I've been very busy quilting during the last few weeks. It's been such fun! However, I realised that with all of these busy projects, I'm missing the meditative calmness that slow stitching brings. So today I spent some time finishing up my "Please let me play" piece.
Adjusting the composition
In the Out of the Box Textile Artists Group, we've been learning about composition. I've read a lot about it, but it always feels more intuitive than just following rigid (or black and white) rules. I get the feeling that there's a lot of gray area in there to play with. Sometimes you know why a piece isn't working but at other times, it's not as clear.
That's why I turned to my artist friend, Elaine Quehl for help on this piece. Here is my final piece.
 |
| "Please let me play" - embroidery on a clean-up rag |
When I asked Elaine for help, the image below is what the piece looked like. The colour on this photo is not very good, but you get the idea. I knew that I would add things at the bottom but wasn't sure if the composition was the best that it could be. Elaine agreed with adding pieces at the bottom and suggested that the bright fuchsia piece on the left was distracting. Although it was my favourite fabric, I had to agree with her.
 |
| Composition on the design wall, before getting advice |
I then played with fabrics and came up with this. I replaced the bright pink piece with a lighter one, but after I had stitched it, I ended up removing it - it wasn't the colour so much as the extra piece.
 |
| Playing with possibilities |
I added pieces at the bottom as a type of echo of the top strip but kept the colours lighter. You can also see that I played a lot with embroidery stitches on both the fabric pieces and the original rag. I have been following Mirjam Gielen of Mirjam Textiles on Instagram (see Related links below). She has a very organic way of stitching that I find fascinating, so I bought her Basic Stitches e-book and used a few of her stitching variations on this piece. To keep it subtle, I used regular sewing thread.
 |
| Trying fun stitch variations |
 |
| Keeping the added stitches subtle |
As I was wondering how to hang this piece - it because obvious - on a clothe line! I covered a 14" x 14" canvas with very light sky fabric. I then attached a piece of clothe line with tacks at the sides of the canvas and used wooden clothes pins to hang the piece.
 |
| Creating my own clothe line to hang the piece |
 |
| "Please let me play" and Chevy - pride of place on the art wall |
#100dayschallenge2021 on Instagram
I started the challenge with slow stitching. I created a piece, "Mixing it Up" that incorporated both free motion quilting and embroidery. I then worked on stitching some eco printed fabric and also finished my first concertina book "Best and Worst of Times".
 |
| Mixing it Up with FMQ and embroidery |
 |
| Slow stitching on eco-printed fabric |
 |
| Finished my Best and Worst of Times concertina book |
 |
| Slowly stitching the background of the Traveller's Blanket |
I hope that you'll continue joining me on my stitching journey, either through my blog and/or Instagram. I really appreciate all of your encouragement. If I keep posting at the same rate as the last challenge, I should be finishing up just before my retirement in October 2022 😊😎
What I learned
- I have really enjoyed stitching on a piece of cloth that symbolizes my artistic journey. The message is very apt because frankly all I want to do is Play!!! (as opposed to work)
- There is so much to learn about composition and I hope that it gets easier with experience. Thanks so much Elaine for your advice!
- I've also learned a lot on my #100dayschallenge2021. It gave me the incentive to play with slow stitching and finish/advance some of my UFOs or WIPs.
- I'm going to try to re-incorporate slow stitching into my daily routine. I feel like I need the calmness.
 |
| Mirjam Textiles |
Related links
- Previous post on Please let me play
- Wishes for 2022, January 09, 2022
- Elaine Quehl website
- Mirjam Gielen of Mirjam Textiles
- Basic Stitches - an e-book on organic embroidery available on Etsy
- Vanessa Marr on Instagram and website
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Let's see what's going on! Put your foot down, Finished or Not Finished Friday, Off The Wall Friday, TGIFF with Quilting Gail, Peacock Party, Beauties Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts, Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap!, 15 minutes to stitch 2022, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday,
Project Details
 |
14½" x 13" on a 14" x 14" canvas
Les petites pièces ajoutées avec les points Boro complètent bien l'ensemble, bravo ! Et j'aime beaucoup le "cadre", le fil à linge, quelle bonne idée !
ReplyDeleteMerci pour le partage de liens ;)
Bonjour Frédérique. Merci pour ton commentaire. J'aime bien cette pièce et elle sera dans notre show virtuelle à la fin d'avril. J'ai bien hâte.
DeleteYou did very well to complete the challenge in 197 days. I think I would take years! I like your finished piece and I found it interesting to see the changes you made. I also love how you've displayed it on your washing line canvas :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Janine, this was a fun piece to make although the final stitching was a little tedious. It's a good thing that I have a lot of variety in my pieces so that I can hop from one to another. I've started a new 100 days challenge but it feels like it's going to take me longer this time.
DeleteFabulous conclusion for your 100 Day Challenge, Andree!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
DeleteI just love that this piece was made from a clean up rag!
ReplyDeleteFrom rags to richness :)
Wonderful display idea too!
Thanks Kathy - yes, from rags to richness is great!
DeleteHi Andree, I really enjoyed reading about this final piece. Very interesting and appeals to me very much. Great finish!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Jocelyn. It was a lot of fun to make and I'm happy that it will be in our virtual exhibition at the end of April.
DeleteI love how you make the humblest materials into things of beauty. This last piece is a fitting piece to finish your 100 day challenge. Wow, to making something every two days, Andree.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kim, I'm pretty sure that you probably stitch every day or two. This is just posting about it and Instagram is perfect for this because it's just a little snippet of into. I've started another 100 days challenge but so far it's not every two days but since I have some heavy duty deadlines coming up, it might end up as often.
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteBeautiful piece you made. The clothes line makes it so
much better. Have a great day!
Thanks Sherrie, I really like displaying my work on canvas somehow. This came out better than I expected.
DeletePlease Let me Play is a great piece. I like how moving things changes the way the viewer will look at it - by moving that fuchsia piece my eye is drawn tot he hand first then around the piece. Very cool!
ReplyDeleteThanks Alycia. It's not always obvious but once it's changed, I wondered why I didn't think of that! I'll just have to use that beautiful fuchsia piece somewhere else :-)
DeleteI love your let me play piece of art! Nothing is better than playing with fabric, thread and other odds and ends! Well done for doing the 100 day challenge! xx
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Joy. It's so fun to just play and fabric is so forgiving. It it doesn't work, you remove something, or even better, add something over it :-)
DeleteComposition is such a hard skill to master. And even once you've gotten it down, sometimes you still need that "outside" eye to take a look when it doesn't feel right. Congrats on completing your 100 days project. That's a big commitment completed!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kate. I think that sometimes it's difficult to be objective about composition when it's our work and we've invested a lot into it. It's great to have friends who can be more objective :-)
Delete