Unexpected Choices...

...are always interesting, and usually the best.  I'm mid relapse, and whilst  lying in bed, was leafing through an art book... and had an idea.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was a book about Sean Scully, and the idea was to do with this particular structure.  Yes, it needs to be ironed... sigh. 

The colours in this aren't all that accurate, but you get the drift...  Left to right, there's a section of rust dyed lutradur, one of tea and onion skin dyed cotton, and rust dyed muslin.  Two of the three are semi transparent, and that proved to be quite important. 

I'm not that keen on this, mostly, I suspect, because I hate white, and rarely use it in anything at all, textile or painting, other than to mix in with other paints.  I love colour...and apparently have a problem with the absence of colour.  The original idea I had, was to add some colour, a square, thereof, in the lower right section, which is quite different to the original idea, to stitch with the thread you see there, browns and blues, following the curves in the rust dyed sections, and across the white.  When I went into the studio to select the fabric, though, I spotted the box with the lace. 

I don't use lace, much, but I have some for hats.  Somehow, though, it seemed like a good idea to use something lacy on top of these semi transparent fabrics, following through on that idea.  When I opened the box, I spotted a doily.  Now, I don't like doilies.  I had a brief moment when I thought I'd use them in work, as is the fashion...but it has never really seemed like my kind of thing.  I really don't like this whole, take something, or better still, lots of things vintage and slap it/them onto a background and call it art, trend that has been hanging around for at least a decade, if not more.  Circles, though.... I liked the idea of circles.  So I fished around in the box some more.  And then I had a rest (as you do...well, as I do, these days). 

And this is what I'm going with.

   
Three doilies, all featuring lace and/or cutwork.  The one on the right is positioned on a circle of lutradur, to echo the lutradur element of  the base fabric.  And I've fished out some very pale threads to stitch them down with.  That, though, is for another day : I've overdone it.  But it has been worth it, I think... much better than sitting gazing at a computer screen. 

Continuing...

...with the quilts made from the original inspiration of  Scully's paintings.  I rarely ever mark a stitch line, but I made an exception for this piece.

You can just see the marks, here, made using a Conte pencil that happened to be the right colour.  I wanted flowing, unstilted lines, and felt that drawing them, first, would make them easier to stitch.  I was right, as it happened.  Plus, any kind of drawing is good for one. So, I stitched.

And yes, it was fine, but it didn't feel right.  I didn't really want to add more stitch, though I did contemplate whipping the existing running stitch, to get a harder line.  Somehow, though, that didn't seem right.  I liked the feeling of space that the relatively limited stitch was giving, but I couldn't see a story, a meaning behind the piece.  Until I turned it over.

And somehow, it made more sense.  That seemed to suggest a real flow, from the top of the quilt, down to the bottom.  It felt like a white river, somehow.  Positioning it in this way felt somewhat counter intuitive.  It is constructed the way you would expect a landscape would be; top level, one third, bottom level, two thirds, giving a 'horizon line'. Turning it over reverses that ratio, and it feels a bit odd.  I think, though, that the flow of movement through the quilt stops the viewer seeing the piece as a landscape, and I think in part it was that line, that construction, that was getting in the way of seeing the meaning.  So this is how it will stay... it's called 'Outpouring'.

Necessity...

...is the mother of invention, they say, and so it is in this case.  I hauled out my pale fabrics, intending to make another piece in the ME series (this was the first one).  There have been subsequent books, but another textile piece seemed like A Good Idea.  I have some offcuts of Evolon, from the kits I used to offer...I used one here.  They're an odd size, a bit longer than I'd like, they feel a bit unbalanced.  Anyway... I had selected a few fabrics, meaning to piece them together.  And here's where the necessity comes in.  I would have to lift the sewing machine onto the table, and that would take all my energy, so not going to happen.  And no, I don't hand piece...besides which, I wanted to have the raw edges showing...so applique rather than piecing seemed to be the way to go.  Here's what I've ended up with, after half an hour or so playing about with it.

All of the fabrics are wrong side up; the patterns were simply too strong the 'proper' way round.  I'm still using the idea that ME leaches colour from my life, by stealing my energy. Looking at this, the whole thing needs to move a bit closer to the top edge of the evolon.  And then, I'll crop the bottom off, but given my complete inability to cut in a straight line, I'll stitch it together and trim it later with the rotary cutter.  Not sure about that small piece of rust dye at the top; it's too dark, so I'll substitute it with a paler scrap.  I'm contemplating stitching this with very fine metallic thread.  I swore blind that I would never do that again, after finishing a commissioned piece that was intensely stitched with the stuff.  Well...never is a very long time... and I think the metallic thread is what's required...dammit... sigh.