Spring is here in the Pacific Northwest — well, almost certainly. Recently, it felt certain enough that I was doing a bit of organizing. While looking through one of my studio drawers I found a 6″ square of wool that I had embroidered a leaf on during those long Covid days. I tucked it away and forgot about it. I decided it was time to do something with it.
Here is the auditioning phase:
I did the easy thing — pulling fabrics that paired with colors in the embroidery.
Then I just dove in. When I attached the first border to the wool fabric I ended up with a 5 1/2″ wool square. I then added the next 2 borders, allowing for extra fabric on the final border. I did a very simple quilting: I outlined the leaf using clear nylon thread; I used hand-dyed thread from the embroidery project to define the edge of each border; I used a 12 weight cotton variegated thread to finish the final (green) border. Lastly, I used matching 50 weight threads on the first 2 borders to simply hold them down.
And here is a detail:
I am happy with my finished piece. What do you think?
I think this is wonderful! Love the colors and fabric combination. Good job!
Thank you Gay!
It’s lovely, Franki. The hand dyed thread really ties it together. It’s going to be special to have work that takes you back to that time in your life.
NIce to touch base.
Jeanie
Thanks Jean! Funny that I stashed it away and when I picked it up again it seemed to finish itself with no struggle. Thanks for stopping by.
I think it’s extremely creative. So glad you found it and picked it up again. I love the hand dyed embroidery thread. Always feels good to complete a newly discovered project!
It was a fun project and a bit of a push for me because I don’t usually work with such bright colors. I was happy with it though. And yes, done always feels great!
I love how the leaf took on so much more dimension with the outline addition. It is such a wonderful piece and a wonderful memory come alive.
I like the close-stitch dimension too. My title feels negative to me but you are right, it will keep that time alive.