nigel peake birds

I am re-organizing the single level of my house so that I can resume work on the project I was doing in my new studio.  I have emptied a drawer and a shelf and have set up my sewing machine and iron.

This book by Nigel Peake was on that shelf.

I think that I'll pass it on to my grand-boys.  They like to draw.

above us only sky

To me, quilt backs are as beautiful and important as quilt fronts.
Usually I plan the pieced back with as much design intent as the front, only simpler.
I like things that seem simple, yet are also complex.

 I consider how the stitches will look on the back.

The solid piece of aqua dupioni silk has a sheen that reacts to the light and to the variety of tensions I've put into it with my handwork.
For example, the creten stitch (see here) on the front translates to double lines of small horizontal stitches on the back.
I love the quirkiness and the sensuality of these lines.

I've been focused on this piece for six weeks.
My tools are a needle and a small pair of embroidery scissors, my material is miles of thread.
While I've been stitching, life whirls on.
It whirls past.

What was spring is now mid-summer.
Imagine.

beginning with time: day

Another update on the wild pure piece.
I've been stitching diligently and have filled the central area with strips of plant dyed wool stitched with wool threads.

It's so large, I can't get back far enough to photograph it head on.  It covers the entire design wall in my home studio...the photo above was taken from the doorway.  98 inches wide, 85 inches high.

The earthy warm brown of the reclaimed overdyed wool blanket (previously pink) is becoming connected to the central part with rows of seed stitch.  

We've lost our snow.  The day is dark and rainy here.
I'll show the night side of  Beginning With Time in a future post.

go slow stop thinking

I have been working with intensity on my piece for Wild Pure Aesthetic Wonder.
I've named the one panel I'm focusing on Beginning With Time. (continued from here)  The size has increased and I am glad that I can no longer touch the edges.

I used borders to achieve the increase in scale but now have some design challenges and not much time left before I have to ship the panel to Newfoundland.

I am loving the process.  Ordered seed stitch.  Accumulation.

I hope that what my work communicates is the quiet joy of making and at the same time the feeling that we are each just a tiny speck.

go slow....stop thinking.....look around
Van Gogh

absolute pitch

un-picked my stars took away the backing
used linen thread, seed stitch just to see I'm looking for perfection from this cloth. A natural perfection, not forced.

Perfect in its imperfection.
I want absolute pitch. Also called perfect pitch.

Current research indicates that absolute pitch is a natural ability, present in nearly everyone. Like colour recognition.

Unrecognized, undeveloped, it is unlearned at a very early age.

And so we think of it as rare.