flora challenge quilt

this is one of those pieces that might be never be finished - you could always add another line of stitching, another circle, a few more french knots... but for now it is finished enough to post as my 'flora' challenge quilt for art quilts around the world

as i said in a previous post this piece was inspired by a photo of a pond in alice springs. the blues, greens and purples were such a contrast to the ochres, oranges and deep reds of the landscape and the lushness with the surrounding desert.

this piece started out as a piece of silk painted on bubblewrap - the fabric paint pooled around the bubbles leaving lines of circles - these i outlined with free motion machine stitching and filled in some of the spaces between with undulating lines. there are hours of hand stitching in this piece - running stitch, french and bullion knots, circles, spirals, chain stitch, detached chain, fly stitch as the spirit moved me.

i used silk, cotton and linen threads, fine copper wire and metallic thread in silver and bronze.the painted silk was layered over black felted wool (another jumper sacrificed to the cause) and black linen.