Postcard from Paradise – St. Barths

Postcard from Paradise - St. Barths

click to enlarge image

This was the first in what has become a series of small designs preserving in embroidery some of our favorite holiday destinations.

St. Barths is a small scrap of real estate in the Caribbean—so small that it is often missing on maps of the area. So small that it covers only 8 square miles. So small that it doesn’t even have a river of its own.

It is very French, with all that that entails. The people speak French, except for some small settlements that still speak an ancient Breton dialect. The shopping is very upscale and the clothes all seem very tiny. The restaurants are exquisite, combining the best of the French culinary tradition with some added grace notes from the Caribbean. Even the “dives” have great food! Many restaurants also feature fabulous views of the ocean for added dining pleasure. Great French wines and French cheeses are quite reasonably priced throughout the island.

The beaches are lovely, wide and sandy, although on the Atlantic side the surf can be a bit daunting. Many of the beach-goers sun bathe topless, with little regard for the burning rays of the sun.

My postcard features one of the characteristic houses one finds on St. Barths. It overlooks a serene bay, with small mountains in the distance. Riotous bougainvillea look over the house, as do two windswept palm trees. For the most part, unless well tended by humans the vegetation is sparse, as this is a desert island and water is a precious resource.

Consequently it is sunny most of the time, and always enchanting.

Stitches Include: Outline, Slanted Gobelin, Basketweave, Woven CrossMosaic & Cashmere, Woven Plait,Encroaching Gobelin, Bullion, Criss Cross Hungarian, Split Gobelin, Bokhara Couching, and for the border, a flat stitch consisting of elongated Scotch stitches lying in opposing directions

  • Ground Fabric: Congress Cloth
  • Size of Piece: 4½ x 7″