AGAPANTHUS - Agapanthus orientalis...

Another update on my block... The dawn of realization hit me somewhere between my last posting and this entry. This 'bolt of enlightenment' illuminated my mind for a just fleeting nano second. 'Yes,' you say, 'and...'

I realized that this block will not be finished by the time the classes have completed... 'Oh, is that all...' you say.

You see somewhere in my mind I thought that I had to have this ready to 'hand in' on some yet to be announced date. Ready for inspection and to be marked... Did I really think that? LOL - I think I might be in need some serious therapy - my late 1950's/60's school years have a lot to answer for... Perhaps I didn't consciously think that - but somewhere in my subconscious I believe I did - and I think it started to take the fun out of why I am doing this class.

I felt like I was falling behind and that troubled me. Yes, I have fallen behind in a sense that I haven't done ALL the seam treatments and ALL the motif embellishments , but through my 'playing around' with what I have done I have learnt heaps. Some of it I have removed and some I have retained. What have I learnt??? That a line of chain stitch along a seam 'moves' the eye quicker than the words 'huntsman sider' does. But I have also learnt to do reverse chain stitch - so there is the bonus. I have learnt to look and look again.

I dug out a of stitching book I have had for years - Embroidered Garden Flowers - Diana Lampe - ISBN 1 86351 0435 1. This book has always been a favorite of mine as I have often 'wandered' in her embroidered gardens - mind you - never done anything from it, but up until now 'the wandering' had been fine. I flicked through it and came across the AGAPANTHUS and thought they would look 'just the thing' on the cornflower blue area. So I took up my needle and began -the flower heads were a blend of two DMC single threads 340, 341 and the stems and leaves were 3346 - whilst they weren't hard to do they took some doing. More going a round in a continuious circle using a fly stitch with a long tail - the stems and leaves were done in whipped stem stitch. Whilst they aren't the best executed flowers in the world the sense of accomplishment I felt was well worth it. They aren't finished as there is a white one to go up behind the blue ones - I have created the white flower with a blended DMC white and 341 thread.

I looked at the block as a whole and saw lots of stop/start traffic areas - but having read sharonb's fourth lesson I can already see possibliities of 'untangling' the snarls and get them flowing... As this - at this point- will be a stand alone block I have made the descision not to give it a 'right side up' - maybe it will evolve - but I wanted people when they looked at it to naturally turn it around discovering bits as they go...

The piece of white lace (yes, G - a piece of yours) will be dyed to blend in and not be so stark but it will act as 'a path' and lead to a button or bead trail which will cross from the cornflower blue section into the floral section and over the chain stitch therefore avoiding an 'intersection' of seams and hopefully creating more of a 'roundabout'. Well, that is the plan to date -but then again you know what happens to the best laid plans. So I guess getting back to my opening line - I can see that this block may be a 'work in progress' for many weeks to come with me adding and subtracting until I get the mix 'just right'. My angel block is hovering just on the outskirts of my brain and so I have begun the 'hunting and gathering' process for that...

Meanwhile the house looks like a multi coloured bomb has exploded... Not having 'a room of one's own' I tend to have bits all over the house. The next house a sewing room for me is a must!!!!!!

Only six more sleeps until M & D are home...