Train Stitching Part 2 : a beginning

 After several false starts and ideas that didn't come to fruition, I've finally got going  on a new 'train stitching' piece. I began it on my birthday, gathering together some scraps to take with me and pin to the  background fabric 

I didn't want to replicate exactly 'Wind Me In The Sea' ( detail below) which I'm delighted to say has been accepted for 7th European Quilt Triennial  which will open in Heidelberg in September but I like the idea of using indigo again but combined with some other colours . I tried different combinations  of colours and materials for scraps and backgrounds  but nothing was really gelling .   

Then looking again at the work I'd put together for Cwilt Cymru 'Traces' exhibition  with it's use of Musa's kola  fabrics  with indigo shibori   along with  paintings  seen in Margate and the colour palette I'd used for 'Painting the Novel' , I  made the connection that the subtle hues of the shoreline are what  grabs me at the moment. Working with a restrictive palette gives more opportunities to explore the tonal range, shape and composition as well as mark-making. I'll probably use the same range of colours for course with Gizella Warburton in  a couple of weeks.  

So I've  started gathering together scraps into  one of my African baskets and am  experimenting with wrapping some strips around the kasuri background fabric .  Lots of decisions to make - how many strips of kasuri to use, whether to join them together in a loop or as separate strips,  what colour threads to use. But the process is what's fun and at last I'm excited to be stitching again.