Warwickshire Hare by Nicola Jarvis
2nd February 2024
When you first discover the beautiful project Warwickshire Hare from Nicola’s book A Life in Seasons | Winter & Spring, you’ll encounter a splendid hare wearing a cloak of fresh, stumpwork blossoms.
These magnificently stitched flowers are created using detached elements and represent spring bursting forth with the promise of new life.
The hare itself is brought to life with stunning shading using cleverly placed long and short stitches to achieve an uncannily lifelike finish.
A gorgeous garland of pussy willow, featuring some of the plumpest catkins you’ll ever find, made from Ghiordes knots, creates a wreath for our hare to rest in briefly as she poses elegantly for a moment of pause and contemplation before bounding off across the field.
Now… for everyone who likes to preserve their innocence and has no interest in having the wonderous fairytale quality of this piece sullied by a lurid back story, stop reading now.
If that’s you, skip this next bit and scroll straight to the end of this article, purchase yourself a kit and you’ll have nothing but blissful and pure thoughts as you enjoy stitching your own Warwickshire Hare!
As for the rest of you… alrighty then, let’s move onto the sealed section and find out what’s REALLY going on with this hare.
We’ll let Nicola do the heavy lifting:
‘I have a memory that has stayed with me for many years, of a late afternoon at the end of March when I watched a pair of hares chasing across a ploughed field, coming together to spar in mid-air.
This was the first time I had seen these animals in the wild and witnessing this frenzied mating ritual was spellbinding. I assumed wrongly that these hares were a couple of males vying for the fertile females, but I have since learned that the jill will stand up and ward off the unwanted attentions of the dominant jack.
Female hares become very combative in the spring when they attempt to fight off the advances of amorous bucks who are looking to mate.’
So rather than depicting a docile hare posing for her glamour photo, Nicola has in fact captured her jill as a stoic, defiant goddess as she wards off unwanted, aggressive suitors as she searches for a more deserving mate.
Don’t let her graceful stance, the beautiful bristle of her coat or her delightful floral accoutrements fool you.
You can tell by looking in her eyes, this Warwickshire Hare means business.
She’s going to stand her ground and show any jack who crosses her path who’s the boss.
This is not the Warwickshire Princess – it’s the Warwickshire Warrioress!
Make Your Own Warwickshire Hare*
We have all the materials you need to re-create this project yourself, from easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions to a Ready-to-Stitch kit with everything sourced for you.
*A couple of tips when stitching Warwickshire Hare:
Background – as this piece has been stitched on pre-printed fabric, to re-create it exactly as it appears in the book the kit comes with the pre-printed fabric included. Alternatively, use the pattern sheet from the Life in Seasons book to transfer the design and either paint your own background elements or you can stitch the entire hare.
Instructions – As this kit does not include instructions, for step-by-step directions on how to create this project, please refer to book Life in Seasons, purchased separately.