Shapes and Grids

My design class and SharonB's stitch class are pushed together on this page. On the design side we have been studying grids and stitch shapes in SharonB's. The rice stitch is a very definite shape either square or diamond. I decided to push it into a rectangle too. I've got one more grid to add to this, but my LNS is closed on Mondays. I can't find any suitable thread in my stash.

The latest on points...

and not finished yet. I added to make certain areas fuller and taken away what no longer seemed to be functioning. I think I need to take out or move in closer the dark blue star above the ribbon near the top. I'm disappointed with this in some ways but have learned from the exercise. The very purpose of taking a class! It seems to me that in this piece the points have not become focus points but just a means of creating a line.

I've started a week #3 sampler for SharonB's PSL class using the herringbone stitch. I may have been too rash in trying to back off the grid this time. I don't know if I can tame it or if I can make the lines flow satisfactorily. Pictures tomorrow, I hope. It is very foggy and gray here. I did learn how to make a homemade "reflector" for picture taking. I'm going to give that a quick try tomorrow morning. It should help both inside and outside pictures.

I've been busily working away on my design class assignment, too. One portion is to take a shape and exploit it. It is very similar to what we do when we explore the variations of a stitch. I love this kind of experiment. It forces me out of the ruts of my own making.

Color study again

Color is part of lesson 6 in my design class. I've been reading and re-reading the chapter and then starting back at the beginning of the text and looking at every picture just to see color principles in action. It has been enjoyable and enlightening, too, since many principles are fresh in my mind now.

It's almost 24 hours since I touched my needle and thread! A very unusual circumstance. Instead I've been doing preliminary designs that I will have to bring to the point of stitch-ready. In the past most planning has flown out the window while doing the stitching. We shall see how I fare this time. Since one of these designs has to be traced unto the fabric, perhaps I will succeed in sticking with it.

Bits from lesson 5

These are bits and pieces from 'the last drop', a small design based on shapes and lines from drawings made for lesson five in my design class. I tried various things with my stitches to give an appearance of depth and mass. Once I started stitching, I couldn't stop, despite seeing flaws. The soft brown above the honey is an attempt to show the brown cabinet through the empty part of the glass jar.

Finished off lesson five

Yes, it's in the mail. The fifth design lesson is history and I've learned a lot. Failed to comprehend a lot, too. It's all stitched, pictures are on the card and I can't find the gizmo to plug into the computer to get images edited and posted. A most challenging stitch for me. Usually, I love geometrical florals. But the design class keeps pushing me out of my comfort zone. I stitched a teacup and jar of honey sitting on a tablecloth with pitcher on a side table behind and a curtained window behind that. No, I've not gone into realism. It's stylized and there is an invisible hand pouring the last drop from the creamer into the cup. Now I can hardly wait to see what is in the next lesson.

Sharon B's stitch library class starts today; the perfect thing to cover the wait. I keep going further and further from my comfort zone. However, I prefer to think of it as extending my comfort zone. How far may one extend one's comfort zone? Is that a good choice? Or is there something to be said for keeping a smaller comfort zone and possibly going deeper in that one area? Am I wandering or is this a purposeful exploration?

I spy a design

Design everywhere!? My design class assignment open up my eyes to see designs all around me. I found a beautiful design on the front doors of a retirement home where an older friend of mine lives. There was a border design on my post office box. My awareness of surroundings has been increased with this "I spy a design" outlook. Not only is nature full of design but man-made goods as well. Perhaps I'd shut down my awareness by being functionally oriented. Do this and what is the next step? Oh, yes this is next... Then along came my teacher's challenge to find designs--photograph them or sketch them and adapt them for needlework. And then if not adaptable, use them as a starting point for your own designs. Give proper credit. I made a childhood game out of it. Open up a magazine to read, do I spy a design? Going out on an errand, where is a great design? Review them; what was the best design I spied today? It has given me tons of stuff to mull over while sorting out a few of the very best to work with intensively. I've been enriched by a simple change in outlook. I want to keep this game going, despite a finished class assignment.

Design & random chance

My design class is providing exercises to aid in stimulating new designs. Some of these techniques have been great; I've learned by doing. But others seem to me to reflect the exaultation of random chance. Perhaps it has to do with influence evolution theories have had in the many other disciplines including art.

I find myself with dubious expectations of best results based these controlled random chance exercises. Didn't Aaron's story to Moses run something along this line: I put the gold in the furnace and out came this golden calf? Well, it seems to me that the controlling part of the chance exercises are the best hope I have of any specatular results. I would welcome others' thoughts on these type of exercises. Have you encounter them? What were the results? How much control did you exercise over "chance" to get the results? Did you feel like you were bringing harmony out of disorder when you made adjustments? Or were you giving chance a helping hand? Do you see a difference between the insertion of chance into a design compared adding spontaneity?