I always like to have an in-between, hand stitching project on the back burner, for those times when the muse is not being cooperative and I need to keep my hands busy. This piece is my homage to the daily stitchings and scratchings of Judy Martin and Penny Berens. I greatly admire the work of both artists and while, not committed to working on my piece daily, I'd like to think that I'll throw a few stitches on every time the mood strikes!
A long narrow piece ( approximately 6 inches wide by 4 1/2 feet long) that's gentle and very soothing. I admit that the rolled up canvas is a little awkward, but I'm getting used to it. Narrow strips of cotton batiks & commercial fabrics have been stitched into machine wrapped braid and then couched onto the artists canvas background, with two strands of embroidery floss. The original machine wrapped braid technique was taught to me by Penny B. many, many years ago, so I thank her once again for her invaluable instructions.
Detail of the braid and stitching.
Mostly straight and tidy, but I do need a way to corral the canvas while I'm working on it. Perhaps long safety pins! Any other brilliant ideas?
The threads are clippings from other projects and mostly live in a big old jar!!! Don't they make a nice background?
Now enough of this, it's time to start my June bead journal!!!
12 comments:
There's a plastic clip that quilters use to manage the side of the quilt under the harp while machine stitching. Or a very big binder clip from the office supply store. Or a clamp from the home improvement store.
Diane
... or take a really big stitch with a cord and big needle. Pull it out each time you unroll and replace. That would be less weighty on hands.
How about 2 humongus paper clips, one on each end? or use a thick thread and a needle and push one end through in the middle of the canvas, and tie the ends together... You will have to move the thread down each time you advance... but it would keep the excess rolled up neatly. Maybe 2 threads one on each end?
This is so lovely, Anne Marie!!!! I agree, it's an absolute must to have a project like this always on the burner, pleasing and peaceful as it slowly, ever-so-slowly, matures. My Grandma's Garden quilt, hand pieced with 3,500 little hexies, gives me similar satisfaction.
To contain the canvas roll... I'd make a drawstring bag for it. An ugly, but practical, way is to scrunch a piece of foil around it.
Hey, that's great AM. It can take over your life if you do it every day! Despite untamed canvas you are managing to stitch that down beautifully. It seems to me that weighing it down with those giant paper clips was a good suggestion. Let us know how it works.
What a lovely idea and great colours, makes me think i should do something like that with my leftover knit threads, hmmm - food for thought. cheers
Diane, Beth, Robin and Penny - thanks for the compliments and all the great ideas!!! For now, I've decided to go with medium sized, binder clips. If I squish the roll of canvas together and then use two clips, one on each side, it holds quite nicely. Of course, I haven't actually tried working on it yet, so plans might still change. I may even try out some of the other ideas, just to see if they work. I wonder where I can find giant paper clips??
Kaite, thanks and yes, leftover yarn makes wonderful braid. Or even still, mix fabric and braid for even more texture. Don't abandon your knitting needles though!!! Knit the braid into a nice long strip! How's that for a new direction?
No, not braid, knitting of course. I have started already, cast on with one colour and slowly knitting up a 6" wide strip with all the bits. You'll see, and i might even start a following!! evil chuckle here...
How about a bicycle clip? The kind you see people use on their pant legs to keep them out of the way of the chain.
Blog YOUR is very interesting
and beautiful.
This is so lovely.
Interesting post with interesting comments.
MA, I already thought of the bicycle clip as I used them once for machine quilting a baby quilt. However, who knows where they're hiding or if they're even in the apartment? They might be a little large for this roll though!
QUILTONLINE, thanks for your comments and for visiting! I always appreciate visitors from so far away and wonder how they found my blog.
Judy, thanks!!
An update on corralling the roll!! The clips are working nicely, but the thread does get caught on them sometimes. Still, it's better than fighting with the loose canvas, so I'll continue this way. I also wondered about getting a pair of larger plastic bottle caps and cutting out the edges. That way I could form something like a bicycle clip, but in a much smaller size.
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