wonderment

swift water flowing, day after day, year after year

never-ending

surface patterns continuously forming and re-forming

design in motion

the fascination continues, and now, finally,  the work begins

the first stitched sample, complete

a scrap of dark blue linen from a charity shop find

the base stitches were laid in by hand but with sewing-machine thread

the fineness of it meant many stitches melted in to the weave of the cloth so there was a lot of over-stitching

still, it was effective, albeit slow

metallic blending filament in steel blue laid over top

the small light stitches above are the glint of the metallic thread shining... if you zoom in you may see it better

a long-standing itch is finally being scratched...

over the past few years I've photographed the Yukon River in every season and every light

the current patterns never ceased, nor did my sense of wonder at the ever-changing beauty of it

it's only in the last few years I began to draw them

and now, finally, to work them in stitch

this small sample was a test piece

wanting to know how long laying in the base design with the sewing thread would take

(it takes a very long time)

and how frustrating the fine metallic thread would be 

(it was beyond annoying)

and ultimately, how pleased I would be with the results

(over the moon!)

when I first started this piece I realized my dream of a large piece of cloth a-swirl with these marks would take years to do... mulling it over as I worked on it I thought of using free-machine embroidery to make the base design of current marks

I did that this summer, three versions, now ready to add detail stitching to enhance the current lines

before tackling one of them, I first wanted to test the metallic thread - last week I finally did it

there's more I'd like to do though, than just adding the metallic but I'm keen to begin so am jumping in - no more sampling, just going for it

a selection of threads is laid out

and I'm feeling good, ready to begin

stay tuned...