Finished

Background stitched . Found a piece of vintage lace for the foreground . But I feel like she is now trapped behind the glass like a 'specimen'. Can't remove the glass easily so I will let her sit for awhile.

She is sitting on top of my piano.

Framed

This is my first Little Red. For my 7 th birthday in Wellington New Zealand from a school friend. Kept with me all these years. The little rabbit has lost an ear but I can't recall when that happened. I used to play with these , very carefully but I'd set them up and the animals would speak to Little Red. 'No Little Red don't do it, don't go to Grandmas there are wolves about' or 'there is a lone wolf lurking in them there hills'. So this little frame came from Vinnies. As soon as I saw it I thought finally a home for Little Red so she doesn't have to be kept hidden away safely.

Then I made the background for her . It shows Grandmas house which is pure white, but that is a disguise. There is ecodyed silk, batik, dyed scrim, indigo dyed sky and a commercial cotton with the tree printed on it. More lace and stitch to come. Not sure if I should paint the box , white, varnish, a colour , add text or leave it?

Mum

Here is a simple stitching of a photo of my Mum in her younger years. I copied it from a framed black and white photo. Traced onto tissue paper then stitching through the paper. Eyes need some more work. I have stitched it onto vintage cotton cloth. The other half went into the background for my last Little Red piece .

Cats

 Needing to find a home for these little cats inspired by Jude Hill at Spiritcloth. The small one is on cloud nine using some vintage handkerchiefs and a doily that needs to be cut in half, but I am baulking. I am not going to put any more colour on the white as I like the crisp pureness of the background , after all the cat is an angel in the clouds. The larger one is made up of three pieces from various experiments. His head is the cut away back behind a large appliqué Cheshire Cat on a quilt from about 1998. I saved it for a reason!. The doiley was indigo dyed with Ali George at her studio in Taroom and cut in half to share with Annamaria Mays, who has already used her half in a textile art piece. The lower part is an experiment in cloth weaving to make a surface. And the round eye is over his heart.

Now I need stitching. A face to embroider. Must cut that doiley and stitch it down.  Words in the backgrounds , maybe some more clouds.

Teapot

Sampling for Margaret Olley again. A tracing of her teapot or at least one of the teapots in her houses that she used for her still life set ups. Then stitched through the tracing paper with back stitch. Paper gently pulled and tweezered off. Doesn't show up very clearly , the green on the orange, but the background is a vintage 1970's Thai silk and was chosen to reflect the warm orange tones on a wall of   the Hat Factory where she lived in Paddington , Sydney. The green is for her love of green in her paintings. It is only 5 inches square.

1year of stitch july

Here is an update of my year of stitches. So much done and so much more to fill in yet. I have stopped trying out new stitches. I know that I like running stitch, back stitch French knots and buttonhole in organic circles. My hand is stretching forwards releasing the stitches , symbols of life and mindful awareness of the directions some paths are travelling.