Stitching into a monoprint.

Stitching a little bit of one of those monoprints. For fun, mark making, slow stitching. We have had Haggis, the -dog-who-comes-for-holidays, staying so been doing more walking than usual especially around the enormous field. The field is golden and the barley harvested.  This is a walking stitch around the enormous field. That is my next theme for an exhibition at Quenington next June/July.

Playing with paint and monoprints.

 A wet Sunday afternoon so I got out my acrylic paints, rollers and geli plate.

 Just playing around with ideas of the enormous field with crops at different times of the year.

 These are on paper,

 then on fabric.

 One to stitch into. A pick up and put down piece for slow stitching.

Also working on a Rose Bay willow herb in stitch. Another diary story, third in the series.

Summer garden colours in stitch.

 Too hot and dry in the garden but some flowers like it. The colours are bright and beautiful.

 I wanted to have a piece I could pick up add some stitches to and put down. So I gathered together some fabric scraps and loosely based on these abstract collages I made ( Sue Dove online workshop)

 assembled, played, pinned and stitched down. Then it gets addictive like a jig-saw puzzle.

Then it takes over so you can't think of anything but swirling bright colours and which bit to stitch next in which colour? Such is embroidery for me. The backing is a bit of blanket so it is quilting nicely. I have put a little free machine embroidery in patches of colour to help blend, catch down and contrast textures. I don't know how big it will get, just seeing where it takes me. I can keep adding as I go and layering over if I change my mind about colours. Stitching is just running stitch- like kantha stitching.