Mystery of the cloth, No. 1

Layers of meaning, giblets felted into a layer of roving and scrim and almost obscured, then stitching over and beside those marks, more felting, more stitching– the cloth becomes a palimpsest of present and former marks.

Part of a series of experiments with mark-making on different fabrics.

Winter Tree

We recently had a very rough winter here.  There are some who live further north who would shake their head and say, “If you think YOU had a rough winter . . .”  But, it’s all relative.  I sat stitching this as the brown and grey of winter gradually gave way to washes of white from the the blast of snow and ice.  The wind rattled up the hill as I reached for another lap rug and the ball of silk to re-thread and stitch on.

The fabric ground is a simple sandwich of scrim and wool, over which I have used only the humble straight stitch.  Threads were cottons, mostly flosses, but for the tree I used a three-strand, slightly nubby silk from my friend, Jill, and together the silk and I followed the tree’s plight through the wind and weather.  It made a gentle fabric with a draping hand.

The finished size is about 7 1/2 x 11 inches.