Mountains

Having moved onto the mountains I faced the issue of what patterns to use. I needed them to be large, bold, and easy to identify, therefore they all had to be very different and lacking common shapes which could make them appear similar from a distance. I started with the large lace pattern on the closest mountain as that is very striking and I thought that if I used it anywhere else it would draw the eye to the wrong part of the image. The top edge where it meets the snow line is particularly satisfying:

It is very convincing as white snow coming down over the top of the mountain and I think it looks rather more complicated than it actually is. Obviously, as the front mountain this one had to be the darkest so the choice of patterns to use elsewhere had to be based on that. I chose ones I had not tried before for the other one strand mountain and the middle machine mountain and a variation of the first pattern I ever tried on the other. Expanding my stitch vocabulary is always a good idea and I thought that these four made a very varied group:

No one will mistake any of them for one of the others at any distance! I have also filled in the flag with silver thread to add a bit of variety but keep it nice and masculine. However I have decided to leave the sail empty. This is for two reasons; firstly boat sails are often white so it looks more realistic, but more importantly because it really stands out against the patterns of the mountains behind it and I like the idea of the focal point of a piece of embroidery being an area without any actual embroidery. It appeals to my sense of whimsy.

There is only the sea to go now then I will be finished. This simple, flat, stylised, with-no-shading thing is much quicker and easier than what I was doing before but I am very pleased with how it is coming out anyway.