what if ?

what if #53: part 4

cont'd from here.

the embroidery on this is very time consuming and so the piece is moving slowly, giving me a lot of time to think about it... i am just stitching and adding things here and there. a bit of a ceremony over here has me asking myself what if this piece becomes a container of some kind?
more:

what if #57: quilt top in a day

since i have learned to use a machine to piece, freely that is, i have often asked my self what if i try to make a quilt top in a day, even though it is such a weird thing for a snail to dream about. so while i was wondering what if i play around with contrast...i kept going. but i didn't like it much. just another strip quilt.... so i thought what if i just sleep on it? when i got up in the morning and saw it in the morning light, well i liked it. and now i am thinking what if i take this high tech piece and make it look like some tribal textile? so i am working toward that goal. (i accidentally sewed one piece inside out and i think that was a key inspiration to impart some history as a theme here). the accents are mostly velvet. current size - 57" x 62". 

what i #58: woven inspiration for patchwork

and i thought what if woven textiles can directly inspire patchwork? the free piecing gives it a nice handwoven variation in line.

navajo blanket study pieced in cotton and linen. 18" x 24".

what if #53: part 5

ok. this one sat around for a while all coiled up waiting to become the holder for something, and i couldn't get going with it. it needs to hold more was the felling i got and i had plans to extend it a bit. it sat. and then i though what if i extend it using an old shirt placket? an indigo shirt. a beautiful ready made edge with holes. button holes. buttonhole are always good for something. so that's what i did. and for some of the raveling edges i thought what if i just mend them with satin stitch,,, solid indigo.... and tack them down with that magic blue? nice. (left, by the needle) . when it gets a bit bigger i will coil it up again and see what it will hold. i need a bottom edge.

what if #53: part 6-the details

the embroidery here is slow and deliberate and i thought what if i post a closer look at the stitching. there are many thoughts here. it is difficult to communicate the nature of a textile sometimes because the appreciation is in the feel of it and the detail is part of that.
first of all, i suggest clicking on the images to see them enlarged.
the indigo thread is incredible. i may be the only person on earth with this thread. it is a weaving yarn. plied using 2 shades of indigo. custom made by a mill i worked for. it abrades as you sew. the instant wearing in not of this world. i have worked the stitches closely, they are raised above the surface.
varying the tone of a color theme adds an antiqued look. overemphasizing the fading idea. i may be getting in deep here but dyes fade differently and if you pick up an old worn textile you find unexpected colors. i feel it is important to understand this. and why it happens and the beauty of this variation is almost not reproducible. but. though food for further thought...blue is not just one color and so, (like baking cookies), substituting one blue for another or even a color close in the family creates a similar result with movement within a color theme and i feel this is very unexplored. i am exploring.

i am also intrigued by the direction of a stitch. filling an area with a stitch is often given character by the stitch itself, but the direction of the stitch will also give you variation and thus enhance the texture of a piece. there is a lot of emphasis put on the stitch. but in looking at primitive textiles, it is amazing to find pattern variations produced from the most simple and functional stitches. i tried using a simple split stitch moving in a spiral and i find this an amazing variation, simply because of the way the light reflects the direction.
it has me spinning.

and so i come back to another simple stitch, used to tack down a ragged edge. and because the thread is that fading indigo some bizarre ancient mosaic results. if i am ramblng here it is because i am very happy with the results of this piece and i am encouraged to break these thoughts down into smaller elements from now on.

(continuation of previous post)

what if #59: stitching snow

an old drawing inspired a patchwork window. i used the free piecing machine method i just learned to block it out quickly. the sky is indigo, the snow drifts are white linen. i thought first about painting the snow but then i wondered what if i use thread beads for snowflakes on both the sky and snow areas. the raised white especially on the white is a nice effect. it works for snow and also fits into my nature of dots studies. the window with just the dimensional snow is so interesting i am thinking what if i leave the other details out. to be continued...

what if #59: part 2-log cabin with a view

the snowy window needed to be framed/edged and since log cabin style piecing is easy and fun, i asked myself what if i use strips of neutrals reminiscent of  plaster and wallpaper to expand this block, a log cabin with a window in the center?

i seem to have unexpected time to sit and stitch so what if i quilt this all over and see how it looks before considering any further decoration? i will need to add a backing fabric for stability, muslin i guess, and no batting. i have a nest of neutral thread scraps. i will use those. and what if i vary the amount of strands for the quilting? more texture.
18" x18" so far. in the back of my mind i am asking myself what if i try this log cabin with a view as a quilt, smaller blocks, many little windows? maybe these blocks could be a nice border with regular log cabin blocks in the center. maybe maybe maybe.

part 1

what if #59: part 3-quilting up a storm

there is nothing quite like stitching to transform a pieced textile into a unified  tapestry. i stuck with ' what if i just do a straight kantha style stitch? ' no fancy stuff. just varying the thickness, 2, 3 or 4 strands of floss, random neutrals. each piece treated separately. i also quilted in between the embroidered dots (tiny invisible stitches) to give the whole piece an equal tension and prevent bubbling.  if i had embroidered the dots after adding the muslin back i probably would have prevented the tension difference but sometimes when you are what-iffing, instead of planning, you have to take the thoughts as they come and deal with each step as a new challenge. the floral pinwale corduroy on the right remains un-quilted because it has something special that i have not yet identified . 
the piece now has a life and i am thinking what if i name it "the longest night" and add some story elements against that thought?
the sunlight has inspired the feeling of ghosts and i am wondering if i can use this wonderful sheer i received as a gift from mary....maybe sun  ghosts from solstices past.  transparent appilques?  what if i cut them out and try that?

of course then there is the question of where to put them. i like the right side of the window ...there is that lovely strip of raw silk from stephanie, the rough texture seems a perfect contrast to the fine sheer so i thought what if i just pin them there and see?

i like them there and the printed corduroy is organic and sprouting somehow. this can work. what if i just work those ghostly suns into the surface with more stitches? lots of them. if you missed part 2

what if #59: the longest night

after deciding on pillow as a finished form, i asked myself....what if i  just sew it to an existing pillow cover to speed things up? i am done with this one and its dedication will be over at spirit cloth. i would like to embellish the floral corduroy on the right side but i am thinking what if i do it next year?  cont'd from