basting

this morning the air was hazy due to all the fallen snow and the rise in temperature, it felt like a blanket of soft light

mother-of-pearl

I was dreading the task of basting the What If cloth, but once I had found the right piece for the backing, a beige linen that happened to be exactly the correct size from Mia's stash, I just started; from the middle up and down from right to left, and voila. I no longer have to worry about losing the coincidental composition. Once I got started, thinking it was going to be boring (strange how one can overthink) I became more and more excited by this whole piece, I started seeing animals where patterens were cut off

like the bird here, with a smaller one on it's back

and here, a hare-being perhaps

and different textures coming together
so I learnt something today: basting a piece like this with so many different kinds of fabric is a way of getting to know the story that is there, getting a feel for the different textures; I chose the backing linen, not just for the size and colour, but also because it's easy sewing as it's a 'loose weave' and at the same time it's fairly heavy, so able to carry the weight of all the other bits. It's early days, but I'm falling in love with it.....

more birds, I went in for a cup of tea and noticed this delightful book I bought in a second hand bookstore in France a couple of years ago