Secret Stitching

This is a belated gift for my Mom's birthday (the piece I mentioned in Friday's post) . . . I'm mailing it to Texas tomorrow, so nobody tell her, ok? It's a photo my Dad took of the two of us in the early-to-mid 70's, I think somewhere in New Mexico. I love my Mom's long braids . . . and the way she's looking out at Dad while I'm looking up at her is a pretty poignant moment.

I don't do a lot of embroidery, and I've just started working with art quilts (ie, actually quilting the fabric, not just piecing and layering it!), so this was a bit of stretch for me. I transfered the image onto the fabric (I can't remember if I did a xylene or a citrasolv transfer), then did some embroidery, then quilted it and added a little more decorative stitching. It's pretty small, maybe 9"x12", and it's made to be hung up.



I really like the way the turned out - even though it's not square, even though I'm not going to show you the back because the quilting wasn't proper (lots of knots back there!), even though I noticed some threads that aren't pulled tight. And I think that's part of why I like it - it's so imperfect, and it's so much about the process - all the uneven little stitches, the visible construction. It feels sweet to me, somehow. Imperfect, but still hanging together, still beautiful. Kind of like family. Kind of like me and my Mom.