Garden #1 by Barbara Hayden

The creation of this piece was inspired by Owen Davies’ book “Embroidered Knot Gardens”. His pictures and descriptions were the spark to start me creating.

I used a variety of stitches and fibers to attempt to reproduce the look and feel of a real garden. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the basic French knot became a foundation stitch. (I hate doing French knots.) The gravel path which winds around the garden is done completely in french knots, as well as some of the flowerbeds. Diaper patterns were used for the interior gardens. The brick walls were done with 4 different colors of floss and intentionally not layed to produce the irregular texture found in bricks. Finally little bees were created using beads and fine wire.

This was the most difficult piece I have ever designed, and took the longest to complete, you can’t see the “frog” but I can assure you he is there in abundance.