City and Guilds Contemporary Sampler Finished!

It was so much fun that it only took me a few days to finish the City and Guilds contemporary sampler! With every stitch I got more excited about how amazing the combination of the cork fabric and the Oliver Twists synthetic threads were.As I worked, a desert scene emerged. Some have commented that parts of this piece look like water, but the colours and the textures remind me more of a desert. It's all in the eye of the beholder!I unravelled one of the threads and made long, narrow cross stitches, combined with silk yarn straight stitches, to make this "mound".I used a mix of threads and stitches to make the cluster, above. There are long, narrow cross stitches embroidered using unravelled thread, straight stitches using a woven thread and bullion knots embroidered with silk yarn. To the right, above, and below you can see seeding using the woven thread. Due to the width and thickness of the thread, the seeding is much larger and makes more of an impact.Below is another cluster made using bullion knots both horizontal and vertical and detached chain stitches. I've varied the length and nested the detached chain stitched to create an interesting pattern.Below you can see French knots embroidered using silk yarn, stranded cotton and household string, scattered across one part of the piece.The woven wheels are done with household string. Can you imagine they're tumbleweeds?At the very top of the piece you can see flattened cross stitches done with household string. They seem to be birds. There is also a whipped wheel in gold silk yarn that could be the sun.I like this piece so much that I have plans to do a similar piece on a larger scale in the future. It's completely different from what I usually do and from what I'm usually drawn to, but I had the most wonderful time playing with the materials and stitches!Below is a photo of both pieces side by side. it's hard to believe that I've used the exact same stitches in both pieces, isn't it? This photo shows me how much I'm learning on my City and Guilds course! I'm loving it!