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The first placemat is finished and the sprig of wild blue flax is nestled on the left hand side parallel with the hem. While wandering yesterday in my favourite shop for colourful household linens, I found 6 periwinkle blue cotton napkins which seemed to mirror the blue that I had chosen for the flowers. I didn't have the actual thread samples with me, so I took the risk that I had registered that rich blue correctly in my mind's eye.
They are perfect. I can see that my summer dining table will be very jolly and a change from the yellow sunflower embroidered linen place mats I have been using for the last couple of years.
And to my luck I found some fuschia napkins which picked up the colour of the flowers in my other project which is well under way.
I already had a set of sand coloured linen placemats ready for embroidering. Hemming fine linen with Point de Paris finish is a very restful activity. So I took my Wild Blue Flax design which I posted recently, simplified it and transferred this single sprig design on to a couple of the placemats.. yesterday evening, I began embroidering with these deep blues (DMC 798 and 799), with the detail in white and DMC 646.
I found a pencil drawing of this arrangement in my files. I had copied it from a painting by T. Nolet. I wish I could remember where I saw this. Is it from one of my many books? Not sure. Anyway, here is the drawing which I then put colour to. I like the simplicity of the lines and am compelled to translate it to silk on linen. It is called 'Wild Blue Flax' or 'Linum Perenne'.
So, as I am wont to do, while I may be working on 4 other projects right now (Pimpernel Cushion, place setting for a friend, another William Morris adaptation, and my difficult silk piece) I am getting ready for the next project. The Pimpernel Cushion, while not finished, is close to being so, so I need to put a new project on the table.
I think I have mentioned this before, but when I finish something, there is a bit of a mental lull which I hate so by keeping the ideas lined up, I offset this unhappy period.
I'll put my palette up on the blog when I have made the selection. It'll definitely be those wonderful rich blues again. And maybe I'll change the proportions and use the Pearsall silks as opposed to the Pipers... to give a little more texture. I'll keep you posted.
We woke this morning to a storm; hard to believe on April 20 that we would be facing the possibility of 30 cms of snow, but looking out the window, I believe the predictions. It's pretty to look at and I am happy I have no need to drive anywhere today, but I was so hoping that the 15 cms of snow that fell on the weekend was the last roar of Winter. Not so.
So what does one do on a day where one is confined to one's home? In our case, it gives us all the more reason to stay in. The chores that may call us outside the house, even in the winter, can wait; snow clearing, checking the roof, bringing in wood from the wood shed, all this can be left for tomorrow. There is a warm, cosy feeling in the house as the snow lays down its white blanket around us; and a lovely sense of helplessness. This offers up every excuse to read without measuring the time, to embroider what ever project falls under my fingers, to enjoy the hot homemade soups which always seem to be ready for such a day. You could say it would be a lazy day, but in fact, the day just simply takes on a different kind of busy-ness.
If we had planned a chocolate egg hunt for the weekend, we would have had to provide the children with snow shovels. A egg hunt in the garden was always part of our Easter tradition, but this year, if the grandchildren had come, we would have had to do a quick turn around and organized ourselves inside the house.
Happy Easter weekend to you all.
This is the other project currently on my work table; actually I work this in the early morning with my breakfast coffee in front of the fire usually having a discussion with my husband about the books we are reading - I am currently reading 'The Hare with Amber Eyes' by Edmund de Waal. It is a memoir not of people although ultimately I will know a lot about his family and its history, but of a collection of Japanese netsuke, how his ancestor acquired the collection and what was the itinerary of these tiny handmade pieces from the middle of the 19th century Paris to present day London.
There are frequent references to embroidery and what these decorated textiles add to the beauty of a décor. De Waal has a keen eye. He is a ceramic artist, creating hundreds if not thousands of beautifully linear pots whose simplicity are the most perfect examples of beauty. It is this simplicity that appeals to me with its clean unfettered lines and the odd piece of poetry ex: as one small impression is made asymmetrically in the upper edge of the piece. (www.edmunddewaal.com). His writing has a similar style with beautiful images and clean succinct lines.
Reading this book has provoked many a discussion and there will no doubt be more to come, but one discussion we got into was how much the story behind the 'art' counts for in the spectator's appreciation of the piece. For example, when you go to a museum, how often do you rent the audio component? Does it enhance the experience or does it drive what would be a free subjective thought process into an imposed framework?
Write me and give me your thoughts?
I finally picked up this project again. Coming home from our travels, there are always a number of things to take care of, but the natural rhythm of our days has taken over and I am able to organize the day a little more around my work. This is a difficult project and I am not always in a state of mind to focus hard.
I have begun working on the central flower and yesterday completed the first petal and some of the detail. One thing I do like is my choice of palette and the colours feed me which renders the pleasure of working all the more intense.
I am reminded as I work with this very fine thread, Pipers, that I have to place a lot of stitches before I sense the density of colour on the fabric. Regularity in the stitches is also essential. There is no room for margin. Thus the challenge before me.
How many times have I gone into my work basket and promised myself to finish a few small items which have sat there for a long time. Here is a small doily (on left) which I had started years ago with a little 'broderie anglaise' in the
corner. Well, I finally finished it on holiday. And here are the two Cartier Bresson doilies (on right), embroidered simply in satin and stem stitch, DMC Fil Floche #800 on sand coloured linen with the padded buttonhole edging.
It's a good feeling to come back into my studio after a long absence. I'm drawn quickly into the colours, the ideas, the books, the drawings and the threads that I intentionally leave out in plain view. I always see all this as a type of food, soul food, which is not a particularly original statement, but very pertinent for me.
I left this project on my work table as a reminder that I still have a gift to embroider for a good friend - two runners which will be placed across the width of her new dining room table creating place for 4 settings. The spray of flowers will be embroidered to the left of where each of the settings will be. Once I have begun and in the groove, the project should not take long to embroider. Sometimes I take a little while to start the final embroidery and, in truth, maybe I need to feel a certain urgency. My deadline for this gift is late June since my friend's birthday is in early July.
I just wanted to give an update on my progress on the Pimpernel Cushion... I worked on this when I could while on holiday. I'll keep posting picture as I work along on this project.
My walk with Zeke inspired me to find the colours in my vast array of cotton and silk threads at the studio those that remind me of the cactii we admired. I started with just the greens and green/blues, but then I was reminded that depending on location and sun exposure and type, the 'pancake' cactus could be a purpley red, so this morning I added the colours at the top of the picture.
A sandy coloured linen would provide a suitable backdrop to whatever I decide to draw and embroider. I'm not sure what form this will take, but since I always like to be conceptualizing a project while working on another, this arrangement of threads and fabric will sit visible to my eye on my work table for the next while and slowly something will emerge and be committed to paper.
Moving forward in a figurative sense is always a daily focus. Doing it with colour and textures makes for rich and satisfying days. Stay tuned for the progress on this idea.
I have just returned from the Arizona desert. Two weeks of dry heat, long walks, good fitness training and strenuous days with the grandchildren. I had forgotten how much energy one needs to follow the activities and attentions of two little boys. Amongst the many great moments we spent, I have two pictures that jump quickly to mind. Zeke, the 6 year old, is a sensitive little fellow with many interests. I had noticed on our last visit that he liked to colour and when I sat on the rare occasion to embroider, he would gravitate towards me and watch intently. He would then take up his crayons, choose the same colour pencil as the thread I was using and begin to draw. When I changed the colour of my thread, he changed his coloured pencil. I was embroidering violets, he drew a bright and joyful house. That was more than a year ago.
This time, he once again liked to watch me work. In fact, one morning I was reading and he asked my why I wasn't sewing and would I? I picked up my project, cross stitch, 'The pimpernel cushion' (I've written about the design already). This time, he was less focused on the colours and more on the technique and he asked me to show him how I did each stitch. He asked to do some stitches and to my joy, he successfully placed 4 small cross stitches in the right place actually on the 28 count linen I was working on. It took a while to do these few stitches, but I could see his determination and focus. 
It was a real pleasure to see 
him so disciplined.
The next day, we all went off to the swimming pool. After an hour or so, some of the family was ready to go back to the house for lunch. Zeke wanted to stay swimming for a while longer and I stayed back with him. We walked home together. On our walk, we made up names for the various cactii we saw in the desert surrounding us: tigers' tongues (real name: century plant), pancake (Prickly pear or Beaver Tail Cactus) and porcupine (Barrel cactus or Hedgehog) cactii. We took note of all the different green hues and the shapes of these strange plants. I really enjoyed the 20 minute walk and as he slipped his little hand in mine as we approached the house, I think Zeke had too.
The first placemat is finished and the sprig of wild blue flax is nestled on the left hand side parallel with the hem. While wandering yesterday in my favourite shop for colourful household linens, I found 6 periwinkle blue cotton napkins which seemed to mirror the blue that I had chosen for the flowers. I didn't have the actual thread samples with me, so I took the risk that I had registered that rich blue correctly in my mind's eye.
