Circlets Of 2015 : January


One blog that I enjoy visiting is Woman With Wings. Her interests seem to align well with mine and I find a lot of inspriation from her thougts. One of the things that she did last year was to create a series of "Moondalas". These embroidered circles intrigued me. I have always been a fan of circles and they seem to have always been a metaphor for my life. I begin a circle/cyle, then seemingly leave it, only to find that the wheel of fortune has once more turned, and I am back where I began many years later - albeit with a different reference point. 

I used to think that this was a bad thing - that one should break away from the circles in one's life. Now, however, I look upon it as a good thing, and an opportunity to revisit things with a (hopefully) more mature, or at least different, mindset. It's like granting myself new eyes. 

I wanted to make my own circles, but where to begin? I loved the concept of honoring the moon, but Woman With Wings had done that already and I did not want to encroach or purloin her concept. The other problem was embroidery. I have done very little of it in my life. Never one to shy away from experimentation, however, I decided to make like Nike and "just do it".

I am using 4.25" squares of wool felt with a 2" diameter circle (also wool) along with a lot of size 8 perle cotton. This thread is larger than I usually like to work with (12wt thread being my favorite), but since it fits the cloth well in this case, I will learn to use it along with thicker and thinner as the mood strikes. This is my opportunity to learn about embroidery and these circles will serve as my own "self-taught" embroidery class.

My intention is to make one circlet for each month (to honor the way I feel about that month). These will be a meditative tool and I will teach myself stitches as I go with no plan in mind as I stitch.

The other day I was watching the news on television. The scene was outdoors and, for some moments, I thought that the image was being transmitted in black and white. It showed grey, gray and more grey. Then I noticed the news person's scarf and realized with a start that it was a live feed in color - it was the world that had gone grey! No wonder I feel the need for vibrance and warmth!

This then, is my January Circlet.  January and February are always my lowest months and I find myself yearning for bright colors and vibrating saturations.  

Do you find yourself at a low ebb at a certain times of the year? When?

How to do you like to learn something new? do you :
   Watch podcasts? 
   Videos? 
   YouTube? 
   Books (that's me)?

Have you ever done a project once every month? What was it and how did it turn out?


ps:
some of the books that I am using to learn embrodery are:

"Modern Hand Stitching" by Ruth Chandler
"Creative Stitching" by Sue Spargo

if you want to suggest other books please do!

Comments

  1. At one time I had a desire to make a crazy quilt, using all the fun stitches out there. I did so much needlework when the girls were young, stitching for a needlework store. I would love to pick it up again.

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  2. I thought I had all the embroidery books out there and then you pop up with 4 that are new to me! LOL! I love Penny's blog and her yearly projects. I always learn a little something whenever I visit there and here. Ages ago, there was an art quilt group here and we did monthly 12 x 12's. I always thought I'd like to do something like that again or Judy's use a skein of floss projects. Winters are hard for me. I always have a let down after the holidays and I don't like the cold. The never ending gray is getting to me. I also have a problem with July. Both times I am cooped up in the house, because of extreme temps. See a pattern? I learn best via books. I love when I can watch a video and read about the same technique. Have a wonderful week! You've inspired me to dig out some wool and floss. xoxo

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