It's funny you know...

As I've been stitching away on these leaves, I've been thinking about all kinds of things: my childhood in Northern Ontario; the sun dappled summer leaves that brought me so much pleasure; about how, in  adulthood, that I *still* stroke leaves whenever I get the chance, and that both the stroking of the leaves and the hugging of trees (yes, I hug trees... what? :D ) brings peace and sweetness back to my life; and I thought that it was no wonder that trees have figured so largely in my development as an artist.  

(I wonder, do Hostas bring the same pleasure to Elaine Quehl? Is that why she's been making hostas for lo these many years?)

But. 

Back to these hand-stitched leaves... they've also made me think about my development as an artist... 'cuz whoa - if you've been with me for more than a year (and it's hard to tell - my followers list waxes and wanes and I never know whether it's people who used to be with me coming back, or if it's just new people), but, I digress - if you've been with me for more than a year - you know that even as recently as a year ago, I was all... "I HATE handwork".

And now, well... I kind of like it. *shhh!*

Still working on it - you can see from this little mosaic that I added a fourth and fifth layer of leaves (and who knows, I may add another before it's all done)  and then...

Some of you may remember this tree from a couple of years back.  I was waist-deep in my "obsession with trees" phase (a phase I don't think I've quite moved out of, actually); and had just begun looking at new ways of making them in fabric. In this case, painting the fabric with watercolour paints, and then quilting it.  

I got this far - and HATED it.  So it's been sitting in a box of "I hate these" ever since then.  But after I finished Hiraeth, I thought about this tree again, and ways that I could improve it.  (more on this piece, plus the news and info - after the jump!)