blocking and reworking

I came across this piece of machine embroidery I did some time ago. It was nearly the 8x8in size for the CQ Journal Quilts this year.

Damp stretching/blocking the embroidery

Originally I had been disappointed that the paper soluble I used to guide the embroidery didn't dissolve in the places where the stitching was thick. The linen was tea dyed before the stitching, so I used a damp spent tea bag to darken the paper bits. But then the whole piece became much more dark than I liked. And so I had to work into it more. But it was still more of a very rainy day in a ruin.

So, it sat in a drawer.

When I saw it this time, all that trial was no longer filtering my vision, and I thought if I give it a bit of a hand wash, it might lighten it a bit. It did!

Furthermore, the theme I am using this year is to make pieces to continue the set of 6 I had in the CQ Celebrating Diversity entry. I gave those to a Certain Young man at Christmas to remind him of Britain while is out in the world. If I add 12 more, then he will have a good collection which he can arrange as he likes.

So, the idea of a rainy day in an abbey ruin will be a good reminder of the places just like this we have visited while on holiday over the years.

There will be a little space round the edges, so it will be a bit more like a painting or sketch. The only thing is to work out a way to have a line going from one edge to the other. Any direction and shape of line. I have an idea.