Is It Spring Yet?

I'm definitely ready for Spring to arrive. Here in northern New Hampshire, that usually doesn't happen until May. In between Winter and Spring we have "Mud Season". And this year it's probably going to be a doozy. After finally getting rid of most of the ice, we've had more snow. And more snow is expected for this weekend. Not much, mind you - but by now we're all anxious to get mud season over with and move on to watching the world turn green once again.

In that spirit I'm working on another flower piece - this one with Susan Sorrell's Fertile Earth class on Joggles. My first piece - pomegranates - is still in my head, but the flower piece couldn't wait to get out of my head and onto fabric.

This, of course, is just the beginning, but I'm really loving the textured surface I'm creating here. I started with a piece of green batik, and layered a piece of hand-dyed or painted cheesecloth in lovely lilac shades of pink and green. On top of that I put a layer of green tulle. This wonderful background will be covered with lilac buds and blossoms - a single stem. If you click on the image you should be able to see a couple of buttonhole wheels - the intent is to do a lot of hand-embroidery on this piece.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Sumptuous Surfaces

... is the title of another online class I'm currently taking - this one with Sharon Boggan. I've been familiar with Sharon's work for a long time, particularly her online stitch dictionary - an essential resource for anyone doing Crazy Quilting/embroidery. In Pamela Allen's class we're supposed to work quickly, intuitively. Conversely, for the first week, Sharon is leading us through the design process, thinking about concept development and making sketches, thinking about form.

One of the ideas I've been kicking around is that of "portals" - you can see my first sketch above. I haven't done any shading or noting various stitches/densities to be used yet but I can "see" it in my head. Now I just need to translate all that to the sketch itself.

That sketch is very loosely based on a photograph - my own attempts at design were underwhelming to say the least. I thought it better that I move on than never get past lesson 1.

Any and all suggestions welcome!