I haven't given up embroidery. I have been tackling UFOs, starting with the one which, when you saw it last, looked like this. I swithered for a long time about it, trying to decide what else it needed, before adding some ginormous feather stitches and a few fake leaves. It seems very simple but I couldn't think what else to do with it.
I had been playing around with the leaves for at least an hour before I remembered that the picture I started with was of - autumn leaves.
The embroidery reminded me that at the Alice Kettle workshop, my friend A. and I had a discussion about minimalist embroidery. A. sees herself [I think, she'll correct me if I'm wrong] as 'not really an embroiderer' because she uses relatively little stitch. This is, of course, rubbish - she is an embroiderer and a very good one.
I think we both feel 'less is [usually] more' - it is possibly one of the reasons I am relatively productive! I was told to go and add more stitch to this extended sample because the tutor felt there wasn't enough. So I added the foliage at the bottom, telling myself that I would take it out later. I haven't done so yet - but I still think it might be better without. Comments welcome!
And of course there is relatively little stitch in the foreground of the leaves piece, although the woven background was machine embroidered before it was cut up, and it is held to the background with overcasting. And the purple background is embellished, although I'm not sure if that counts as stitch!
i am not anti-stitch - i think Julia Caprara's work is stunning - and Alice Kettle is not known for minimalist stitching! But I think it is hard to handle heavy stitch and when I try it it looks a mess, so I get discouraged [bored?] before I have put in enough stitch for it to work. I have a low boredom threshold for repetitive work - it's why i don't like cross -stitch and why I will never make a big traditional quilt again. Having said that i can still face a cushion coverful of tent stitch, provided there is not too much background!
One a completely different topic - if you have been reading this blog sin
ce I started you will have read my gushings on the subject of my cherry tree. I cannot resist this photograph, taken this evening, of the setting sun on the underside of the leaves - it is quite magical to see and looks as if the tree has glowing lights in it.
Although I suppose that isn't a completely different topic - it is autumn leaves again. Sounds like a good subject for an embroidery to me ...
I had been playing around with the leaves for at least an hour before I remembered that the picture I started with was of - autumn leaves.
The embroidery reminded me that at the Alice Kettle workshop, my friend A. and I had a discussion about minimalist embroidery. A. sees herself [I think, she'll correct me if I'm wrong] as 'not really an embroiderer' because she uses relatively little stitch. This is, of course, rubbish - she is an embroiderer and a very good one.
I think we both feel 'less is [usually] more' - it is possibly one of the reasons I am relatively productive! I was told to go and add more stitch to this extended sample because the tutor felt there wasn't enough. So I added the foliage at the bottom, telling myself that I would take it out later. I haven't done so yet - but I still think it might be better without. Comments welcome!
And of course there is relatively little stitch in the foreground of the leaves piece, although the woven background was machine embroidered before it was cut up, and it is held to the background with overcasting. And the purple background is embellished, although I'm not sure if that counts as stitch!
i am not anti-stitch - i think Julia Caprara's work is stunning - and Alice Kettle is not known for minimalist stitching! But I think it is hard to handle heavy stitch and when I try it it looks a mess, so I get discouraged [bored?] before I have put in enough stitch for it to work. I have a low boredom threshold for repetitive work - it's why i don't like cross -stitch and why I will never make a big traditional quilt again. Having said that i can still face a cushion coverful of tent stitch, provided there is not too much background!
One a completely different topic - if you have been reading this blog sin
ce I started you will have read my gushings on the subject of my cherry tree. I cannot resist this photograph, taken this evening, of the setting sun on the underside of the leaves - it is quite magical to see and looks as if the tree has glowing lights in it.Although I suppose that isn't a completely different topic - it is autumn leaves again. Sounds like a good subject for an embroidery to me ...
1 comment:
Your tree is beautiful and I love the word "swithered".
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