Book Cover

My "top secret" project was for the Feeling Stitch Covered in Stitches contest. I chose the book Persuasion by Jane Austen.

I did put some thought into choosing a book and a design. I wanted to be able to somehow capture the book's theme into the design. The wind blowing is my representation for persuasion. If you let it, it will blow you off course.

The background I painted with water colors. I really like to use this technique for the backgrounds. I wet down the fabric then lightly brush on the color with lots of water. If you don't use a lot of water, you can get a clump of color in one place, and it stays there.

I tried to use different stitches in places where different textures would be nice, like the hills. I used 12 different stitches for this project, including 2 summer school stitches. (They do come in handy!)

Mostly I used DMC cotton embroidery floss with strands varying from 1 to 6. I did add some Appleton crewel wool to the tree to help add a rougher texture to it. The figure is stitched in fine silk threads.

The colors are nearly all blended in order to get interesting colors that are a bit varied and more realistic. It was a good challenge to select out colors that worked well together.

I absolutely enjoyed this project. I have been struggling for the past few months with my projects. I don't know where it came from, but the feeling of not being good enough (I'm certain many of you are all too familiar with that sensation!) just has grown too strong, and it has made it difficult to pick up the needle and work on anything. This was simply enjoyable though from start to finish!

I have no idea if mine with make it to the voting, but it was a good learning experience for me, and it's fun to participate and help promote embroidery!!