April TIF

Time flies! Well it must when I read it is nearly a fortnight since my last entry.

I have done quite a deal of thinking about change and how I cope with it. Basically I think change is an inevitable part of life. I need to control change when I can and make the most of what happens when I can't be in control. Over the last 10 years my life has changed in many ways - I retired from a full-time job, we shifted house from the country back to the city and there have been some health issues. Some of these were exciting changes, others not so exciting and others quite difficult - similarly some changes were easy to manage, others not so - but nonetheless each day begins as something wonderful and there will always be new challenges.

I decided to represent change and how I try to cope with it by considering flowers - they start as quite small buds and over time change into the fullblown flower. This I enjoy (and do all I can to hang onto as long as possible) until eventually the petals fall and the flower dies - but what joy that flower has provided! I have my first pot, ever, of hyacinths (this is the subtropics after all) sitting on the chest of drawers at the foot of the stairs and the beauty and perfume is amazing. It has been wonderful to watch how they have changed from the pot of green shoots to these beautiful flowers - enough to inspire an embroidery,perhaps.

To my embroidery for the month. These are the colours of the month as I had seen them on my monitor. However I certainly wasn't using them in the same proportions as Sharon's Chinese photo - there is a preponderance of the pink and purple with some vanilla, green and terracotta/orange added. This gave a totally different feel to the colour scheme. I do find that my computer screen seems to give different results from others that are suggested.

My stitch list was again fairly restricted. The pulled thread is in single faggot stitch. (Another new stitch to me - I found this in Mary Thomas). This month I used a #12 perle and what a difference that made in comparison to the doubled Gutterman polyester sewing machine thread from last month - it was a dream to stitch whereas last month every stitch was a struggle. (A thought - could it have been the polyester thread? Maybe I should try pulled thread with doubled 'cotton' sewing thread.

The flower outline is in whipped stem stitch, again perle cotton. The fly stitch is also in Finca perle. The rest of the piece consists of buttonhole wheels and French knots (what else!). I tried to use a variety of thread. I found it very difficult to stop stitching and at one stage I thought I would have to do some unpicking but decided against this after I added the darker knots in the centre of the flower.

I would be very grateful for any criticism of this piece, especially designwise - I find working in isolation very difficult. As I mentioned in an earlier post I am a beginner in the total process (interestingly this came about because of a change in circumstance) and would really appreciate any help that anyone might offer.

Added later: I am really looking for suggestions in ways in which I might improve my work - thanks a million!

While I was working this piece I met up with Paula from The Beauty of Life and she very generously gave me an enormous bundle of DMC floss - threequarters of which were tints and shades of my chosen colours. Some of these are tucked into the knot section. I still have not worked out how to put photos where I want them!