I love all the seasons here in New England but winter holds
a special place in my heart because I spend the majority of my time in the
studio. Even though it has been unseasonably mild here this year that rule has
held true.
I thought I would share a small stitched piece that was inspired by
a walk I took last November on Cape Cod with fellow ACN members, Priscilla Smith, Jeanne Marklin and
Diane Franklin .
I started with a piece of Solufleece, a stabilizer that dissolves in
water, and hand stitched using a selection of chunky threads.
It is important to overlap or crisscross your stitches connecting
them so that when you dissolve the stabilizer they stay together.
Afterwards I used my embellishing machine, to further interlock the threads
and blend them together to create a more muted painterly effect.
When finished I cut off the excess Solufleece and soaked the
piece in lukewarm water. When the Solufleece was completely washed out I rolled
it in a towel and then stretched/blocked the embroidery by pinning it to one of
my work tables. After it dried, hand stitching beach grasses in the foreground with
DMC embroidery thread added just a bit more detail.
Now I have to decide how to finish it. I detest the idea of
framing textural pieces like this under glass, so I am thinking about stitching
it to a gallery profile canvas with the sides painted in a grey like the stitched
sky. I guess it’s time to place a Dick Blick order!
