White ferns

Phew, managed to get my piece finished, and it's still the 31st!

After nearly three months in New Zealand, followed by a nasty virus for two weeks, then two weeks in France, followed by a pair of blocked ears and a bad back, I haven't had the inclination to do any sewing for a long while.  This challenge was a good push to get me back to creating.

I wanted to use some of the images I had got from NZ, particularly the ferns.  All sorts of ferns grew wherever we went , and I built up quite a library of photographs of them.  For this piece I started with a piece of silk, sort of white coloured (in the right light it looks gold and white, but normally it just seems to look rather sandy), then used the simplified image of an uncurling tree fern tendril.  I added some crayon to give it a bit of depth, then decided the whole piece was too pale.  I took another of my ferns and used a technique I had wanted to try for a while - stitching a shape then painting inside it.  Using this method I added more ferns around the edge of the tree fern, then closely quilted between the ferns using a deliberately wobbly 'straight' stitch.  Finally I felt a normal binding would too too heavy, so added a simple edging using a piece of frayed white silk, simply stitched over the edge.

I don't think the photo shows the colours well, but the light was fading when I took the photo this evening.  On the whole I am pleased with it, and also very thankful I've started sewing again.