Finished colour play canvas work

As always, I work better to a deadline! Lincolnshire Textiles have another exhibition at the Chapter House in Lincoln Cathedral next year. Two years to work towards it, with the theme of Botanicals, but with a competition at the October meeting to encourage at least one being finished, to give the procrastinators a nudge. Only one piece can be entered, and the visiting speaker Anne Brooks of HANNEMADE is judging the entries, and a members’ choice.

Just the incentive I needed, not that I am competitive, just the deadline. It’s turned out to be an amalgamation of several projects and workshops, which has meant I have finished several projects.

It started in July 2024 with the “Impressive Metal” workshop with Alysn Midgelow-Marsden , which I then used for the “Colour play” with Alex Hall at “in the stitch zone” in January through to March, “Colour play canvas work 3, 4, 5, and 6”, with updates each week until we started a new project. This is how Colour play canvaswork 6 looked then, the canvas work still on the frame.

It did have a few more stitches added before taking it off the frame, folding in the edges and checking for placement before……

…… mitring the corners, not the tidiest at the back!

A close-up of mitring one of the corners.

It was then slip stitched to the velvet……. and left until a couple of weeks ago.

It still needed a backing, with another piece of mount board covered in fabric and laced, so that it could cover the lacing on the back of the main piece.

I also found a white Tyvek flower that I did with Karen Lane at a Seata workshop some time ago. Fortunately I hadn’t painted it because I didn’t know what colours to use, which meant I could use colours to go with the canvas work. It’s a bit wishy-washy here. I also painted the stem, before using a heat gun to tighten it all up and make holes in it!

It looked about right after I’d added another layer of colour……

……. but it wasn’t quite right after the heat gun, so I added more colour.

The machine stitched pansy had a few hand stitches added near the middle on the bottom petal.

The placement of the big flowers changed, but the Tyvek one, especially the stem, wasn’t quite right and after suggestions and trial and error……

…..it ended up like this. Here it’s propped up for the judging. There was some fabulous work, so no surprise I didn’t win. But a win by getting it finished, not just one project but five! At last year’s competition I’d asked how to decide between so many beautiful pieces of work, and someone had said they chose which one they would like to take home and live with. Another win, I’m looking forward to getting it up on the wall and seeing it every day.

It just needs a ring to hang it from. The back of the canvas work might not be neat, (it’s well hidden) but the back as a whole is very tidy. Oh, the only other thing, I don’t think I signed it, nor have I come up with a title yet. I can also put all the threads away, and I’ll have another plastic wallet to use for another project.

Colour play canvas work 6

I’ve attached the chiffon and felt flower (from the Great Scunthorpe Embroidery Challenge) to the painted pink fabric on the top right, after adding a few more longer strands of beads. They are subtle, and you need to be up fairly close to see them through the chiffon.

I went on a search for suitable backing fabric, having decided that my original idea of a mount and a frame wasn’t going to work. In the end, I settled on a piece of burgundy velvet. It feels wonderfully luxurious; the pink canvas edge will be turned under, and the stitching will be the edge.

I laced it over a piece of mount board, having zigzagged the raw edges first. It’s the first time that I’ve worked across on the diagonal and mitred the corners on anything this large.

At this stage, you can still see creases on the front, but they disappeared once I’d laced horizontally and vertically, which stretched the fabric.

While searching for a bias binding gadget (for another project) I found another unfinished project. A machine stitched pansy that I think was a workshop with Corrine Young years ago. I’ve not found the instructions yet, but it just happens to be the perfect colour with the canvas work and the velvet.

I’ve also put some more strands of beads on the top left, just above the metal flowers. I want to put some more French knots bottom left, and Colin thinks that I need something at the top of the central velvet to balance it, but I’m not convinced. I don’t want to take it off the frame until I’ve finished, so I’m leaving it where I can see it, propped up on the velvet background to assess. It’s even nearer there, and I’ve done the lacing which I tend to procrastinate about.