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At first I thought perhaps I could stitch a ghost heart around the "I FORGIVE" piece. But the "died" piece in the middle of the reverse appliqué heart didn't feel right. So I gathered the rest of the scraps together and tried to reassemble them into a heart shape ...
realizing as I did so that there were nine scraps altogether if I included the smallest bit ...
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| Note the whisper-thin shred on the upper right edge of the heart |
However, after moving the pieces back and forth several times, some began to disintegrate, so I hastily pinned them where they were and began to baste. Then, thinking of Mo and her bandaged hearts, I stitched around the edge of the heart ...
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It reminded me of the torn and tattered heart made last year when I first began seriously studying with Jude Hill. Remembering the lesson learned, I didn't try to tidy this new heart up ... instead I let it speak of the loose ends of everyday life that the Emanuel Nine surely left behind.
Turning next to the reverse appliqué heart, I decided it needed a backing. Tearing a small patch of Salvia amistad cloth it occurred to me that it was about the right size for a label. So I wrote some text with a Pitt pen ... twice. The first time just didn't look right, so I tore another patch, re-wrote the text, then invisibly basted a piece of harem cloth to the back. After backstitching the text in blue, I used a traditional basting stitch to attach the patch to the back of the cloth. Following the lines left during the dyeing process, I made fine running and back stitches using white floss ...
which went through to the front ...
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When it was done, I removed the basting threads from the back ...
and turned to the front, where I discovered nine lines of stitch crossing the heart ...
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| Life lines |
What will come next isn't yet clear, but I absolutely trust the process that has brought me safe thus far ...
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| Overview of back |
and that it will lead me home ...
