Pattern, with it's repeat symbolism and vast ways of being expressed and organized, is a huge language so intrinsic to the roots of humanity as identifying marks offering specific information, yet in spite of - or maybe because of - the vast proliferation, sheer variety and abundance of it today, its significance has been largely lost or dismissed as being purely decorative. Here is a little stitching started in class on a sampler:
Notan is a Japanese word for balancing light and dark or positive and negative space. For the exercise below, I tried to create a balanced tension such that I can look at the design and first see black as the foreground and then blink and see the white as the foreground, instead.
And then we moved into colour, using stamps we made of our designs on fabric.
This one is on a sheer and left the same image on the plastic below as it seeped through, so I made a monoprint, too. 
Here is the front and back of the eucalyptus/oak dyeing using the same leaves as in the previous post and getting a more muted look:
And some stamped symmetry I was exploring in yesterday's class.
I also did further oak and eucalyptus experimentation - the one on the far right is on silk velvet and the leaf images are less defined because of the nap.
I used up all my leaves, so today I found and gathered more - and also was fortunate to find several chunks of different kinds of bark to try.
It reminds me of the flicker feather I embroidered and all that symbolizes to me. Here is the other side:
These leaves had already dyed silk in a previous post and I've got them working on some more cashmere to see what happens next.
More exploration of symmetry on paper with a stamp I made in today's Pattern class.
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!
and a backing could be 'air' to float on - and also have a moon as a guide on the other side.
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:
I still haven't left any of my Arashi Shibori crinkled because curiosity has me peeking between the folds! 
In the afternoon I was back at the Victoria College of Art to talk to visitors at our exhibition. I met textile artist and instructor Elaine Duncan, who gave me a demonstration of tapestry weaving on a copper loom. She had a display of her beautiful natural dyed yarns, books and some of her lovely pieces - and - some indigo shibori! Elaine will be teaching a tapestry weaving course and one on natural dyeing at the college soon. 
Lesley Turner, who taught the Mark Making With Machine class I just took, was showing how to make a pattern using various stamps and paint. She is offering a course on pattern design this summer that is sure to be comprehensive. 
I also have stitched a few more hearts: 
