up close and personal with embroidery

it's very much unlike me to blog photos that i took ages ago, but i don't think i ever blogged these. they're macro shots of a beautiful embroidery that hangs on the wall at a good friend's house. 

if i remember correctly, it is a stitched piece made by her grandmother. (judith, you'll have to correct me if i remember that wrong - i am on my way to the nursing home soon at the rate my eyes and memory are failing).

i will say that i think it looks like this little boy might be having a wee. unless it's a girl, then i guess not.

the details are just incredible. such a variety of fabrics and notions and stitches. i can't imagine the time it took. it must represent months and months (perhaps years) of work.

the piece is very large, tho' i apparently only took close-up shots of it, so i don't have a shot of the whole thing. i think i was very fascinated by the details, so i concentrated my lens only on all those beautiful stitches.

a path or a stream or perhaps a tree trunk - it's hard to tell close-up, but either way, i love the variety of stitches and textures and the cheery little daisies on the lower right.

i'm fascinated by embroidery of late (you had probably gathered that). i think as winter approaches, i begin to think about snuggling up in a chair and working on something homey. and these stitches, in their variety and their use of bits and pieces of other fabrics are pulling me in.

this work has a more traditional feel than anne brodersen's work and the variety of the stitches is impressive. anne actually uses very simple stitches and not that many different ones. this piece is fascinating in a different way.

with such a big piece, i wonder how the process went - did she know what the picture was before she started or did she just stitch and let it develop as she went along?

i think i'll have to wander down for a visit and take a photo of this in its entirety. either that or just get on with some stitching already.