One of my favorite authors was Shel Silverstein; he was truly one of a kind. In addition to many books, poetry and artist, he wrote the music and lyrics for "A Boy Named Sue." You can read more about him here.
As a teenager, my daughter was really touched when she read The Giving Tree. It is one of his most famous books, and was a modest success when it first arrived on the scene. Since that time, it has sold more than 5.5 million copies in 30 languages as a best seller that is likely to be on the shelf in your local book store right now.
When I saw an embroidery design called "The Tranquility Tree", I felt like it was something I wanted to use in a creative project with The Giving Tree in mind. This is what I came up with.
I had wanted to use an unusual fabric/material/textile in its design. I did not have to look any further than my laundry room. I selected the dryer fabric softener that I use. There were a couple of things that I did not realize about that cloth. First was that a ‘used' cloth was not necessarily a ‘completely' used cloth. There were still chemicals left in that cloth. The second thing was that when I used water paint on the cloth that I used in several dryer loads, it still would not take the paint evenly.
So, I spattered on some paint because the paint was an afterthought anyway. The main concept was the tree and the dryer cloth.
The next consideration was a strong color for the background. I checked out several colors, including brown, red and green. I selected the green for my background.
I sewed out the design and wanted to use a ‘frame' along with the tree. With 34 different and unusual designs, those frames supersede those on my machine. In the end, I used an oval - - so much for innovation.
I wanted to showcase the interesting design so I made the frame a little smaller than the design. You can just see the sun and two roots peeking out from the embroidered frame.
After trimming to the frame, I was pleased with the outcome. The only thing I would change is to have used more vibrant colors for the sun, water (horizontal lines) and roots.
What do you think??
I like the smoky affect the dryer cloth gives. Using net, organza, voile or other delicate fabric may be even more beautiful.