stitching on the cave walls...

A few weeks ago I wrote about the movie "The Cave of Forgotten Dreams". That post is here if you missed it. A couple of my hand dyed pieces reminded me very much of the walls of the cave.

hand dyed cloth with leaves and wrapped around a tin can, simmered in oak leaves and acorns.

















I cut and arranged and stitched all the layers together. Some sections are 4 layers thick but it feels so good as the top layers are the dyed silk. I made some stencils and templates and added beasts to the walls of the cave, made footprints on the floor and placed some trees in the night sky at the exit of the cave. So here is what it looks like so far. I plan on doing more stitching on this section. This is my favorite section of the magic cloth so far. The fact that this section doesn't really blend in with the rest of the cloth is not really bothering me. I'm going to make it work somehow. Click on the images for a closer view.

inside the cave with the drawings of the beasts on the walls

paw prints

it works better with cheesecloth...

more beasts...a new way of drawing.

wish it was this easy with a pencil

all stitched down. now for embellishment.

I think I need to dye some cheesecloth.

the inner beast...

an Otis sighting...

Jude mentioned in one of her lessons that it's nice to have a large cloth around when you're not working on it. The magic beast cloth I'm working on hangs over a comfy chair when I'm not stitching on it. I like to see it when I pass by. I also get lots of different ideas as I look at it each time. The very beginning stage was hard but things are moving along now. I kind of know where I'm going next. This is just the center so it will be a project I'll be working on for a long time. Can you spot Otis? Click on the image for a closer view.

just hangin out -- can you spot Otis?

feathers are everywhere--that bulge on the right is actually the lions paw. still needs lots of stitching.

and we're off...

Jude's Magic Diaries workshop started today. And, as usual, I'm off in a different direction than I planned. I did want to work on my moon quilt but I don't have as many pieces for that as I thought. I pulled out all my pieces and decided to go with the beasts and the very bright red/orange/yellow background. I'm hoping I can get all those pieces to work well together and plan to make some more beasts to add on. Also hoping I can tone down that bright background with lots of embellishments. If you want to join in, you can still sign on for this fabulous 6-month workshop here.
I'm back in here to say I just decided I'm going to onion skin dye that bright red/orange/yellow background before I do anything else. That should knock down that color.

the pieces I have so far

I came upon some silk scraps and just started playing with them and some cotton that was leaf bundle dyed. I was disappointed that the cotton was very hard to handstitch through so I wound up using the sewing machine for some of the stitching. I'm thinking the cotton and silk pieces will make a nice pouch and the nine-patches (hand stitched) will probably be used in the lining.

silk and cotton

The July/August issue of Piecework Magazine has a couple of great articles on Oya Lace with some instruction. It's a type of needle lace. I'm trying to learn. I'm using the edge of a vintage napkin.

the second one is a little better than the first.

Moons and Beasts

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I'm always working on several things at one time. I've been playing around with 'moon stitching' for the moon quilt I hope to put together. I saw some silk scrim with embroidery at the Houston Quilt Show and it inspired me to try embroidery on scrim. I put 2 pieces of scrim together with a temporary spray and starched it so it would be easier to stitch through. I placed it in a hoop, added some hand dyed scrim in spots and started stitching. It still needs some work but I think it will work.
I also started stitching on the moon piece I put together a couple of weeks ago.
I had put some little weavings together a few weeks back and a beast appeared in one of them so I decided to stitch him into the weaving. I don't know what he will look like when he's finished but I'm sure he will help me decide what stitches come next. Click on the photos for a closer view. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

silk scrim with embroidery viewed in Houston

my embroidery on scrim

moon stitching

the beast that appeared in my weaving