The thirteenth piece of my 2019 daily stitch journal focused on two birch trees I’ve spent years observing. These two trees stand tall at the edge of my backyard, greeting me every morning, in every season. For some reason, they give me a lot of inner strength. When they leaf out every spring, it’s the most thrilling, joyful time of the whole year.
The two birches this morning (just left of center). They still have most of their leaves and few have turned yellow yet. It’s late in October for them to still be green.
This piece is the least abstract of the 18 embroideries in Daily Thread, my 2019 stitch journal. I worked on it from August 14 to September 2, 2019, days 226–245. For this daily art project, I stitched each day using colors observed in my backyard in western Massachusetts. Each Daily Thread piece had a particular theme, chosen at the outset, such as "snow," "sky," "bark and bramble," "verdant," or "winged."
I happened to have a variegated Valdani pearl cotton that reminded me of birch bark every time I picked it up. Having devoted one piece to bark and bramble early in the year, I decided to dedicate another just to these two trees.
Palette for Daily Thread Piece No. 13
Coming up: My next Daily Thread post will be about the 14th piece, which had the theme of “waning.”
New work: While I’m furloughed from my day job due to COVID-19, I’m creating a series of Furlough Daily Embroideries. To learn more, follow me on Instagram or follow the hashtag #furloughdailyembroidery.
Exhibition news: I’ve had recent embroidery work accepted for “Post Pause,” an upcoming online exhibition organized by Easthampton City Arts. Their online gallery is under construction — I’ll share more details as soon as I get them. The show is expected to “open” around November 1.
If life is back to normal next spring, I will be showing the entire Daily Thread project in April 2021 at the Hosmer Gallery in Northampton’s Forbes Library. Later in the year (dates to be determined), it will also be shown at Easthampton City Arts.
LINKS
About the Daily Thread Project
@bonniesennottart on Instagram