During my absence from blogging I finally got round to doing some work on the latest project for the Art Quilting Group. The theme is "Botanica". Although if you look that word up in the dictionary it has a different meaning to the group's intentions of the word to describe the theme.
To start with I went hell for leather on the piece but once the background was done the wheels fell off the trolley and it went into the "wait and see" pile.
Somewhere along the way I recently some motivation grabbed me, and although it is still a work in progress, thought I would share what I have done so far.
The unfinished mushroom cap in the front is something I am still pondering on.....whether to use fabric, or make some needlelace piece to fit the shape. Am also trying to decide on the colour. At the moment I am leaning towards blue.
The cap on the mushroom on the left is made from some nice textured velved and for the underneath I have used a piece I had pleated on my smocking machine. It had been done so long ago, that when I removed the threads the pleats remained. The stem is a raised stemstitch band.
The yellow cap I worked on a piece of dublin linen that I had dyed in a mix of tumeric and balsamic vinegar with some rusty nails added to the mix. The stitches are four sided stitch, buttonhole wheels and buttonhole bars, with some french knots. The stem on this one is just vertical rows of chain stitch.
I intend adding some grasses at the base of the mushroom stems, and probably whatever else takes my fancy, so this has a little way to go.
sometimes of an afternoon when I am sitting in my sewing room stitching, this is the view that confronts me. All these little tots playing and exercising in the park at the back of my unit. I love the sound of their laughter and to see the fun they are having.
