Finished concertina

This has seemed like a long project, but looking back I found I started it in mid-February. That’s only two and a half months, but months with lots of stitching time. The name of the book has changed a few times, as usual. I finally settled on “slow spring” and it stuck. I even embroidered it on the title page, along with a jillion black French knots representing the coronavirus. Once I stitched my initials and date in black sewing thread on the inside back cover, I found a need to stitch a little extra in black on many of the panels.

I’m happy with the resulting book although it’s always a feeling of let-down finishing a project. There were a lot of decisions along the way and even a sub-project (Joining stitch sampler) spawned from the need to try out different ways to join the panels. I used the baby randa join after all that experimenting. I also did a palestrina edging around three sides of the covers, based on this tutorial from Mary Corbet.

I especially like the last page. Something about that tentative circle of black French knots and the blue tips of the leaves really moves me. I stitched the tiny leaves using the fishbone stitch tutorial from Mary Corbet, although they are too small to show much detail.

I’m a bit haunted by the feeling that I like Jude’s threadcrumbs patches better unadorned, before I’ve done any embellishment on them. Even though that’s basically the whole concept of the book – how to take those patches and embroider on them to enhance the story.

Video flip-through filmed on my phone: