Friday, May 23, 2014

Winter Tides

I created this piece at one of our PTA Retreats. It still isn't finished, but along the way (and once again getting side-tracked), I realized I had a lot of leftover blocks, enough to make a smaller version. 
I liked the fabrics so much, I decided to do that and also justify the procrastination of finishing this piece. The second version (shown at bottom) is a little smaller by about 1/3.
I decided to do some free motion embroidery, drawing with my thread to create a little interest on the surface. I used Lana thread by Madeira - part wool and part acrylic. I've talked about this thread before, I really love it. You can use it in the top of your machine but need a large eye needle such as a Top Stitch in size 16. It does create a lot of fuzz in the throat plate area so it's good to stop and clean it every so often.

Some of the images were silk screened on but most were machine stitched with Lana thread.
I used 2 different values to give the feel of distance. It was a lot of fun and easier than I thought to just meander and embroider. The images were very "weed-like" so perfection was not in order here.

I machine quilted similar images, some done in a monofilament for just the texture
and some done with a rayon thread, close in color to the embroidered images.
Sometimes a name will hit me right away, sometimes not. When I looked at this I thought of beaches and the gray, bleakness of winter - so Winter Tides.

6 comments:

  1. Love the stitching. I think I may have to find some of that Lana thread, it shows up so well.

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    1. Linda and Hillary, Lana thread is made by Madeira and used to be Burmilana ...then at some point they changed it to Lana and now it is back to Burmilana. It is part wool and part acrylic and leaves a strong presence on the surface...The thread looks just like crewel embroidery thread from years gone by so it is not shiny...I checked online and if you go to www.madeiramart.com, you can find it there...lots of colors.

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  2. Thanks for explaining your process, this piece is wonderful!

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  3. I love what you have done with the subtle shading of the greys in the big piece. The idea of stitching plants on the smaller pieces works wonderfully well. I really like the idea of the Lana thread too - I've never meet it before.

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  4. Stunning....and lucky me, I got to see it in person......

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  5. Really lovely and I think the neutral colors add to the mood of the piece.

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