May 2013 Project

It took me a little while to decide on a theme. I wanted to do something that reminded me of the softness of spring. New leaves, new flowers, the warmth of the sun as it gets higher in the sky each day, the sweet songs of the birds as they mark out their territory. There are always lots of ideas to choose from, but this time it ended up being the cherry tree that got my attention.

This is a free embroidery project that I let develop. I had an idea of a tree.

I used some painted strips of linen for the grass. I pulled out some threads from each strip, so they looked a little grassy.

For the tree I couched down some wool yarns. I wasn't quite sure the best way to do the branches, but I ended up unraveling the yarn at the ends. They are a little loose at the ends, since it was impossible to stitch down where they thinned down.

For the leaves I cut up bits of a specialty yarn and just sewed them down irregularly.

You can see the details in the closeup photo:

This project was fun. As I said, I let it develop freely. No pattern lines or templates. I told myself not to pick out any stitches as I went along too! Everything is as it was stitched. It's good practice in moving past perfectionism.

Blackbird

Blackthorn

Cherry blossoms

Sparrow with nest material