Hand Quilting Experiments

some leaf like shapes

So I have been a busy girl what with whizzing up and down the country for various cultural and artistic ventures! The visit to Art in Action was brilliant but details will have to wait for the next post.

My travels have involved a lot of sitting on trains and in cars and to while away the time, and in the car try to take my mind off the chaos on the roads, I have been hand stitching. This follows on from my CQ summer school workshop with Helen Parrott.

using variegated silk thread

I have used some of the hand dyed cotton kindly donated by my dear friend Sandra and various threads just to see what happens. Strangely, although it's only rows of running stitch, quite a lot happens very quickly. Sadly though, not all of it is as intended e.g, this sample using silk thread doesn't look right. I think the thicker thread tends to dominate taking the eye away from the "ripples", and the ripples are what it's all about!

sand ripple sample using cotton thread

 So here is the first of probably many similar samples inspired by ripples in the sand after the tide has gone out. Using longer stitches meant that there is also rippling inside the stitching and I'm not sure this is how I want it to look.

So I will block it and see if that makes it more acceptable.

 running stitch using cotton machine thread

In the meantime, I'm putting the stitching to one side while I play with the toys  I bought
at Art in Action. Namely the fabric crayons, the Inktense blocks, Sue Rangley's book, Embroidered Originals and a lovely new journal sketchbook!

So, blogging may have to wait a bit!