Venerable Friends - Page outlines

I seem to have fingers in lots of pies at the moment, which is not my usual modus operandi. Some of them are making a very strong did for my attention and my Japanese Embroidery is not one of them (gasp). On Venerable Friends I am currently outlining the the pages with couched tight-twist karayori and I have become bored with this process, surprisingly because I really enjoy couching. In truth, I don't think it is the couching that I am bored with but the stop start nature of this part of the design. The pages are stitched in a variety of colours so for each new section, a tight twist karayori and a 1-2 couching threads have to be made and I have found it a little disjointed and tedious.

The box chart declared the colours for the pages to be 'stitcher's choice'. That in itself is cause for mild panic on my behalf as it entails two of the things that I find most daunting; colour choices and randomness. My first thought was to look closely at the colour picture supplied with the design and follow the professional embroiderer's choices, but then I decided to put the copy out of sight and 'have a go'. I decided to limit my palette to colours already used in Venerable Friends - I thought that this would create unity and balance. Secondly, I've tried to apply a colour theory that I had learnt from gardening - reds come forward and blues recede.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I did not want to restrict myself to using shades of a single colour for each book, so I tried to look for shades of blue, red and yellow within colour groups. For example, I have used both shades on the main book but I used the more yellowy green for one of the pages and used the bluer green for the cover, which is behind the pages. The the book that lies beneath all the others, I will out line in one of the shades of blue.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I outlined several pages a couple of weekends ago and then did nothing more until this weekend. When I uncovered the work and looked at the whole design (while working, I only uncover the area I am working on), I was struck by how defined it is beginning to look with some of the outlines completed. I've noticed before that the finishing details can bring a design together and make it look sharper. My urge to work on has returned and I feel frustrated that I only get the opportunity to do so at the weekends (gardening permitting!).

Happy Stitching