Stitching Lichen

T wrote about trying this stitch out. 
And I believe she found it at Chris Grey's who has a link to  Deepa's Chemanthy tutorial.
Oh, what a tangled path we lead!

It made me think of lichen.

 

And they look even better combined.

Driftwood Tree

Sometimes.....

 

the driftwood caught on the dike.....

 

is just too big for me to bring home.

Rooted in Rock

Sometimes the squirrels barely escape up the trees.....

 

Some Trees grow into mighty guardians....

despite being rooted in rock.

 

Their roots must dig deep.

I am told their roots reflect their canopy

A Forest Floor of Mighty Rocks

Mighty rocks are the foundation on which our woodlands grow in this part of Canada....

Somehow the trees find nourishment and survive....

I suppose it should be no surprise to find this reflected in my stitching.  This piece I named "A Chorus Line"...

Upon which there is much couching..

Perhaps things made by human hand should blend with nature....

Workplace Safety

Three older pieces that gave me carpal tunnel! I got started creating these after seeing an old master's carefully preserved pallet. Dark wood encrusted with oil paints that had blackened over the years but still little shots of bright colour peeked through in places. To come up with that effect I laid leftover pieces of cotton, velvet, silk all over a firm background. There must have been 6 to 8 layers. Then I machined through the lot row upon row. The carpal tunnel problems started with the cutting through layers stage. This one above became a furrowed field with a couple of haystacks one being one of my wrappings.

Then I moved on to try out the effect of water lapping over land.

Then the wild child in me came out and I made this one for a hippie show. It's enormous by the way!  Oh, and it includes some wrapping and some areas of stitching.

A few of my Favourite Things

One speckled pebble...

Three stripey pebbles....

A nest of pebbles.

A treasure from my parents' pebble driveway.

Even as an adult I loved searching for these rare little nests..

Had to include just a little bit of rust.

On Porcupines and Pincushions

These two black noses met a porcupine in the woods this weekend.

Quills flew everywhere and stuck into noses and even inside mouths.

Their trusty master managed to remove the quills from one rusty pup;

but the other needed more professional help. 

Jodi our vet gave up her Saturday afternoon to remove the prickly things from the more serious case.

We always say our pups 'live in the moment'; but let's hope they remember this!

Talking of prickly things..some tools of my trade...pincushions.