Lac Notre Dame

This summer was beautiful in Quebec.  I was lucky enough to have a couple of months to stay in the Laurentian mountains swimming daily in Lac Notre Dame.  This year was not about dying but rather meditative hand stitching and I took my cue from the tranquility of the lake, the fantastic cloud formations that changed from moment to moment, and the lush surrounding mountains.

My palette was limited by the scraps of fabrics and the shades of embroidery floss I had on hand.

The lake was a piece of hand dyed fabric left from another project and the rest of the fabrics were cottons and upholstery fabrics that I had been gifted.

After I placed all the tiny bits of fabric I began hand stitching them.  No glue used.  I had 6 ply embroidery floss and I experimented with using all 6 at a time, sometimes 3 at a time, and often just a pair of threads.  my goal was to create the lush texture with the limited colour palette.

In the beginning it was about getting rid of the pins so I would stop getting poked so much as I stitched.  But then I got into a rhythm, an enjoyable meditative rhythm and so just kept stitching.

As the stitching became more intense, I began to see how the interplay between the threads and the fabric changed the tone and the colours.  I could dull down something that felt too bright, and I could suggest another colour with green threads on top of brown fabric.  It was a great learning experience.

The final result

18.5" wide x 15" long 

and here is where it will live, in a lovely Ontario home surrounded by beautiful trees outside and other loved objects and plants inside.

Installation

 As the wedding celebrations became a fond memory, the bride and groom chose to frame their wedding canopy and it now graces their wall in their living room.  It is set in a floating frame with a scant quarter inch space framed by a natural wood grain.