Balance

Becky sent me a link to this photo....and it took me right back to our childhood and the little country elementary school we both went to. Anyone else grow up playing on the monkey bars? 

I was actually scared to death most of the time I was on them and I was one of the kids who couldn't hang upside down from my knees. Was I the only one?

Was it a strength thing? A balance thing? Or just a confidence and fear thing? I'll have to ask Becky if she could do it.

I am reimagining parts of my studio space. I'll explain more about that later...but it is where most of my time and creative energy is going these days. It's a change that I have been thinking about for a while...and it was just time to do something about it. I believe it's going to propel me forward in the next phase of my creative life.

But I am still trying to infuse (pun intended) some other creative projects into my days. It's all about balance. And that is not necessarily my strength.

I've been wanting to get back to my fused stripes project. The last time I wrote about it was October 4th just before guests arrived. And many of you know that not long after that....everything shifted in our lives when Margie fell.

In order for me to move along on the project...I had to know how I was going to finish it. I know I'm going to wrap it around the canvas that currently hangs in the living room (if it's successful)....but I needed to know whether I was going to top stitch or not. The substrate I want to fuse it to is very stiff so would be difficult to bend or roll to be able stitch in the middle.

So I made a practice piece a few days ago.

I fused this simple stripe piece so I could audition some stitching. I wanted my big piece to feel like a painting rather than a quilt.....but I also absolutely love the look of stitching on fabric. So I had to experiment. 

My first thought was to stitch in the ditch....which just means stitching on the lines where two fabrics meet. This usually gives some definition and a bit of texture without being too much.

It was OK...lost of starts and stops and pulling threads to the back. I also found it's so easy to stray off the line a bit and those stray stitch lines really showed up on the dark fabrics. 

I know I missed a few places...

but if you look closely you can see the med gray green stitching lines outlining the pieces. I like it...but it wasn't the answer. I think it would be better not to stitch at all rather that just stitch in the ditch. 

Next I tried some slightly wonky topstitching over the entire piece....and immediately it felt right...ish. So I think it's the answer I was looking for and I don't mind that it makes it more quilt like. The linear lines are still a bit painterly.

The light/med tone gray/green thread I chose doesn't show up very well on the lights...but it's good on the rest. Maybe a shade darker?  Maybe a combo? Hmmm.

Translating this to my big piece is the next hurdle. Stay tuned.