I rarely carefully draw out a design in advance – as I’ve said before, I go from thumbnail sketches to making any samples I need to.

On monday I couldn’t resist tackling an idea to start using some of the seductive leather scraps about which I posted recently. Importantly though, I also needed some time to think about a couple of emerging aspects of this work:

• The two wide horizontal stripes were the first pieces sewn down,
• after which I attached the arches, arcs, partial circles – however you see them.
• My feeling that those first two horizontal stripes really were too thick was confirmed once the solid ‘semi’ circles were in place.
• So I did a couple of runs of widest/longest machine zig-zag basting, (lower left corner) and started cutting and removing a mid section to make two narrower strips that will be more harmonious with the rest.
• The two circular rings pinned up are a possibility I’m considering – if I use them in a patterning segment I think they’ll be smaller and finer.

So this is both improv and slow stitch – two hot button terms in the textile art at present, each bearing auras of mindfulness and virtue signalling. It’s way too early to be certain how this will all look when it’s fnished, but that’s normal for the way I work. At an expected 1.8m x 0.9m it’s a fairly large piece for me, so I know there’s a lot more stitching to work through, but I have several more audio books waiting for my enjoyment, because once design problems are sorted, I listen as I stitch through to completion. Still, there’s a pandemic on, and I have plenty of time.