Thursday 30 January 2020

Something New

My scarf, so far today is the bonus warm band from my recent spate of hat knitting.


I have been thinking about keeping it in the house but I think it really is needed as part of  my in car emergency kit.  Something to pop around your neck that can also cover your head might be perfect for the days when I am too stupid to grab smart wear for in the car.  It will really add to the mittens that live there and will go a long way to replacing the hat I felted last year. There ought to be a hat too, but this could be really handy if I am in need.

The other day when Cassie and Marcus were visiting, Marcus came to me and wanted to know if he could take something home so he could remember me. 


He wanted to take this picture that we drew together.


It is, of course, a volcano that he drew and up in the top corner is a volcano that I drew.  Down at the bottom of the page I drew Marcus who is standing there looking worried because the long purple lava flow is past the striped colour lagoon and is coming towards him.  As you can clearly see some lava is purple and some lava is red because some lava is really purple (hotter).  It has lived on my fridge for a while now and we talk about it and all the others every time he comes.

In the end he decided to leave it here.  Still his plaintive  question stirs my soul.  How will he remember me?  Five is old to him, but I know that I have only a few memories from my first years of school.  Even Cassie, being seven, isn't going to remember huge amounts of stuff.  Carter and Emmett, particularly Emmett, won't remember very much at all if something were to happen to me now.  In a way, that is what the wee sock monkeys are about.  There is this long blog record but they won't understand that until they are older.

With Marcus, here he was, wanting something we both worked on, and that we both shared and remember the story of, so he could have it too.  With all my pondering and prepping for embroidery projects, it struck me the other day, that in a lot of ways, this picture, would make a good embroidered picture and a decent practice piece.   There are ample places where simple stitches and outlines are key.  There is a large purple area for practice with colour blending and satin stitch.  There are places for me to stretch and see what I can do without following someone else's design ideas.



So first things first.  Get a frame work of the picture to the fabric.  I ended up committing a huge sin, no doubt.  I have transfer pencil and a pen that ought to work,but the transfer pencils were no where around, and the marker that eventually disappears into the air (so no worry about covering lines), was so light as to be useless. I used a pen.  I was doing minimal lines anyway.


Then it was mounted in the hoop and I think I am ready to begin.  

Today, I am going to pull colours.  The reds and purples could be challenging but once that is done, I will be starting some of the foundation stitching.

It doesn't have to be perfect.  It only has to be a reasonable reflection of Marcus and my drawing, close enough that he recognizes it.  And then, I have to decide if it will be a picture or a pillow.  A picture might last longer, but a pillow is something a small boy can hug when he needs to.     

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