I picked up my embroidery again for the first time in a long time. I have been working on this quilt for a few years now. I found these botanical prints in an antique shop in Lithopolis, Ohio. After a little sleuthing it turns out that they are pages from a series of books about English Botany by James Sowerby from the late 1800s. These particular prints probably aren’t 100 years old and they are in really rough shape. They are really lovely though so I have been steadily converting them to embroidery in the hopes of eventually creating a quilt. I embroider better than I draw. I am not sure what trick of the brain causes that but I can “see” things in stitches that I cannot in pencil, charcoal, or paint - a difficult admission for someone who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing.
I have not embroidered in a long time so it was nice to pick up the hoop and thread and start jammin’ away. I can’t remember how many I have finished…or how many I still have to do for that matter. But that is the beauty of a project like this. I can’t even imagine a time when it might be finished and I am okay with that. It’s like a long friendship. We visit from time to time but there is very little pressure on the relationship. We will be friends forever so we might as well take our time getting to know each other.
