New Items and inspiration

by Sharon Fischer of Stray Notions

I've been studying traditional Japanese embroidery for almost one year now. In another post I likened this system of formal study to Karate with specific skills required, although no actual belts are awarded. Sometime over the winter I completed Level 1 (white belt) and began a combined Level 2-3 piece which I worked on in a class setting in May. As someone who has done a fair amount of embroidery Level 1 seemed relatively easy but this piece represents a huge leap in the number and difficulty of the techniques to learn. What you see below is what I've managed to complete since February! I took the opportunity to use adaptations of some of these new techniques and materials (gold thread!) to create a few small "inspired by" pieces.