Slow Cloth

I started this piece for Sharon B's TAST2010 challenge. A stitch a week for one year. I realised that it wasn't going to last, so I patched on some extra pieces of fabric and stitched scraps around the sides so that I can work right to the edges and more easily hoop the piece.

It is hand stitched and it will go on for the best part of a year. That has to be a 'Slow Cloth'!.

I will be learning new stitches, or experimenting with old favourites as I go along.

Also, this is a perfect example of the way I like to use threads and stitches to completely change the look of a piece of fabric. The background to this piece is made up of patched together pieces from the reject bin. Ragged bits of muslin I used as sop cloths when I marbled some nappy (diaper) liners with oil paints. Looking at the heavily stitched areas, you would never know!

(Click on photographs for a bigger image)