making a place for.........

 time for a catch up after a lull 

now i have moved in to my happy hut, i have resumed progress with sifting through the result of my walks and collecting - one of the walk mapping cloths is turning into a soft bag/pot 

the stitching needed to be extended to cover the join, so that is still going on - lovely meditative work and the fabric is such a pleasure to work on

tricky to take pics as it is now 3D

i'm happy with how this is progressing - it will be a place made for something 

ps - february 2022 the completed bag  

                   

developing walk maps

 i've shifted my wavering focus to developing the printed walk routes

the routes are stitched in ecodyed yarns - this looked stark and lacked depth, so i experimented with a top layer of ecodyed sheer, finally deciding on a very fine silk organza with ghostly markings

i added areas of pavement markings drawn from my photos of street furniture

and for more dimension i am layering on stitching which refers to the texture of the security fencing i pass on my way to the supermarket, such a stark contrast to the more natural area i emerge from just before reaching it

there is a good reason for my distraction for once - a month ago my new workspace arrived and i have been busy moving into and organising my new "happy hut" - this has prompted me to do some serious thinning of my stash but i am feeling lighter with every item i choose to part with - hopefully someone somewhere will benefit from my recycling 

more sampling, with a purpose

building up pieces to assemble as a concertina or zig-zag book

slowly progressing with my stitched walk maps - drawing on my stash of ecodyed fabric and threads 

i'll be adding more to this .......soon

another WIP and it's starting point - 

the marks reflect my visual finds around the place i am exploring 

i am also doing a course which involves machine embroidery, so these hand-stitched pieces are my restful stitching - i really get absorbed in the rythm of stitch, building the marks

moving on a bit

 after a lot of procrastination i finally tried out my oak and walnut extracts, i won't call them inks as i have not added the relevant ingredients 

i used some to reproduce some pavement patterning - using slightly diluted extracts as background, adding a thickener for the dots

then i used my print blocks to build up a background pattern with slightlly different dilutions, again with thickener

the blocks show some of the routes i have been walking - traced from a map shown here and mentioned in an earlier post

this time i kept the prints separate 

these will all be used as bases fo further stitching

in the meantime i have continued to collect and add stitch to found items

i have a particular soft spot for leaf skeletons, the network patterns fascinate me - i'd love to stitch these to some organza with gossamer silk ....... if i feel that i can do the skeletons justice.......?

another half leaf, with a repair at the point

and a combination of finds

i am beginning to think about ways of bring some of these elements together but am a fair way from attempting it yet

collecting thoughts 2

 

i have become more aware of the textures and patterns around me 

i stop and look closely at these every time i pass them - the colour gradations and lacy decayed flowers captivate me

our local level crossing was recently refurbished with an enclosed approach, for safety (and thereby hangs a long tale and much local outrage, but the locals won) -  i keep eyeing up the pattern of built up of layers of this grid ........

.....and the wood edging, with blue "cat's eyes" which light up so attractively at night (meant to prevent us from straying onto the rail line)

this security fence topping has always caught my eye, but here the green blue and silver-grey composition seems to offer so much stitching potential