Lots of Stitches

Some thoughts on the recent quilt show that I visited...  Remember the story about the Blue Ridge Parkway and the tunnels?  Here is one tunnel represented in fabric and stitch.  It looked like one could just walk right into that tunnel.

There were traditional quilts...

...there were fantasy quilts...

...and there were contemporary quilts.

I later thought about the numbers -- the teeny, tiny stitches (both hand and machine); the fabrics - in all the colors of the rainbow and beyond; the shapes and patterns.  Last but not least the hours, days, months of stitching.  It was an honor to be able to see all of this beautiful work in one place at one time.

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way -- things I had no words for." - Georgia O'Keefe

Blank 'canvas'

This 'page' is sitting on my table waiting for stitching and embellishment.  Although this isn't really a 'blank' canvas as I have already put a collage of fabric and paper upon the true blank page -- it is still 'blank' from my standpoint.

It needs more layers -- its needs some embellishment and most of all it needs stitchery.  The stitchery is the 'exciting' part.  What stitches will I use?  What would go here and over there?  How many French knots or x's should go in this spot? 

Okay time to thread the needle...

"At no time are we ever in such complete possession of a journey, down to its last nook and cranny, as when we are busy with preparations for it." - Yukio Mishima

Yet to Come

Here's a few bits and pieces of what I've been working on these past days (weeks).  I had hoped to have it all finished by now -- but you know how that goes.

So for now I'll pass along these little snippets and then contine my progress toward completion.

This has been the perfect stitchery for me to transition from punchneedle to stitchery.  Its been a gentle progression worked on a spring theme during this lovely spring season. 

Hopefully it won't be too very long until I can show you the finished piece.

"Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished?  Yes, work never begun." - Christina G. Rossetti

Working The Design

Often, as I work, the design morphs into something else -- it can be a change of color, the 'finding' of the perfect embellishment or even the whole theme changing as I punch.  I like to think of it as a river finding a new path.  That's the thrilling part of creating - to not know until the very last stitch is taken exactly what you're going to see.

This piece involves reverse punchneedle in a couple of sections - something I've thought about but never actually tried.  If you're not familiar with the in's and out's of punchneedle -- the design is punched from the back (shown above). As I punch I see each stitch laid out much like very, very close individual stitches.  When I turn the piece over I see thick textured loops.  (the top picture is the front)

On this piece I decided to make a couple of sections using reverse punchneedle where I punch the design from the front making those individual stitches show  - does this make sense? *smile*  So now I have a pattern of flat stitches mixed in among the many textures of the loops.  I quite like it!

"Creativity can be described as letting to of certainties." - Gail Sheehy

Breathe - March BJP

Taking a deep breath - I present 'Breathe' - my March BJP.  I had much joy working on this month's 'bookmark'.  As March came into being I put February and all its ups and downs behind me.  Of course it helped that except for one large, wet snow on March 2nd our weather has been mild.  It helped that the temperatures were not in the 20's (or below) and that I have been able to get out and walk most days.  It helped that the sun greeted me through my studio window more mornings than not.

As I read the definitions for 'breathe' numbers 3 and 5 in my dictionary spoke to me most clearly:  breathe to live; exist - and breathe to pause, as for breath; take rest.  What gremlin put that particular word into my hand when I reached into the jar toward the end of February?  I thank him/her as this was a much needed word!

Because of the onset of spring the various shades of green that greet us when we step outdoors (or that sit above my work table in the shape of beads) had to be used.  As I worked on this piece my mind took me into the woods of the mountains here in western North Carolina -- on paths that I've walked many times and on new paths as yet undiscovered by me. 

One of my beading quests this year has been to learn new-to-me stitches.  For this project I utilized the following stitches:  backstitch, chain stitch, peyote, half pekinese, moss stitch, shaded satin stitch.  Who knew so many different types of stitches could be placed on such a small piece of work!

"Breathe.  Allow yourself the luxury of doing nothing for a moment, or an hour, or even a day.  It is in emptiness that inspiration will happen." - Carol Katchen

Embroidery Stitches - in beads

One of my beading goals for this year has been to learn new beaded embroidery stitches.  To this end I purchased the book "Embeadery" by Margaret Ball.  In this book the author demonstrates traditional embroidery stiches using beads.  Because my focus is encrusted beading, I was especially interested in the stitches which 'cover the background' - those stitches where none of the backing shows through. 

What fun this has been -- to be able to add to my repertoire of stitches and learn new skills along the way.  A friend and I got together and using this book made up a couple of sample pages.  This was an excellent way for me to practice (without doing it on a 'real' piece of beadwork) and to find out which stitches would serve my purposes (for there are many, many stitches in this book).

We chose a stitch and then beaded it until we had figured it out.  In my opinon there are two things that could have made this book easier to use.  One - spiral binding so that the pages would lie flat.  I have to put something heavy on one side of the pages to hold the book in place as I read the directions and practice the stitch.  Two -the color pictures of the finished stitches are all together in one section - at the end of the beading instructions - it would have helped a lot to have a color picture beside each example rather than having to flip back and forth to make sure your sample looks like it should.  But - for ideas and instruction this book is wonderful.  So far I have used the shaded satin stitch and the half pekinese (one of my all time favorite stitches) in my March BJP and am using several other new-to-me stitches in a figure that I am presently working on.

Constantly learning is one of the true delights of life -- yes sometimes its scary, yes sometimes it doesn't work out the way I thought it would, yes, sometimes it takes extra time -- but when I'm done, when I've mastered a new skill or acquired new tools to use its thrilling.

"Learning too soon our limitations, we never learn our powers." - Mignon McLaughlin