Hummy, Humming Right Along

I saw this quote somewhere,changed a couple of words, and then it just seemed to "fit" with our creative Brazilian embroidery needle art:

Brazilian embroidery is like playing the piano,
First you must learn to play by the rules,
then you must forget the rules and play from your heart



--Because once we learn the basic stitches, we can do whatever we want with them, all the while telling ourselves and nodding our heads vigorously in agreement with our profound thoughts, that THIS is art and an artist never has to color inside the lines.

Speaking of coloring...

     The Little Hummy Art Quilt that I'm playing with has lots of leaves (I think the original pattern was for appliqué so there are a LOT of teardrops and oval shapes). I wanted to distinguish the leaves from the flowers so I got out my Derwent watercolor pencils.

See? The petals and the leaves all blend together. I needed to remember where the flowers were, so I colored everything around the flower centers in 2 flower colors (I think I'll use a double cast-on to make these petals -- changing my mind at any time is optional.)

I wanted dark leaves and light leaves for contrast. Voilà! Colors were the answer, as I colored in the pattern sheet.

       By the way -- interrupting myself here -- I tried to choose different stitches for each window pane's leaves -- buttonhole or blanket stitch, alternating satin stitch, satin stitch across entire leaf, fly stitch, etc...   Just for variety.  And because I could.

You can tell that I'm working on a textured background and sometimes the Marvy wash-out pen lines don't show as clearly as I would like.  So .... I went in search of my Marvy Permanent Brush Markers (discovered at Michaels with my 40% coupon).

There they are!  Nice juicy neon colors.

..and I colored directly on the fabric. Yes, I stayed inside the lines -- this time. Just a dab of color here and there distinguished the leaves from the flower petals (see the pattern?). 

     And then I stitched.  And I've decided that if I don't totally fill in an area with floss, the color I added will blend with the leaf or flower petal.

By the way, you know this is a blog about Brazilian embroidery. Mostly.  I'm using EdMar rayon floss for everything, although I do padding with 4 strands of cotton embroidery thread, and sparkly beads and other fibers always seem to find their way into my work. The floss is so pretty and the extra sparkles just add to its beauty. 

I have more pictures. I've been stitching all week while my blog was loafing, so I'll add more tomorrow or the next day.

     I hope you're enjoying these notes. Whenever I figure out how to comment about your comments, I'll add a comment myself.  I'll also add more links - something for you to click while you take a break from your own stitching.