TAST-2015- Week 3- Feather Stitch

This may be a small embroidery but it took me the best part of a day to stitch it.  Mainly because I was stitching in  a single strand of silk thread, that does take time.

The inspiration for this piece is the sun, the earth, the sand dunes and the sea that surround my island.  I had never thought of using feather stitch to represent the sea but it kind of works.

I used single feather stitch for the sun, stitching two rows in opposite directions.  This gives a great spiral effect.  (I want to try this with a thicker thread I think it could be very effective.)  

 

 

 

 

The line that represents the land is stitched in closed feather stitch, the thread this time was a Stef Francis silk.

The beach has grass tussocks here and there and this was stitched in feather with different weights of silk thread. I added the odd detached chain on some of the arms.

 Then I threw caution to the wind when it came to the sea.  I mixed differ weights, colours and types of silk and let it flow.

As you can probably see from this close up, I stitched onto a piece of eco dyed wool.

go to PIntangle to see what others are doing.

TAST - 2015 week 2 Blanket Stitch

I am feeling very stressed at the moment due to all the travelling that I have to do and as a result my stitching is sitting on my desk waiting for my mind to wind down a bit.  But I know what I want to stitch this week in fact it is very similar to a sample of blanket stitch I have done before.  

This one was stitched on cotton that I had dyed with tannin from bush leaves.  I just used left over bits of threads in the thickness and colours I wanted to achieve the effect I wanted.  My inspiration was the grasses that grow in the sand dunes at the back of Norfolk Beach which is on the eastern side of the island.  I will restitch another version of this in silk for my card collection.

There are many other ways to use this stitch.  Head over to Pintangle and have a look.

TAST 2015 - Fly Stitch

It's on again.  Last time I looked 1,300 people had signed up on facebook this year, that is amazing.

In fact it is just what I have been waiting for.  It gives me direction for the next step with my eco dying project,  inspired by the work of India Flint.  I have a whole bundle of sample fabrics now all eco dyed from native plants from my garden.   I have a variety of silk and wool samples. So far the wool has given the best results.

 But bits of fabric wasn't the end point I was after.  I want to use the place I live, Coochiemudlo Island, as the source of my designs and I wanted to start in my own back yard, literally.  It is winter here but many of the bush flowers are still on the trees.  Some like this bottle brush at the end of the flowering.

 

It becomes my first inspiration.  

 

I  plan to make small embroideries, that I can stitch in a day or so, and mount them to make cards.  I plan to do all my stitching using silk threads.   So here is my first.  The bottlebrush is stitched in two colours of silk in fly stitch then overstitched with straight stitch in an old gold yellow.  I could improve those leaves me thinks.

Now I'm going to head over to Pintangle to see what everyone else is doing.