B-side myself

~ Liz A

The big (still nameless) cloth continues apace and I decided to step way out of my comfort zone by tackling the most visible part early on. The very heart of it all, front and center.

I started with a pieced cloth made late last year from early dye trials and recent gifts, along with some drop-dead wonderful cotton-silk thread that Jude has given to Deb, who dyed it and gave some to me …

No wonder James Taylor’s Yellow and Rose was playing in my head. And of course there’s a story, of how we used to have talent shows at our annual beach weeks … and John, who could play everything on guitar, would play anything our kids wanted to perform. Like the year they sang Yellow and Rose.

So as I hummed, I thought to myself that every cloth I’ve ever made prior to this was small enough to turn. Not this one. Today I learned I can stitch bottom to top, right to left, and even top to bottom …

But left to right, not so much. That’s when I learned that a quarter-turn is doable. So I was good to go.

And in the end, I flipped the whole cloth over for a look (okay, I confess I did peek a couple of times before that to be sure it was going okay) …

and really, I was beside myself at how it turned out …

25 thoughts on “B-side myself”

    1. thank you Annick … I think of the card you made for Mirthe and am turning over in my mind how I might stitch names in continuous lines as I fill in the gaps in the bed cloth

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  9. Hi LA – wow – just so much work in that – and I agree with others who know about stitching because I don’t – the stitching looks incredibly neat. B

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  10. I forgot how well that thread liked the dye. The remaining hank suffered a cat disaster not long ago. I have been tempted to pitch the whole thing in the trash but you’ve reminded me that a thread, unlike the road, does not have to go on forever. I can tease a yard or so out of the tangle, wind it onto the spindle, then add another and so, to the dye. Thank you!

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  11. oh I love those stitches on the B-side! like a maze to get lost in, or find oneself…and Deb’s threads are scrumptious

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  12. Oh my Liz – you leave me almost speechless. That first photo of the stitched pieces and the thread: what a perfect, most perfect, combination.Then your exquisite stitching. Wordless. But I also love that even now with such amazing skill and ‘mastery’ (i don’t like mistressy) of this, your are still learning. Isn’t that magic and a gift? By a fortunate serendipitous thing – I too am dyeing with windfall lichen – all the way over here! Go well. Stitch well.

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    1. and I wonder, did you know that Yellow and Rose is about Australia?

      wishing you good luck with your lichen dyeing … even more than the color, I love the scent that is imparted to the cloth … it can last for years and ironing is especially good at bringing it out

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