Thread Abstracts

Free hand stitch has to be one of my most relaxing pastimes. I find when you have no pattern, no concerns and all you need to do is respond to the fabrics, you can suspend all worries and just enjoy the feel of the fabric and the emerging patterns. And if it doesn’t look right you just unpick and start again.

I keep a presewn selection of hand sized collages ready for when the urge to stitch takes me. The four embroideries I have selected for today’s blog are from a batch of these fabric collages I prepared for a retreat in Glastonbury just in case I or my fellow housemates fancied some mindful stitching.

They are bright and shiny on purpose because I find this further enhances the sensation of light, bright happiness created when working the stitches.

I don’t have any particular favourite stitches but I do love crosses and couching. Running stitches and french knots and I love bright threads as much as I love bright fabrics.

It’s not always easy to know when they’re finished but I do try to keep some negative space to complement the busyness of the stitch.

I’ll let you decide if these are finished, I’m not so sure myself …. there always just a bit more space to fill.