something stitchy

I needed something stitchy to do. Perhaps it's because I just finished two pieces that involved some hand stitching, but were done rather quickly and I couldn't savor them? Or maybe it's because the large piece that I am hand stitching is not cooperating at the moment? Or maybe I just wanted a small hand stitching project that could travel well? Whatever the real reason, I have put everything aside and answered the call of the thread and needle.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the intense hand stitching I have done on my cathedrals pieces, so I thought I'd start another. This time I wanted to experiment with some thick wool sweaters and the embellisher machine. The sweaters have seen better days, but were still lovely to touch and since it's all about touch I figured they'd be perfect for this project. I took off the sleeves and decided to needle felt one for a less bulky substrate. Seven broken felting needles later, I decided that my embellisher didn't like bulky sweaters. Too bad.

I tortured it a bit more as I felted in some light blue wool onto it.

I am depicting the Saint Nicholas Naval Cathedral in St.Petersburg, Russia.  It's a stunningly beautiful pale blue cathedral, made even more special to me because my father was baptized there eons ago.

Following along with reduce, reuse, recycle mantra, I dug into my thread clippings (yes I save them...) and pulled color appropriate selections that I arranged on my "canvas".

thread clippings arranged

pale blue tulle will keep everything in check

Then I sketched with other favorite sketching tool, my industrial Bernina, and outlined the cathedral in pale blue thread for my hand stitching guidelines. It's going to be a bit hard to see, but I want the hand stitching to be the star here, so my eyes will just have to do their best.

can you see my sketch?

here's a close up

Now for the next fun step! Auditioning thread. At the moment I have pulled out all I have in the right color scheme, some editing will take place soon. And then I'll get stitching!

a few possibilies

Hopefully in another week or so I'll have an update to share after I have put in a few stitches. Don't expect anything speedy here, I plan to savor this one.. Perhaps while I'm in a starting mood I'll start another on a red sweater sleeve....hhhmm?