More falling leaves!

I couldn't let it go at simple leaf shapes-- the table decoration project simply took a different turn when it ended, and the leaves assumed a life of their own.  The leaves were like stepping stones, each leading to the next.

These are some of the last ones.  The fabrics are recycled clothing pieces and a few old fabrics that have been around since my son was living at home (!).  The main vein of the last leaf is a hand-wrapped cord.  I make these loosely-wrapped and colorful cords while watching the British Mysteries.  In two nights of mysteries, it's amazing what can be achieved!

ENJOY THE AUTUMN!!!

Autumn Leaves

It is still a bit green here; autumn is more a state of mind than a reality, at present.

But to hurry the season along I have made almost a dozen leaves.  They are for the EGA chapter meeting, to be used as door prizes next week.  Peggy is making the other half of the project.  These are to be table decorations that Carol will put together with her genius for decorating.

The leaves are decorated with straight stitches and machine stitch, backed with synthetic felt (because when I cut into wool felt my allergies rose immediately and my eyes began to swell).

The surface of these leaves is hand-painted or dyed linen:

The leaf above has quite an orderly arrangement of straight stitches, but the green one below has scattered seed stitches in an assortment of autumn colors:

Here a little patterning:

The left side of this leaf was cut from a piece of cotton print, the right side is chocolate linen with commercially-printed cotton held in place with machine stitching:

Free-motion machine stitch on dyed linen:

And a pair of stout leaves:

The last one was cut from a piece of cotton I found in a Thrift Store, a gathered skirt with miles of swirling lines-- the same print in the spotted leaf, above.  I found the shape of a leaf in the swirls and stitched with tiny back stitches to attach it to the linen:

I do not have photographs of the others, but they are all made of this same simplicity, simple shapes, simple stitches.

Enjoy!

Two Trees, Moon

Roughly 5" square.  From sketches of the early autumn trees in the moonlight.

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.

Three red trees

At the outset I must confess:  I do not like orange.

This landscape is built on a piece of nuno felt that has been stitched, unstitched, had portions of needle felted velvet unceremoniously ripped away, cut into two pieces and re-felted . . . All in an effort to make friends with the color orange. The green was a diversion, a way of using, by way of yellow, the complimentary blue of orange and the green of red to soften and tame the orange, with stitches in soft, chubby matte cottons and variegated silk flosses.  The two green trees stand by in wonder, gossiping about the entire process. They refuse to acknowledge their own painted silk cocoon origins.

To be further confessional:  Orange and I may no longer be enemies, but we are not exactly sitting down to tea and biscuits together.  Yet.

The final size is approximately 7” x 8”, and the framing is a bit of a puzzle.  I will keep this pinned to a board in the studio until lightning strikes with a grand idea.  Or, maybe I’ll ask Jordan to choose the framing for me!

Note to the Autumn

Welcome, Autumn!

Although we thought you'd lost your way and would only find us some time after Christmas, you've put in brief appearances these past two weeks.  Acorns everywhere.   Crumbled and wrinkled leaves like old parchment, turning by slow degrees to colors in the warmth of an evening's fire.  Overturned pots where the squirrels and chipmunks have been unpacking the latest trip to the grocer.  Seed Pods collecting in low spots of the garden, drying and waiting to sleep deeply and dream of the spring . . .

So glad you found us!  Come in.  Stay a while.  Remind us of how beautiful you can be.

Colors of the Soul: A Tree

This little piece began from a scrap of fabric I over-painted in the studio, and a bag full of incredible yarn and silk thread I bought at the French Knot, in Savannah.  It is a tree, and the thought behind the embroidery is that all the colors of a lifetime might still be in the tree, buried inside like a pallet of watercolors waiting for the water that brings them to life.

O.K.  I just lost anyone stumbling over this blog, I'm sure.  But think of it-- the leaves, the seasons, the mosses, the rains and snows and brilliant sunshine that all go into the life of a tree are lovely colors.  And I could not give the idea up, once I saw the scrap of fabric laid against a rectangle of brown linen.

Most of the stitches are some form of a Chain Stitch, a Bullion Knot, or Straight Stitch.  The different weights of thread give its dimensional quality.

Some close-ups of the tree.  Enjoy!

 I left the ravelling threads in place, as they seemed a part of the wabi-sabi nature of the piece.

As the stitches are layered in places, the texture is really stand-out.

The Neighborhood: Little Houses

I love any home and heart theme, and keep returning to this highly personal theme in any art form.  Lately the home theme has nagged insistently at me, and I started a little neighborhood of these small houses.  They are about 6" tall, built on layers of felted wool fabric or sweaters, and pieced with all sorts of fabrics and stitched with as many beautiful threads as needed to finish them up.  As they are stitched more and more, they become sturdier, and will eventually be appliquéd to another piece of linen to make a framable piece of the collection.

This group of three is in a more sober colorway than I normally use-- it is the influence of the autumn, I believe.

Tiny stitches.  Sometimes VERY tiny stitches, but so worth it when the lines are finished.  Rubbing my finger across them gives a heavenly bumpy feel to the surface.  Some of the fabrics are very old, pieces from old quilts that chopped up and sold at a flea market (could not resist all those beautiful old fabrics squashed together in the two plastic bags!).

"Home Sweet Home" has taken on a new meaning now!

Autumn On The Horizon

After each rain or thunderstorm I find yellow leaves lying in the flower beds and on the lawn. This has been going on for almost a month, now, and I suppose it means we will not have a lot of color when the real Autumn arrives, that the dry Summer is a harbinger of a brown Autumn.

With this in mind, I began to think about the idea that leaves might be "fingerprinted," that they might leave some trace of themselves on the places they have touched (I know, a little off the wall again). The texture and shape of the whorls of a fingerprint are interesting, so I started by gathering a bowl of Autumn-colored threads and yarn to create this forensic glimpse into the heart of the Autumn.



Creating the circling patterns was the easy part. But the heart of the pattern? Why, the leaf, of course. And in the heart of the leaf? A tree.



I was not interested in painted fabrics or layers of sophisticated embellishing techniques when I began thinking about the leaf, simply in the stitching of this idea. I always seem to go back to the stitches when I'm fumbling with an idea, and the hours I spent on this were very peaceful ones. I used stitches that left little pockets for holding beads later on, but when it came to the beading, I chose to use French Knots instead. This just didn't seem to be an embroidery in need of beads to complete it!