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Tree time: May

Well I’ve been photographing the oak tree almost every day for five months now. So instead of showing you the pictures from mid April to mid May, I thought I’d show the mid month pictures from January until today…

Here goes –

January 2014…

February 2014…

March 2014…

April 2014…

Today – May 21st 2014…

All the daily pictures are on my Instagram feed – the latest are over in the sidebar, but if you want to see them all just click on the pictures in the sidebar (then click on Dreaming in Stitches), the Instagram icon, or HERE.

I also post the daily pictures via Twitter, so feel free to follow me there if you prefer. Follow @AnnPawley

Nearly half way through the year and at last the oak is dressed in all its green finery.

❤

Tree time: April…

hedgerow watching

Well, what a difference a month makes…

A whizz through the month – (if you want to see every day’s picture, they’re all on my Instagram site, you can get there by clicking the Instagram pictures or icon in the left sidebar).

You can see that at last the oak has leaves. I first caught a glimpse of pale fuzzy browny greenness towards the end of the first week in April, but I couldn’t get close enough to see really well, but other oaks along the lane started to unfurl at that time too. Within a week, you could see them for sure on the sunny days.

So I’ve learned that the oaks come into leaf a lot later than the horse-chestnuts, which are already sporting a full head of leaves and lots of candles, but there are still a few trees on the lane without leaves – now I have to go out with a book so I can work out what they are…

The last picture here was taken yesterday – quite a change from mid March.

The weather has been much better over the last few weeks, but the most noticeable thing by far for me, is the huge explosion of growth in the hedgerow and the banks. The sheer amount of plant life that has sprung up in the last couple of weeks is incredible. It’s easier to understand how important this time of year was to our ancestors when you see the rapid increase in green leaves suddenly appearing everywhere. The blossom has been and now is largely gone. Today I realised that the brambles have practically doubled in size as their new leaves seem to have shot out of nowhere. What a relief it must have been after the harshness of winter to welcome back all this plant life.

❤

I try to post every picture I take on the same day on my Instagram site – if you would like to watch the oak more often, follow me on Instagram

❤

Tree time: March…

hedgerow watching

It’s been about four weeks since the last tree project update, and as you can see, we’ve had a lot more sunny days. The oak tree itself still seems much the same, although in just the last few days I’ve noticed so many more buds appearing in the hedgerow, spring is definitely making its presence felt.

I continue to be surprised by how the light varies each day – all these pictures are taken at roughly the same time each morning, and I’m not adjusting the exposure, so what you see, is how it is on the day.

The main difference I’ve noticed since the last post, is the huge increase in birdsong and general bird activity during the morning walk – I wish there was a way to give the pictures their soundtrack. And we’ve seen lots of baby rabbits darting through the hedge – very sweet.

)O(

Over in the sidebar, are my Instagram pics of the Daily Tree Project, with the occasional stitchy update and other random snaps from daily life around here.

Do feel free to explore, or follow on Instagram or Twitter.

)O(

Tree updates…

slow stitching

Well there’s good news and there’s bad news…

On the positive side, I have finished stitching the tree.

Sadly however, like everything else stitched on this scrim, it has succeeded in doing a very good impression of the Leaning Tower of Pisa…

I’ve cropped the picture above so you can see the scale of the problem – to be square, the stitched area should reach all four corners – oh dear.

I’d been discussing ways to stretch it over a frame with the Other Half, but I’m afraid the angle is going to be too extreme. So now I’m wondering about stitching a complementary colour into the missing corners.

So perhaps not quite so finished as I hoped.

)O(

In other news, I have started a new piece. After all the tent stitching in tree, I’ve decided to go for texture in the new work, so lots of different stitching this time. I’ll post about it another day, but if you want a preview, take a look at the little widget I’ve added on the bottom right hand column – it’s my latest Instagram snaps.

I have to thank Elizabeth at Bottle Branch for alerting this techno-laggard to Instagram (huge thanks Elizabeth!) – she mentioned in a recent comment, that the Daily Tree Project would be ideal for Instagram, and I wanted to know more about it. I wasn’t sure at first – I’m not the biggest social media type you’ll find, but when I saw that I could incorporate it into this blog, it seemed to be the perfect way to give snapshots without doing a full post. (I think if you follow me on Twitter, you should also get a link to new snaps).

So if you scroll down there, you’ll find snaps from the new embroidery and today’s tree photo. I really like the idea of putting snaps up more often, although I’ll still do a proper monthly Daily Tree Project update post. So if anyone is interested in a more up-to-date glimpse into the current WIP or the latest tree pics, feel free to scroll down and have a look. (If you click on the snaps, you’ll see a bigger version).

Happy stitching.

)O(