Wandering Path One - a finished Squish

In the header image you can see the beginnings of this piece. It sure has come a long way. This is my first fully embellished piece using the squishing of flowers, leaves and grasses as a starting point. It is not damped stretched yet, why... mostly because all sorts of spare time is being spent on spring chores. You know them, the ones that you don't want to do.

The flowers used here are primarily forsythia florets and pansy bits, with some grass thrown in. I tried to stay in the yellow orange range of threads, but looking closer, that didn't happen too much, did it. Blue, green, whites, laces, some peaches and purples. I am not that good at monochromatic, colours just creep in.

The upper right is a section of a torn neckline lace. The background cotton is very common, a basic muslin. I have decided to like the contrast of lace against common cotton, simply because the flowers adhere to the cotton better than other textiles. The silk I tried just looked ruined.

The far left side has a strip of lovely peach silk with pale threads running down it. One of the reasons I haven't damp stretch this is because I am trying to figure out if the wrinkles add or detract. It is meant to be a piece that evokes a friendly, casual wander through a garden path. The rough edges, the wrinkles and the signs of the embroidery hoop are part of ethos of not making it precious. Will I keep the edges rough, or is there an edge finish I should consider? I am also thinking of hanging this from one point only, so that it drapes, rather than hangs flat. On the other hand, does it just look sloppy?

This close up of the centre is the climax of the walk, a bit of lace, georgette, a hole to peak through (that's why I am not sure if I should drape this or not. How can you look through a hole if there is wall or backing behind it?)

Just above centre are a few more holes, a lovely spray of bluets, and some more lace.

This little corner is about the grass. I've used yellow greens to mimic the lines of the squished grasses and leave the splops of forsythia on show.

Different layers of bumps for texture, french knots and other stitches as you reach the end of the walk.

The beginning and perhaps the best part. It shows the grass, stains, bumps, stitching, holes and a wandering path. And I love the blue bits.

The centre again showing off the antique lace scraps.

And back to the upper left corner. The journey really begins at the bottom left, but who can resist another look at beautiful lace?