Woven Cloth Day 4

Woven Cloth Day 4, originally uploaded by ivoryblushroses.

Stitching the lower right corner was the focus of today's work on the Woven Cloth. I am intrigued by the process of figuring how and what to stitch on this cloth. While my tendency is to want to stitch the edges and then place a motif in the center, I'm working on crossing boundaries, trying to make the work flow across the block, regardless of the edges. At the same time, I'm trying to ensure that the edges are all stitched down in one manner or another and that the backgrounds are well filled with stitching.


In this corner, I've added three more hearts. The lowest one is subtle, woven of the same pearl cotton that the background stitching is done with. I like the way the chain stitched heart almost appears to sit above the items around it. The blue silk heart was created by padding with a felt heart and then dimpling it with teeny tiny quilting stitches.


I loved creating the vining leaves around the blue silk heart. Though they are stitched primarily to secure the edges, their curving nature makes them feel more like they cross boundaries and allows them to provide some background stitching. I tried two other hearts before ending up with the chain stitched heart. First I tried a padded fly stitch and then a satin stitch heart. Somehow, neither of them looked quite right, so I ripped them out. I'm much happier with this simple heart that seems to float above the layers of cloth.