How Things Change or Evolve

Back in the Fall a new beginning was pinned to the wall

Lines of a container to be filled with stones

was drawn with paper.

Paper was changed to fabric

and I was thinking it might be called 'Stone Ground'.

I fell in love with this piece as I sat in the evening light 

couching stone upon stone within the shape of my container.

One evening I threw it on the floor beside my favourite stitching chair

just to check on how the stones were looking

And low and behold

I realized it was no container at all but an ancient cairn.

Blanket stitch was added to the base of the cairn

and then I took it to the design wall.

Loved it so much more as an ancient pile of stones

rather than a bowl full of them!

As I searched for the placement of the final rock shapes

I noticed a layer of smaller stones working it's way through the cairn.

Loved the thought that perhaps this layer represented

a different era or generation adding stones through the centuries.

So.... went back to the design wall

Added more to my imagined layer

Removed smaller stones inserted between the top layer of larger ones.

I love it even more!

Makes things more interesting.

Adds to the story.

And I am happy to allow the piece to create it's own story.

The conversation between our work and us is indeed a dance.

And So Begins Another Year Another Piece

"Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End"

(Lucius Annaeus Seneca)

When my journey with 'Stone Pathways' came to an end

I was reluctant to let go

So the remnants of white backgrounds were stitched into strips

these were then filled with embroidered pebbles.

Remnants of the stones were sewn together in a rough fraying drunkard's path.

and pebbles embroidered immediately stitched all remnants together.

That was last year

But now a new year has begun

and so a home has been found for my remnants....

....more pathways!

There is so much white background surrounded by nothing but grey

So I have sprinkled bits of whiteness elsewhere.

Tiny dots are easier inserted with reverse appliqué

Larger ones with simple appliqué.

Perhaps tiptoes alongside heavy steps along life's pathway.

Frayed edges create a pathway of their own

Different paths, different lives.

Have no idea yet how I will stitch my new pathways

One step at a time

Next step will be to attach them to a background

and as I stitch them down by hand

ideas will come.

And here is a small beginning made many years ago

that hasn't found a home yet

but he will never be discarded

for

I love him!

Happy New Year

Happy Beginnings