WAY PAST DUE

Hello friends; 

This post is WAY OVERDUE.  I've just not been able to focus on my projects in the past few months...

But - last week I went to a fabulous four-day retreat, and had the opportunity to pull out some ongoing projects and fall back in love with them. 

So -  here's the original piece of linen - it wasn't even ironed for this photo, just spread out on a table.  It is most likely a piece of Madeira embroidered linen, most likely from the 1930s, and was hand - embroidered.  Where did I find it ?   Well,  eBay, of course.

 And here's a little more close up of the details.

 and the cutwork................

The first stage is always drawing a quilting design - but sorry, no photos of that process.  

But, with a few stops and starts in between, I do have a piece that is now in what I call the "finishing phase"................... 

The linen has been mounted on a piece of Dupioni silk, and quilted within an inch of its life.  This photo is not a good one, but I'm not ready yet to hang it and take a proper photo, so this will just have to do for the moment.

And here are some closeups:

There's a good deal more work to do - in my next post, I'll show you the parts that still remain to be stitched...................... 

The finishing phase is my least favorite part of the process...  nothing new, no new decisions - just stitch out the design that I planned so long ago, until it's done.

Onward.  I'd really like to finish this work.  I wonder when that will happen???

Kate