Picking things up again

I was trying to figure out what work I should put into the annual Fleisher faculty show this year, and decided I REALLY wanted to try to finish my wall piece. This was started over a year ago for a final project in a surface design class I took at Tyler. It never got finished, because... well it's humongous for an embroidery. It's probably more of an art quilt than an embroidery. I hate having "U.F.O's" hanging around, so it will be a huge load off of my artistic subconscious to have this piece completed.

 Above is part of the front and below is the back side. It's mostly silk, and it feels so wonderful between my fingers and draped over my lap as I work.

 Below is  little sample sketch piece I did when I started the project.

The final one is nearly complete now. The red and cream areas are finished. The blue has begun. I'm doing a large scale whipped lattice work over the blue section, but I think I'm going to crop the piece a bit to narrow the blue. Then I'll bind it and have a velcro strip attached on the back side for mounting.

Working with the dyed silk is making my fingers very itchy to start m shibori dyeing class this summer. It's running but still has some room. It will be a 6 week course incorporating various shibori dyeing techniques, an embroidery stitch sampler, and a final embroidery or quilt piece to incorporate the dyed fabrics. Monday nights through July and August! I'm also offering a soft sculpture course on Wednesday nights, but need more students for it to run. Sign up at Fleisher's website! Classes start July 11th!