For the ninth piece of Daily Thread, a stitch journal I worked on each day during 2019, I turned my attention to June’s burgeoning greenness. Begun on June 8 and completed on June 26, 2019 (a year ago today), the ninth piece in the series is a celebration of early summer flora.
The yard outside my condo is mowed regularly, but all around it — at the far edges — nature’s wildness reigns alongside perennials like bee balm that a long-ago unit owner must have planted. Out-of-control hawthorns, birches, walnut trees, buttercups, daisy fleabane, creeping Charlie, and more join June’s festive parade of color and rapid growth.
This is the first of three pieces with the theme of “verdant” that I stitched between June and August 2019. With this first one, I used seed stitches and satin stitch to capture the delicate colors of some of those early summer wildflowers, especially the sweet and simple buttercups, and the new, “just arrived” green of the year’s first leaves.
Here a few photos of Piece No. 9 in progress and of the “stitch log.” When I started work each day, I stitched a bit of that day’s color on a square of drawing paper, below the number of the day of the year. Each piece in Daily Thread has its own stitch log, which I plan to exhibit alongside the embroideries.
Coming up: My next post will be about the tenth piece, had the theme of “stars and fireflies.” After that post, I’ll share Verdant II and Verdant III.
New work: This summer, while I’m furloughed from my day job, I’m creating a series of Furlough Daily Embroideries. To learn more, follow me on Instagram or follow the hashtag #furloughdailyembroidery.
Exhibition news: I had planned to show Daily Thread during April in my show at the Hosmer Gallery in Northampton’s Forbes Library. But since the library is closed due to the coronavirus, the show has been postponed to April 2021. I’ll also be exhibiting in September of this year at Easthampton City Arts and Daily Thread will be part of that show.
LINKS
About the Daily Thread Project
@bonniesennottart on Instagram