back to doodling

 the urge to stitch re-emerged recently after drawing fresh inspiration from Mirjam Gielen's work and when i realised i needed another small bag/pot for sewing necessities (can't have too many!)

i spent a happy and messy couple of days plant-dyeing some stranded silks - these give the same flexibility of thread thickness and stranded cottons but also take up the plant colours more intensely than plant based fibres, which tend to need more/different pre-treament - i have even gone beyond my normal palette, using purple shades more

a sample

and so far this is the result - i stitched the ends of the strip together in preparation for making up the bag, but this makes it impossible to get everything into a single shot 

i have made a point of trying new stitches and new combinations of familiar stitches - it has been really enjoyable and i am delighted that i forked out on some undyed stranded silks

this is very much the sort of piece which is hard to call finished, i keep spotting areas where i could add more - so for now it is still a work-in-progress........until i run out of steam