I've been busy working on the 4th side of my 16" cube and it's almost done. I found that spotted lavender batik fabric in my stash and decided I could whip up a quick abstract April Shower piece. I seem to have trouble sticking to truly abstract pieces, because I wanted to add puddles, which made the piece have a foreground, middle ground and background. Then it needed a focal point (the silhouette) and some taller elements (the stitched trees), and now it is what it is! Below is a closeup.
I'm still working on adding some running stitches in a pastel variegated metallic thread, which is slow going, of course, but I have one more week until the absolute deadline, so I'll keep stitching for a few more days.
Of course, I still need something to put on top of the box. I thought I would use a piece that I already have, which is a bit small so I'd need to add a border all around, and then when I looked at it again, I decided the colors look too much like autumn so I'd better whip something else up mighty quick. I again thought I would just paint some abstract pastel paint splotches on white fabric and then maybe add in some abstract stitching, but my first attempt ended up looking like this:
I just couldn't keep it abstract - a landscape just seemed to materialize! I was trying really hard not to hate it and figure out how I could fix it quickly, when I realized I still had one more piece of 17" square pfd fabric and plenty of leftover paint. This time I used a sea sponge rather than a brush and approached it more like a surface-design experiment so I think it was much more successful. Even if I don't add anything else to it, it could serve as the top of the box and kind of link the other four through the colors.
When I stitch them all together, I plan on using a very long basting stitch so I can take them apart again and finish them as four separate pieces. It's hard to believe I was able to complete them by the deadline. I guess it just goes to show how motivating it is to have a goal and a deadline! At least I am creating!
