Monday, January 14, 2013

Recurring motifs 1 -- branches


Contemplating 366 hand-stitched squares in my 2012 daily art project, I realize how certain familiar stitches, shapes and symbols came back again and again, especially on days when I couldn't figure out anything original to do.  That's when I reverted to my usual suspects.

Early on I started to make motifs with featherstitching.  For decades I have admired the elaborate featherstitching on crazy quilts but never quite mastered it, and this year I decided to do so.  At the start of the year I consulted my embroidery stitch manual to make sure I was doing it right, but it didn't take long to internalize the routine.

The featherstitching always reminded me of branches with little twigs coming off, and I often decorated them with detached-chain leaves or little french-knot flowers.







And there were lots more where those came from!




3 comments:

  1. What a wonderful assemblage you must have. Have you posted a photo of all of them together? Maybe I missed it.

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  2. I do love them Kathy.
    Have you thought about putting them together crazy quilt style?

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  3. Sharon -- I've posted all the individual squares on my other blog devoted to daily art -- you can find the address in the right hand panel of this blog up toward the top of the page. I haven't got all the squares sewed together yet for the year, but when I finish I'll show them here.

    Kay -- I'm stitching the panels together with plain old running stitch, which tends to flatter all the disparate styles of stitching I've racked up through the year. I'll show you the finished project in a few more days and you can see if you would like it better with crazy stitching!

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