Let the Needle Do the Work

Free form embroidery, or 'Let the Needle Do the Work' is a wonderful activity. You don't need to plan anything, follow any pattern, rip out any stitches or feel frustrated. It is the ultimate relaxation!

Last year I took Sharon Boggon's Sumptuous Surface Embroidery online class and enjoyed it immensely. It was the season of cherry blossoming and the petals 'fell onto the fabric':

Now while I went 'off-line' and had to leave TAST and WIPW projects at home, I packed a small bag of even weave fabric, a set of Oliver Twist pink and green various threads, a skein of Silky from  De Haviland Embroidery and a variegated #5 perle from Steff Francis, and decided to just play.
The result was this piece of abstract art, and I just HAD to add a few dancing cherry petals!

I had no TAST, or other stitch dictionary, just the list in my head and I simply piled the stitches on, layer after layer - a tonic for the mind!

In a Whirlwind ...

Dear Friends,

I return to the land of online connection and blogging in a whirlwind of cherry flower petals.

 Among the back streets of Tokyo there are quiet temples,

 mature trees with impressively healthy growth of new flowers, directly from the trunk.

Some petals 'fell' on a piece of embroidery I did while away.

This is now being damp-stretched and I will blog about it when it has been mounted and is fit to face the camera.
I am lagging behind TAST and need to get those WIPW projects out of the closet...

Hope to be in touch again soon.

SSE course completed

As I mentioned in a previous blog post I have been taking the excellent Sumptuous Surface Embroidery course that is run by Sharon Boggon over at Pintangle.

The first SSE embroidery I made was monotone and after reading all your kind comments I decided to name it Dancing Hearts instead of the less attractive Wonky Hearts - although I still think I should not have used Backstitch for the outlines; on counted linen they make any curve wonky, or have I missed something?

Anyway, the second part of the course is based on colour and my theme was the end of the cherry season with the petals falling off the trees. Right now 'yaezakura', or cherry trees with double flowers, are turning the air and streets of Tokyo pink.

A tree near my house makes the street look like this....

My second SSE piece is this scene: blue sky, sunshine, leaves, petals, wind, pink concrete, ground, gutter, puddle of rain water...

I've tried out many styles but it is only the bottom right corner that is really textured and sumptuous.
That must be the petals that have fallen into the gutter and got soaked in a puddle of water.

Felt flowers

The cherry trees in Toyo are at now their best, here against the glass architecture of a business complex

or placing a Buddhist temple in a cloud of pink petals

or prettifying the fishing boats near my home.

The cherries put me  in a 'blossoming mood' and I made some fantasy flowers in felt for a birthday card.

My blossoming cherry tree

This has been the coldest winter I have ever experienced here in Tokyo. It also felt so LONG, and the plum trees started blooming way too late.

So it is surprising that the cherry trees have started opening their buds early, too early, record breakingly early. This is what the tree outside my house looked like this morning:

So I needed to switch decoration inside the house as well. Out came this old crazy quilt:

and these two TAST projects from last year, 

Satin stitch.

Oh, I have learned so much during the year and I am sure I could now do much neater stitches than these!

Stem stitch.

Don't these look rough, too?

Poor flowers, the originals, blooming outside my door are the best! Now if we could only get some warmth, too, PLEASE!