Monday, August 22, 2016

Anxiety and inspiration

Each day now I've been slowly cleaning, organizing and putting things away before my surgery on Thursday.

I had plans to go out to my sock knitting group today; however, I had a restless night and woke up with a touch of gastro.

After lunch I started to feel better and I had the urge to head into my studio. I've had this Gelli print hanging by my cutting board all summer where I often looked at it and mused about it. Today, I decided to have a go at it. I thought I'd be done all my creative play this week covering my free motion machine a few times.

But, I felt the need to do something. I backed the piece with interfacing and had a go at free motion outlining with a variegated thread. I became absorbed and felt myself relax.

I finished stitching along all the wildflower shapes and was considering what else I could do. My thought was to sandwich it with s soft batting so I could have a little hand stitching to do while recouperating.

I felt like it needed something else. I was picking up a few books to put away when I started flipping through one called Color + Pattern by Khritian A Howell. Some layered flower patterns by Rachael Taylor inspired me.

I wanted to add another layer but wanted it to stand out so I thought of using my heavier polyester thread in the bobbin. I flipped the piece over, lightly chalked in the leaves and then stitched. I was nervous to turn it over!

It pleases me!

I took a break for a snack and to think about it. I believe I'll add something else before I add the batting and set it aside for hand work.

Anxiety for me at this time really does seem to spark my creativity. This is a little flower play in my sketchbook done with Inktense sticks.

Tomorrow, I'm going to have to do a couple errands and I'm going to have to do something with a couple of large zucchini in the garden.

 

4 comments:

Sandi said...

Love your bobbin work! I've never tried it but this is wonderful. Enjoy your dY.

Mereknits said...

Best of luck with your surgery Holly. I am sending you positive thoughts.
Meredith

Verna G said...

I wish you well on your surgery tomorrow. Judging by my husband doing your physio is a key to good recovery. Look forward to seeing you back on your blog.

Anonymous said...

Of course, by the time I've caught up with my blog posts, you already have the surgery behind you and are now on the road to recovery. You should be pleased with this piece.