Pat Sivertsen

Pat Sivertsen, Karitane, nr Dunedin, Otago

I'm a long time quilter and fibre artist. I belong to Art Fibre Dunedin and Queenstown Quilters and Patchworkers.

100 days Christmas Runner: first 24 inches

Project 1: Days 1 to 50 Informal Christmas Table Runner 

I wanted to acquire some basic drawing skills, get back into hand stitching and complete a practical project.

Lockdown derailed my plans slightly as I had intended to buy a nice length of linen in Arrowtown for our Christmas table runner. Plan B was a length of calico that I'd grabbed from Spotlight the day before Lockdown. It is intended as a fun informal runner for our 4 generations of family at the Christmas table. If the glass of red wine get spilt on it that will add to the story. 

I drew whatever was in my mind on the day with a heat erasable pen and then stitched it. So there's everything from Covid viruses to great grand kids birthdays, Christmas stuff, scenes relating to where we live etc. It's designed for the middle of our rather long Christmas table and to be viewed from both sides. 

Day 26 Viv's toys: My friend Viv gave me a box of old blocks and other toys that had been hers as a child. It's the first thing that the great grandchildren ask for when they visit

I did all the drawings freehand but many are copied/inspired by my two go to books for this project. "How to Draw Almost Every Day" by Kamo and "How to Embroider Almost Everything" by Wendi Gratz. 

I did stitch everyday. Most of the images took several days to complete. There's a few gaps so I'm going to keep adding to it until Christmas day.  It will need to be back and edge finished before Christmas day. 

Day 28 Flowers for Nik's 50th: My daughter Nik turned 50 during lockdown. She has decided that she will turn 50 next year when we can have a family party

Day 41 to 46 Christmas tree

Did I achieve my goals?  Yes! I'll never be a great artist, however there's a lot less rubbing out with the iron when I draw something on fabric. I'm really enjoying hand stitching. I've progressed to canvas work and stitching my dyed and printed fabric.


 And the runner will be finished for Christmas day. 


Day 49 Candle: Each year at Christmas lunch  we light a candle for those that are no longer with us

I needed a more portable project so parked the Christmas Table runner for the remaining 50 days of the challenge.

Project 2: Days 51 to 100 2 Canvaswork Panels. 

I wanted to explore canvaswork in a more abstract style than the traditional work that I did many years ago. I also wanted to explore how the texture and look of a fairly large thread collection. (No idea how someone that hasn't done hand stitching for years could end up with so much thread!) 

Canvaswork days 51 to 73

I really enjoyed doing these. I only planned the colour range and painted the canvas in advance. The rest I made up as I went along, stitching a little every day. These will be covers for fabric books or photo albums. I've since made a centre for a velvet cushion in the same style but a different colour way. 

Canvaswork days 74 to 100

Would I do the 100 day challenge again? Yes. The biggest thing I learnt was the enjoyment of completing a project by doing a little bit everyday until finished. (I'm currently applying the same logic to spring cleaning which is getting done 1 shelf or cupboard a day!)

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 31, 2021 at 11:44 AM

    Even lookingat the master work from far away... i can only say wow !!! Great work, bid heart.

    ReplyDelete

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