Embroidered Figures, revisited

A Walk in the Woods

Back in December of 2020 I posted about my involvement in a critique.  This was an invaluable experience made available to me through SAQA.  Studio Art Quilters Association is an international community that I have been proud to be part of for many years.  They offer endless opportunities for education, exhibition and comradeship in a like-minded, creative community.

At that time the suggestion was that the figures were working but the background had some issues.  I have since gently removed them from the original background (check out my post in 2020 to compare) and now this is their new home.  I took this photo in the Laurentien mountains in Quebec and had it printed on to cotton.

Detail: In this photo you can see the dense embroidery as well as the sky light peaking through the trees.

Detail:  Here I am trying to demonstrate that the figures are popping forward from their background.  They have extra batting to create this effect.

Detail:  Focus on the grass that is embroidered at their feet.

Detail:  a view that is more straight on.

I will leave it with you as to whether the new background is a better home than the old one.  Please let me know what you think!

 

New Wedding Canopy

Wedding Canopy Project

This time for my first born

This assignment felt especially special,  and significantly important.  

Its not every day that your son gets married.  

Bride and Groom express their love with a ceremonial kiss

 

The process began with a concept.  My son and his fiancee are both chefs and so without hesitation he let me know that their canopy (chuppa) was to be about fruits and vegetables.  I received this information with some trepidation.  How to create fruits and vegetables in fabric without the appearance of childish cut and paste?  Spoonflower to the rescue.   They had many options to choose from and after great deliberation, and much study of many mailed samples, the betrothed chose this fabric.  It had an elegant grey background but many fun colours to give it life.  

I chose solids that picked up the tones and worked out a design.

The women in The Workroom, (1267 Queen Street W. Toronto) were incredibly helpful.  Together we decided to use the chosen fabric as a central round shaped medallion and then create four corners around it to make the final shape: 6 feet square.  This photo is at the shop with the staff able to see the final result as we chose the colour of the binding fabric.

I had made a decision to applique and quilt the five pieces separately since the project was so large.  I had never done this before so it was a challenge to fit the five pieces together like sweet puzzle pieces.  There was a significant learning curve to this process which will help a lot the next time around.

The applique theme was fruits of the vine.  The bride is studying to be a sommelier and both enjoy a good glass or two of wine.  Too, I feel that the grapes symbolize joy and fertility.  I wanted to imbue the project with these hopes and wishes.  Each grape and leaf was appliqued by hand with turned under edges. 

The thicker vine leaves were fabric applique and the thinner curlicues were free motion sewn with heavy weight thread.  The thicker vines were doubled over as I tried to create a 3 dimensional quality as I did with each grape.  some of the grapes have more fabric under than over and really pop forward from the background.

after much deliberation, this was the chosen binding fabric chosen, 

sewn on the front by machine and on the back by hand.

This is my first view of the chuppa installation.

The grooms first sighting.

A joyous ceremony, happy couple, feeling lots of great energy in the room.

After the ceremony, other young couples, in love, got swept up in the moment!

 The wedding canopy now sits in pride of place, on the wall in the young couple's new home.  May it continue to spread joy and happiness, may it signify food and wine of plenty, and may they feel the love it was created with always.

 

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.  

Hand Embroidered Chuppa

Hand embroidery

Work in progress

The bride provided me with inspirational photos and references.  She knew exactly what she wanted which really helped simplify the design process.  It was to have 3 rings of flowers and leaves in shades of blue and green.  I made a decision as it grew, that the flowers would gradually grow as the circles grew.

Work progresses

Installation

For the very first time, I had professional 'Chuppah installers' to help me.  It was absolutely wonderful!  Susan Avni at www.chuppah.ca  provided the frame and offered to do the set up.  What a gift!  I didn't have to worry about how to hang the canopy.

Florist

Catherine Slovacek (instagram@bohemianbouquet) did an amazing job hanging the canopy with her partner, Jonathan Reid.  She arranged real flowers to enhance the embroidered ones, without overpowering the structure or the canopy.  The end result was picture perfect, exactly what the bride was hoping for.

Detail

The goal I set for myself in this project was to never repeat a flower.

Detail

The bride was very involved in the process throughout.  She chose the theme, the design, and even came with me to the store to pick out the embroidery floss colours.  She decided that the fabric would be a loosely woven natural linen which turned out to be a great choice.  I had never embroidered on linen before, but the loose weave made it very easy to do.  Often I decided to sew with all 6 strands at the same time.

Detail

Although I had decided that the flowers would grow bigger as the circles did, the bride really liked the delicacy of the little flowers so I added those into the larger circles as well.

detail

as seen from below after the canopy was hung

The bride encircles her groom with love

The stand size was 8 feet square but I made a decision from the start that an 8 foot square hand embroidery would be unwieldy so I began with a 4 foot square of linen and then bordered it with blue cotton when it was done.  I wanted to create a frayed edge on the linen which meant pulling out a lot of warp on one edge and weft on the other. (you weavers will know what I mean)

Then I had to sew the right side of the blue fabric on to the wrong side of the linen which also presented a problem solving challenge.  (you sewers will know what I mean)

I was quite happy with the result that that assemblage created.

Magic moment

After the ceremony, we hung the Chuppah vertically on a photographer's stand so everyone had the opportunity to get 'close up and personal' with it.  An unexpected result was that many guests used it as a backdrop for selfies!

Now that the festivities are done, and they are back from their honeymoon, the bride and groom are very excited to hang it in their home.   

Wedding canopy for a covid wedding

                                         Wedding Canopy

6' x 6'

This lovely young couple struggled to make their wedding plans work during the pandemic.  Although they wanted to invite many loved ones, in the end, their vows were made before an intimate crowd of immediate family.  Luckily they had a beautiful setting: parents' property on the Otonabee river.  One thing they were sure of; they wanted a hand made Chuppa!

                  The bride's first actual view of the creation we had planned over long distance.

                         Both bride and groom seem really happy with the final product.

The groom and his best man created the structure.  I am posing with the bride as we gave the structure a trial run.

detail

 Detail:  I was working in a colour palette that I am not that comfortable with and used a lace I found that was similar to the lace on the bride's gown.  The bride asked for a big bright sun in the centre, which I painted.  I was very happy to have the challenge to create something original, in colours that I might not naturally choose.  It was an opportunity to push myself into a new space that made me slightly uncomfortable and in so doing, offered a great learning experience.

The bride and groom study the installation.

The original idea was to create a bicycle wheel in the centre since they are both avid cyclists.  

However the idea morphed over time.

And in the end, this wedding was beautiful, and heart warming for all, those present, and those present in spirit.  

Queen size quilt highlighting luscious purple hand dyed fabric

 

79" x 85"

Yet another scrappy enterprise.  I was challenging myself to try and understand how triangles work, and since I love this piece of the colour wheel, I had a lot of fabric to play with.  Sophie was a reluctant model for the pictures but she does love a comfy quilt.

Detail;  of course a quilt of mine would be lacking without at least a few wonky log cabins.

another detail;  note that this one, as all my huge quilts was also quilted by Jeannie Jenkins.