Oh! to be online!

I put the finishing touches on two new pieces yesterday:

I named this one "online" early on its development.....and curiously enough we have been without internet intermittently for the past 48 hours!  

This is "Oh!"

I constructed the 'o'using hand-dyed cotton that I ruched (pronounced 'rooshed').  Many years ago, I took a wonderful needlepoint sampler class from Judy Lehman.  The lovely piece, which I'm sad to say I never completed, was called Tea Party Pockets.  One of the techniques that Lehman taught us was ruching, and I have loved it ever since!  Here's how you do it:

You begin by taking small gathering/basting stitches in a zig zag sort of pattern, the entire length of the piece you intend to ruche.

Above you can see the ruching beginning to gently happen.  Once you have completed your stitching, you carefully gather up your  fabric strip or ribbon (it looks great done on double-sided silk ribbon!), and apply it to your piece.  I say carefully gather because after you've taken all that time to stitch the gathering thread, you certainly don't want to break it!

and voila:

I have borrowed the mounting technique from my friend Diane Sandlin.  Both pieces have been attached to canvas, which I had previously painted with a coordinating acrylic paint.

Thanks for stopping by.  As always, I appreciate your comments.  I'm going to try something different with my comment moderation, so hopefully it won't be such a pain for you to speak your mind.

peace