Rise Up, And Come With Me...

...for the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers are springing up and the time of the singing of birds has come. Yes, spring is here. The leaves are coming out, and the grapevines are in blossom

[Song of Solomon chapter 2, Living bible translation]

Here we are, half way through May and I have not yet posted a picture of Kirsten's April stitching on our cross stitch collaboration. In the notebook she wrote that she'd wanted to include ideas of Easter, Spring and flowers. She thought about the 'carpet of flowers' you often see in churches, made with hundreds of petals, and the medieval 'mille fleurs' tapestries. 

She chose three flower motifs, each incorporating a central cross, for Easter. Using the threads she had to hand she stitched a piece covering one of the sections of the canvas. Her notes say "the combination of formal design and random colour effects makes a nice balance between a hard-sided geometric pattern and the informality of a neat garden"

She's absolutely right, and I think this section is incredibly pretty. I did some work on my May piece over the Coronation Weekend - but decided against bringing it on holiday with me! Here is Kirsten's lovely carpet of flowers...