As you may recall, six weeks ago, I signed up for Sharon B’s online embroidery and design course, Sumptuous Surfaces. Part of the appeal of the course is that you can work at your own level, at your own pace. This is just as well as I am making very slow progress:
(Yes, these photos are basically the same, only the lighting and exposure is different.) As you can see, I haven’t done very much and what I have done is rather rigid. Nevertheless, my starting point was only a handful of very rudimentary needlework skills. I’m learning lots and I am enjoying exploring a new medium. Who knows, I might even incorporate some hand stitching into a quilt one day.
Over at Feather on a Wire, Sally poses the interesting question: When does a quilt become an embroidery and does it matter? I’ve had a related discussion with friends about what is the most appropriate approach to judging a heavily stitched item that is submitted as a “quilt” but the back of the stitching (including potentially a mess of knots and tails) is hidden underneath the quilt backing?
And then there is the emerging issue of the treatment of quilts that incorporate computerised machine embroidery designs. Personally, I have always eschewed any machine with a multitude of fancy stitches as I don’t require such functionality for my own creative endeavours. However, mastering such machines clearly requires a high degree of skill and the new machine embroidery category at Houston apparently attracted lots of admiring attention. (It wasn’t on my radar at the time but I will be on the lookout this year.)
Unlike Sally, I haven’t formed any concluded views on these questions but, like Sally, I would be interested to know your thoughts.
Dale Rollerson says
Hi Brenda – it’s reassuring to read that other people get bogged down and beihnd!
Dale