SAL

Another 3 weeks have flown past!

This Stitch-A-long is for personal stitching. We post our progress every three weeks, which keeps me up to the mark.

And I have done three more squares in my sample wheel. This is where I am up to now….almost finished the second ring.

I am following the instructions on Cathy Reavy’s YouTube channel. Let’s name the stitches.

1. Detached chain stitch. The stitching is attached at the sides, rather than going through the backing material.

2. Turkish rug stitch

3. Laid stitch, with French knots to make the cup of the acorn.

I really enjoyed doing 2 and 3, so I want to give you a close up of them.

Sweet little acorns, laid stitch and French knots. The stem is coral stitch, which was a stitch way back in the first ring.

Turkish rug stitch to build up this very cute little Christmas tree, with light spilling from the top!

Do follow the links to see the wonderful work that the other stitchers are doing. There is a wide — and inspiring — range of works. Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Helen

“My life has been a tapestry….”

My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view
A wondrous, woven magic in bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold

Carol King’s song has been streaming through my head lately. I love this first verse, and think it is a marvellous way to see my life. However, I remember that there is a bit in it about someone turning into a toad ~ I hope doesn’t apply to my life!

It has been in my head because I have done more work on my tapestries. It was my tapestry work that was inspiring me through a grey period of creativity.  This is how it looked when I last showed you; I had attached the woven boulder to the canvas and had begun free form sewing.

Tapestry work in progress (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2016)

This is where I am now.

Tapestry work in progress (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2016)

Still a work in progress, but nearing completion. I want to check the line of the mountain tops against the original photo. The tapestry is not a direct copy, but I need to get the perspective of the the ridges correct. The vegetation on the bottom left still needs work. If you look closely you will see how I mucked up the line on the bottom right. Annoying to have to sew one row. I may add some vegetation to the top left of the cliff. I also want to sew detail into the rock face, to build up its form.

Then there is the sky. I have light blue wool, but I think it will be too vivid. I may have to look around for a softer blue grey.

The focal point is the waterfall, and it is more obvious with the real thing. The photo has flattened out the colours. I like what I have created, and am certainly going to experiment more with the combination of weaving and sewing.

Tapestry work in progress (Copyright: Anne Lawson 2016)