his work. I think my pictures do not capture the vibrant colour of the poppies, but I carry the picture in my head and hope that this piece conveys that.

Detail views:

Original pictures: