That's It

It's done!

I stitched the last stitch--including some thorns as requested--I added the hand-dyed border and I've wrapped and pinned it around the canvas. On my way home yesterday I stopped to buy a staple gun. I thought I could borrow one, but let's face it, this won't be the only time I need one. So that's one more bit of equipment in my collection and one more assignment finished.

The binder cover featuring my tree is also finished, but it's still too dark to take a photo this morning and I need to pack my bag, make and eat some toast and catch the train to school. Today is a mega "show and tell" at the beginning of our history lesson, so I'll pack my camera and then I can post that tomorrow.

Juicy Fruit

Here's a close-up shot of the blackberry fruits:

They look good enough to eat, really. It was the silk thread for the blackberries that lured me into really working on this piece. I can't say I was all that enthusiastic about it before. And then I went totally crazy with all those french knots and tiny little buttonhole stitches. Oh well. I've shown it to a couple of friends who pointed out the absence of thorns--I'll see what I can do about that once I've stitched on a border and done a general tidy up. Then the whole thing will need pressing, but without flattening out those juicy berries. I think I'll need help and the use of a staple gun to get it onto the prescribed 25 cm square canvas.

In other news, I've printed out my "history of the world timeline". Reading back over the instructions, I could have pretty much lifted a timeline from somewhere or other. The trouble is I felt so ignorant about world history, that I doubt I could have selected and edited it appropriately. As it is, the project's done and I've learned a lot, though I still feel profoundly ignorant and somewhat overwhelmed by the whole exercise. Maybe that's just the nature of world history . . .

Irresistible

Having said that I wouldn't and couldn't spin any new embroidery thread for my blackberry design, I succumbed to the temptation of a little bag of hand-dyed silk top. The green is a better fit for the fabric I'd already used for the leaves. I've been binding the silk stems I'd already laid down for the leaves, using buttonhole stitch, twisting and turning the resulting line to resemble a lively vine. It's subtle, but adds a dimension to what could otherwise be quite a static design.

Meanwhile I'm thinking about how to frame the formal part of the piece. I've got a few centimetres all round to play with. I'm wondering about using a twisted gavanised wire. Would you believe, I have some in my fibre collection . . . I'm imagining the young girl who belongs to the colouring book, growing up in rural South Australia at the turn of the Century. Life surely had its hardships and she was to live through two world wars. I thought about barbed wire, but apart from the practicalities, I think that might be just a bit too harsh.

No, No and Yes

After settling the blackberry leaves into place yesterday I went searching for suitable fibre to stitch the stems. I picked out a couple of handspun wool yarns from my collection. Unfortunately they were both Navajo plied, which is probably part of why they called me--that rounded and slightly irregular look--but they were too thick for the task and Navaho plied yarn can't be unravelled, so I set those aside. Then I found a little bag of handspun silk threads which I'd made for a experimental piece. I'd designed them as embroidery threads and fortuitously they were in shades of purples and greens. Ah ha! Just the thing for some nice textured blackberries. There's always a catch--in this case it's the fact that I have very limited quantities of these threads. They're just leftovers from another project and I won't have time to make any more--even if I could come close to matching colours. So I'm carefully working across the design: dividing my threads in half and stitching from side to side so that whatever I manage will be evenly distributed. Then I'll see how far I get and sort out the rest accordingly.

Homework

OK, the term is nearly over and I'm looking forward to not using the word, "homework" for a while. I'm working on my last stitching task for my history subject. This task came via one of the students. She brought in an old drawing book which belonged to her great-aunt Clara. It was published by the Adelaide Education Department in 1899--so definitely historical material. We were each allocated one of the drawings to interpret and stitch. Mine is a blackberry.The colouring in the book was extremely careful, delicate and restrained. I'm having a bit of a dilemma with my interpretation. The pieces are to be displayed as a group and most of my collegues have gone with the old-fashioned pretty look. My feeling about blackberries is that they are vigorous plants with a strong tendency to break bounds. How to respect the character of the plant and yet harmonise with the group? I've started by using a green crinkle cotton for the leaves. I've vliesofixed two layers of fabric and blanket stitched around each leaf. That allows me to layer the leaves and they can move relative to each other and pop out of the page to some extent. My next decision is the stalks. I'm thinking of twisting up some of my handspun--if I can find the right greens. I can couch it down and hopefully add some thorns either in the texture of the yarn itself or with my couching stitches. I have various thoughts for the blackberries: maybe a combination of french knots and seed beads? Then there's the border. Several of the pictures have this clear outline. I'd like to see if I can send some tendrils over the fence! I think I'd better wait until the rest is done though before I try that. Already the design is feeling a bit crowded--hemmed in--so I may need to enlarge the design area to contain it. I've got a little bit of room to play with.