Loveday Orchard by Nicola Jarvis

This week we're back on the trail with Nicola Jarvis and her trusty companion Quince, rejoining them in Life in Seasons 2 - and what a return it is, as they come across a stunning orchard.

Loveday Orchard is arguably one of the most significant statement pieces featured in Life in Seasons 2 | Summer & Autumn.

This is Nicola Jarvis at the top of her artistic game, creating a magnificent Tree of Life inspired design that depicts a bountiful allotment garden in full bloom during late summer.

At the heart of the composition stands a graceful weeping tree, its long, arching boughs, heavy with fruit and nuts, providing the perfect centrepiece around which the rest of the design naturally unfolds.

Luscious plums hang ready for harvest - golden Warwickshire Droopers and deep purple damsons rendered in Japanese gilt, silk and metallic threads that catch the light with every stitch. A pair of hazelnuts, clothed in their ruffled husks, form delicate, golden fans.

A noble goldfinch alights on a teasel, filling the air with his cheerful song. A cabbage white butterfly drifts past on delicate wings, while a garden spider keeps quiet watch nearby.

Ladybirds dot the branches, and rich purple and pink dahlias stand tall alongside a bright sunflower in full bloom, its head tilting gently to accommodate the spider making its way down.

To anchor the design is the all-important hillock - a celebrated element of seventeenth-century and Jacobean embroidery, synonymous with Tree of Life designs, and exactly what fans of Nicola Jarvis would expect to find in a signature piece like this.

Loveday Orchard is, in every sense, a celebration.

For Nicola, this design carries deep personal meaning. Her relationship with trees stretches back to childhood - from the weeping ash in her family's farmyard garden, to the Bramley apple tree she and her brother climbed on long summer afternoons. But it was a seventeenth-century Tree of Life curtain (see image below) encountered in the Victoria and Albert Museum in her early twenties, that changed the course of her life entirely, leading directly to her apprenticeship at the Royal School of Needlework.

The technical range on display here is equally impressive. Goldwork, surface embroidery, silk ribbon, beading and metallic threads all play their part, yet the design never feels overworked.

Nicola balances each element beautifully, allowing the printed background to breathe while the embroidery adds depth, lustre and life. The threaded satin stitch honeycomb filling on the teasel head is a particular highlight -an intricate and deeply satisfying technique that rewards patience beautifully.

As with all the projects in Life in Seasons, the design is built on one of Nicola's own hand-drawn and painted backgrounds, pre-printed onto fabric. This gives stitchers a confident foundation to work from, with the embroidery layered on top to enhance form and bring the scene to vivid life.

Measuring 30cm x 22cm wide (12" x 8¾"), Loveday Orchard is the largest project in the book, and it earns every centimetre.

Thanks to its richness, abundance of techniques and striking design, this is both a keepsake and heirloom piece to delight in.

Ready-to-Stitch Kit

Kits for Loveday Orchard are now available to purchase using the link below and include everything you need to re-create this project, excluding instructions and the frame, giving you the freedom to finish and display the piece in a way that suits you.

Background

As this project has been stitched on pre-printed fabric, the kit includes the fabric pre-printed with Nicola's original design so you can re-create it exactly as it appears in the book. Alternatively, you can use the pattern sheet included in the Life in Seasons 2 book to transfer the design and create your own background elements.

Instructions

Please note that instructions are not included in this kit. Complete, step-by-step instructions for stitching Loveday Orchard are provided in the book Life in Seasons 2, sold separately.