stitching, interrupted

                                                                Stitching, Interrupted

The two outside images are details of the center image, "Stitching, Interrupted,"  which was just juried into the annual Dinner @ Eight exhibit that will debut at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach. Curated by Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison, this 33 piece exhibit reflects the theme "exquisite moments."

The stitching took me a year and a shoulder surgery. The textile is five feet high and two feet across, which raises the question, "What was I thinking?" when I committed to this intense stitch work. But being able to resume the fine handwork after surgery really was an 'exquisite moment.' Gratitude abounds.

I created the image from a glass vase I had made:

I had wanted to experiment with long stitches...so far, so good. But I felt the stitches were a bit unstable, and decided to anchor each with a cross stitch. And of course, the cross stitch had to be a contrasting color.

And then, I wanted to vary the thread colors a lot to give the piece a lot of depth.

And then, I wanted to create movement with a separate line with these tiny stitches as they meandered across the long sinewy ones.

All this took an inordinate amount of time. I can't say I will ever do this large a hand stitching project again. but I am very grateful that I could do it at all.