{"id":16759,"date":"2026-10-20T09:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T08:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=16759"},"modified":"2026-10-19T20:28:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T19:28:52","slug":"oak-leaf-wreath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/2026\/10\/20\/oak-leaf-wreath\/","title":{"rendered":"Oak Leaf Wreath"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/StumpySketch_Watermarked.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/StumpySketch_Watermarked-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Quick scrappy sketch in brown and amber, showing &quot;Stumpy&quot;, one of the oaks in Sherwood Forest.\" class=\"wp-image-16738\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/StumpySketch_Watermarked-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/StumpySketch_Watermarked-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/StumpySketch_Watermarked.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I began thinking about a wreath of oak leaves for a lovely old circular mirror I own some time a good few years ago now. You may recall I&#8217;m intending, once of these days, to do a &#8220;Golden Fleece&#8221; panel, and apparently the Fleece was hung up in a sacred oak grove. I don&#8217;t have Jason and Medea clear in my head yet, but I can do a separate oak leaf wreath regardless, after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the summer we had a friend come to visit, and since he&#8217;s fond of walking, we went on a (very long) day trip to Sherwood Forest. I sketched some oaks, tried to work out how to record the shape of an oak grove (I&#8217;m going to have to go back and try again), and saw a busy little Wood Mouse who is now destined for Placidus.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LeavesForWork_Watermarked.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"175\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LeavesForWork_Watermarked-300x175.jpg\" alt=\"Layout of cotton fabric with rough oak leaves drawn on it.\" class=\"wp-image-16745\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LeavesForWork_Watermarked-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LeavesForWork_Watermarked-768x448.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LeavesForWork_Watermarked.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was also reminded of my mirror frame idea, so I&#8217;ve decided to make a start on some more needlelace experiments. I&#8217;ve put a double layer of cotton sheeting on some bar frames and drawn oak leaves on it. They&#8217;re quite rough, and I&#8217;m not sure they&#8217;re quite the right size in comparison with the mirror, but I do think they&#8217;re close.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LeafLayout_Watermarked.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LeafLayout_Watermarked-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"First oak leaf outlined in pearl cotton, couched around the shape.\" class=\"wp-image-16746\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LeafLayout_Watermarked-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LeafLayout_Watermarked-768x961.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LeafLayout_Watermarked.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I hoped that I would be able to hold the frame and work comfortably, and indeed for the simple couched outline, it was easy enough.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/FalseStart_Watermarked.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"213\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/FalseStart_Watermarked-213x300.jpg\" alt=\"False start on the first oak leaf using a needlelace pattern\" class=\"wp-image-16748\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/FalseStart_Watermarked-213x300.jpg 213w, https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/FalseStart_Watermarked-728x1024.jpg 728w, https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/FalseStart_Watermarked-768x1081.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/FalseStart_Watermarked.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 213px) 100vw, 213px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once I started on the needlelace, it became very awkward and uncomfortable and I kept getting extra knots I didn&#8217;t want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have a feeling I need to find a different approach&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In other news &#8211; my blog is in the top few for the UK on <a href=\"https:\/\/bloggers.feedspot.com\/uk_embroidery_blogs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Feedspot!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I began thinking about a wreath of oak leaves for a lovely old circular mirror I own some time a good few years ago now. You may recall I&#8217;m intending, once of these days, to do a &#8220;Golden Fleece&#8221; panel, and apparently the Fleece was hung up in a sacred oak grove. I don&#8217;t have&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/2026\/10\/20\/oak-leaf-wreath\/\">Continue Reading Oak Leaf Wreath<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31,238],"class_list":["post-16759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-needlelace","tag-oak-leaf-wreath","radius"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16759"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16799,"href":"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16759\/revisions\/16799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}