Ready for the next steps…

Stitching, stitching, stitching…I haven’t had this much dedicated stitching time in…ever! It’s been so nice to sit and sew and relax. And it’s moving so quickly that I can see the progress!

I posted these pictures on facebook, but not on here.

I’m working on two projects at once, just so I can switch off. It really helps when doing free form stitching. You take a step back from one and focus on the other, giving your brain time to decide on the next step.

The silk project is ready for the next step, too. I guess I didn’t show you the machine quilting that I did, but that needs to be done before any beading. It’s really difficult to quilt over the beads! Now it’s ready for the beads and I’ve decided that I’m only going to bead where there is pink.

That gives me a big center section and a trail of pink through each turquoise section. I think it will be unifying and provide a very good focal point. I consider my design skills very weak when it comes to ‘focal point’ so I’m happy about that.

The leaf project is nowhere near beading or quilting. The embroidery continues, but these are very big leaves! But the embroidery does not have to be ‘fancy’ to be effective. Simple stitching over those large areas works just fine.

I try to vary the colors as much as the paint colors vary on the leaves. I don’t want to match much at all. That would be boring and kind of defeat the purpose of a stitching layer on top of a paint layer. There should be a machine quilting layer and a beading layer to come, but those decisions will be made as each step is completed.

That’s one advantage of slow stitching: plenty of time to run possibilities through your brain as you stitch, so actual decision time is easier.

Except now I have to make a decision—stitch or bead? What a luxurious problem to have!