SAL

Having finished my stitching wheel I was at a loss for what to do next. I knew I wanted to do something that used some of the stitches I had learnt. At the same time the Soul Craft Festival* began. We were offered the chance to embroider a bag.

The suggestion was to embroider plants that had special healing powers, and special memories, like lavender, thyme, echinacea. That would have been lovely, but my thoughts put the two things together. I began a square using different types of yarns.

It’s finished, but there will be more.

One of the delightful things about the Soul Craft Festival (and I describe it more below), is that Felicia and the presenters encourage me to think about my making process.

I am thinking about my need to have a finished object. I often get stuck on the questions of “What will I make it into? What will I do with it when I have finished?” The answer (“I don’t know”) often stops me from beginning. Not just sewing, but also with other art work. It’s obvious that knitting a jumper or making a dress is an end product, embroidering a square of material doesn’t. Neither does the stitching wheel.

So I am quietening that little voice that keeps asking “What will you do with this?” with a few answers. Maybe it will become a square on a tote bag, maybe it will join up with the others I am going to make. But the most satisfactory answer is “I don’t know, I am just playing, and practising stitches, and finding out which ones I like.”

Changing my thinking has also changed how I have gone about it. I did the panel in the middle with a Jacobean couching stitch (not sure if that is the right name), which ended up just too loose. (An embroidery hoop would help, but I can’t find mine, and I can’t go out and buy one.)

Out it came and I worked it in sections. It’s not fabulous, but it taught me a lot ~ and that’s the point for me at the moment.

I do like the outside edges.

I have done coral knot stitch in various threads. I have become quite a wiz at this stitch! The twisted novelty yarn is secured with couching. The wider blue band is double herringbone stitch. I like the contrast of the lighter blue, which I think works better than using the same teal colour.

This Stitch-A-Long is for embroiders to carry out their own passion projects. Each of us is doing something quite different and all are wonderful to see each three weeks. Follow the links below to find out what we are up to.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen

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* The Soul Craft Festival is a wonderful, comforting month of talks and discussions that delve further into how making nourishes our souls.

As the organiser, Felicia, says:

It’s a festival of ideas, stories and conversations about how making elevates our lives;
how making supports us, connects us and ultimately changes us, our communities, and our cultures.

It is running over October and while it has been going for 2 weeks, the programme will be available for the next 6 months. I am assuming it is not too late to join up.

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I respectfully acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land on which I live – the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung People of the Kulin Nation, their spirits, ancestors, elders and community members past and emerging.