Looking in the Mirror

Down at the beach I saw a feather floating in the waves. And waves of stitch are adding up on this piece, here and there.

I've also been layering colour from oak, fern and eucalyptus leaves on this silk.

I have a piece of cashmere in the dye pot now and hope to get more of that salmon colour. Here's the whole piece of mirror symmetry - tomorrow I'm back at the Pattern course.

Oakay

As soon as I saw this stained, oak leaf embroidered cloth, I thought 'why not dye it with leaves and bark from a Garry oak tree to give it new life?' So I did...

The imprints are very pale - I've darkened this photo so you can see one. Like ghosts in the cloth, the essence of oak.

I unexpectedly got a lovely soft shade of pink along with the browns, creams and bits of green and gold. The strip of brown reminds me of a tree trunk and the shibori effect is where the ties touched the cloth. Unfortunately the photo does not do it justice.

Rebirth

This egg shaped embroidered flower linen has undergone some changes. I wove into it, removed the hem and frayed its edges, backed it with two pieces of linen, washed and quilted it.I like how it's come together. An altered embroidery - a rebirth.

Casting Season

When I was hiking a few days ago, even though the weather was hot and the forest was lit with shafts of sunlight, it was slightly chilly. I can feel the season turning. So much beauty close at hand

and looking into the distance.

I left more toilet paper casts drying at home - to some I added paint, glitter, or glue - just seeing what happens.

Stitch, Paper and Pattern

Stitches aloft... And stitches on the ground.

These toilet paper castings really pick up texture and are so easy and fun - although they take a long time to dry. I've stitched through the one above to make a card with it.

And here I've made a stamp and am using it to explore symmetry in the pattern design course that I'm taking.

Pattern is a fascinating and complex subject!

Good Fibrations

St. Ann's Academy was the perfect venue for Fibrations yesterday, with its orchard of trees providing great hanging space for creations like this Saori weaving, as well as shade. There were demonstrations, displays, vendors, music, draws and many friendly faces.

I bought some natural coloured Llama wool and also, this:

I'll show what I'm stitching now in my next post.

Dream Catcher

A ring of stitch could catch and hold dreams... and a backing could be 'air' to float on - and also have a moon as a guide on the other side.

I have also been working with symmetry with stamps and paper as part of the Pattern course I'm taking - and exploring developing a personal pattern. We have already covered alot of ground towards this huge subject and I am really enjoying the learning!

Memory of the Sun

Peek a boo. The stars are there in the daytime even if we can't see them and the sun is still there at night.

I am up to date with my posts now and ready to frolick onwards.

Afloat

You may have seen Jude Hill's Magic Feather Project on her blog Spiritcloth, but if not, here's a link: http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/spirit_cloth/the-magic-feather-project.html Flicker feathers have a special meaning for me, and I have wanted to embroider one, so this was great inspiration to make one and send it her way. I stitched another onto arbutus bundled silk and a fragment of a friend's old silk shirt. With the fringe and lightness of it, it really could float! And I made a third one and a feather stamp

This was the first experiment with the stamp:

My preference with colour on fabric is for it not to change the hand, which this ink did. Now I know.

A Little of Everything

Exploring raising the surface with silk and felt... The grey dots are made by the coloured fabric drying over pebbles.

I made a diamond stamp and used it to make a diamond shape.

Shibori diamonds on silk coloured with our local Garry Oak tree leaves.

Diamonds, Bits and Pieces

Over time, I've noticed how I'm drawn to the diamond shape and I've been keeping a book of diamonds - with photos of diamonds I see, a collage of a diamond, etc. This is the cover I made for it - the weaving was on a card I bought: Tomorrow I start a course about pattern at the Victoria College of Art with Lesley Turner. I plan to use a personal symbol I developed in the past which includes the diamond shape. I have basted together the piece below, which I began in Jude Hill's Spiritcloth online class last year. It's a story about my creative process and there's much stitch and embellishing left to do on it.

I have completed the chicken's head:

And some peonies left this colour on some silk:

Extending Summer

I just love the flowers in summer and I keep vases and bowlfuls all around the house. This year, as the petals began to drop, I collected them into a bag to colour this shirt. You can see the spent poppies, peonies, roses and iris still on the fabric above.

I added a shibori silk panel I dyed earlier this year and handstitched it to the front. I love that the flowers from this summer will live on through the muted marks and colours they've left.

The Colour of Summer

Another meeting of silks: And back in June I went through a table cloth making spree - eager for splashes of vibrant colour inside to mirror all the blooming in the garden.

I was working on a backing for this one and the one below it when I got side tracked into more natural dyeing...

But that's another story...

Silk Story

Silk paper... between silk and flowers...

I called this 'In-formed' because it formed from the inside out and the knowing inside us informs us.

Improvements

Rhodos on silk left in the sun: A tear...

led to a patch...

that adds interest.

Still catching up on posting some of what I've done over the last while.