This brings back happy memories for me of visiting Hobart for the first time, and my first retreat as guest designer – the Dark Mojo Retreat hosted by the fabulous Kerrilyn from A Stitch in Time last year.
Kerrilyn asked me to create a Tasmanian design, and ‘Tasmania, After the Fires’ came together so beautifully that I also created a companion piece, ‘Tasmanian Tiger’. Previously exclusives, I’ve combined these two patterns so that you stitch the beauties and strength of native Tassie wildlife (and perhaps one hiding away in the wilderness).
Click here for a link to my original post on ‘Tasmania, After the Fires’, which details the fascinating plants and animals that are featured in the design; and here for my post on the enigmatic Tassie Tiger.
I am so proud of these designs – I feel that they’re such a step in exploring the possibilities of the stunning Cottage Garden Threads palette used. In this release, I’ve swapped in a couple of the Bookshelf Edit threads, as these are even more what I had in mind for the design. I’ve added Hearth for a slightly softer black, Foxing for a slightly warmer peachy-pink, and Page Turner instead of DMC Ecru for a smokier cream. Depending on your fabric choice, you might prefer to use the Ecru for a brighter look.
Speaking of fabric, ‘Tasmania, After the Fires’ was stitched on 36-count ‘Bush Tea’ by JaysXStitch on Etsy – a warm, slightly mottled neutral that supports the design perfectly. My little Tiger was stitched on ‘Flax’ by Zweigart, but would look equally beautiful on Jay’s natural dyed fabric.
I’ve printed this chart in colour, to make the long backstitches and French Knots I’ve used much clearer – and don’t worry about getting these perfect. I do mine deliberately messy (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!), to make them look more natural and rustic.
I hope you enjoy stitching these pieces and creating your own celebration of the Tassie wilderness. The chart is available from your LNS or ONS now, and the hard-copy, PDF and threadpacks will be up in my Etsy store in a couple of weeks.
Note: the conversions offered in the chart (to DMC and overdyes) are approximate only. As I’ve used some of the more heavily variegated Cottage Garden Threads, the conversions can include multiple colours. You can, of course, use a single colour, but I’ve offered the other options that you might want to swap in when stitching some areas, to better replicate the various colours that the vareigated thread allows.
Errata
I have just found that there is a printing error on the back cover of the first printing of this pattern. In the thread list, CGT Banksia is no. 306 in the CGT range, and both patterns also require CGT 809 Oregano/DMC 3363/GA Chives. Please accept my sincere apologies for this error – it will be corrected in further print runs. Anyone who has bought a hard-copy with this error and would like a free PDF with the corrections added, please send me a convo on Etsy with a pic of your purchase and I will be happy to supply it to you.
Mojo Stitches 
While I have ordered this pattern from my LNS here in the US, I have yet to receive but I’m also planning on placing an order with CGT for the threads needed for this pattern plus some others that I would like.
However, I have not been able to find a complete listing of the colors needed for this pattern beyond the mention of hearth, foxing and page turner.banksia, oregano and chive mentioned in your blog post about Two From Tasmania.
Would it be possible to get a complete listing of the threads so I could work on that order while I wait for my pattern to arrive?
thank you! Nissa
LikeLike
Hi Nissa – and thank you. I have lots of threadpacks ready to post with the pattern in my Etsy store at the end of the month, and I’ve put up a custom order for one for you now if you’d like to get started. It’s listed as ‘custom order for Nissa’ in my Etsy store.
The complete Cottage Garden Threads list is: Hearth, Cineraria, Page Turner, Charles, Nutmeg, Flax, Oregano, Banksia, Burgundy Cream & Foxing.
Happy stitching!
LikeLike