“Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.”
– Voltaire
Hello!
Welcome back to my In-Depth blog post. This week you’ll be reading about my scenery project, my mentor and I, and some challenges.
Progress Report
For my final project before my finishing piece, Michelle and I decided on choosing a scenery project. I saw a piece on Pinterest which I really loved, so I tried to recreate that piece for this project. The piece was of a forest, the background is coloured with watercolour paint, and there’s a couple of stitched trees and birds. Since I had watercolour paint, I decided to try this out.
For the project I ended up just going for it instead of doing some practice trees first. I started by painting the background with watercolours as I planned to only embroider a few trees which would be the focal point. I found it hard to paint the fabric, even though it was just a background, the paint was hard to blend, and I had to let it dry before painting some shapes since it would bleed. It was also frustrating as the paint would dry a lot paler than when I applied it, I realized that I probably used too much water, and should’ve left it more paste-y, after a few layers it did end up working though. As for the trees, I embroidered three of them, using backstitches and running stitches. It was a simple project, and I didn’t spend as much time as I would’ve liked on it, so the project ended up looking rough. Hopefully I will be able to incorporate scenery into my final project though, and I can make it look better there.
Mentor
- What kinds of learning opportunities does the mentor provide to expose you to new learning?
As I progress, I choose new projects with Michelle to challenge me and broaden my horizons. When I finish a project, I’ll begin to choose a new one with her. My most recent one is scenery, stitching trees, mountains, and other greenery. Michelle has also talked to me about ribbon embroidery, which could be something I try in the future.
- What kinds of learning opportunities exist to reinforce new learning?
When we choose my next project’s topic, I usually do some practice patterns so I can get comfortable with it, Michelle will send me pictures of examples that I can build off as I think of project designs. The final project shows what I have learnt.
- What kinds of opportunities exist that might accelerate learning?
Michelle usually will send me tutorials for extra clarification when learning new patterns and such. Practicing those patterns helps me polish them for the final project. I usually will make a hoop full of patterns I might use in my final project or in the future.
- When you get together what do you talk about?
We usually discuss my progress, projects, and other ideas I’d been thinking of. If I am stuck on something Michelle often talks about projects she’s seen or done, and we discuss what my next project idea could be. Outside of projects Michelle will also send me tutorials on other handy skills like blending or embroidering with ribbon.
- What is going particularly well in your mentoring relationship right now?
Michelle and I are good at collaborating together, in my last post I talked about how we had trouble finding time to meet and talk, but when we do we share ideas and find new topics for me to learn. Michelle often supports my opinions, and she recommends projects based on what I enjoy embroidering or what I want to learn.
- What are you learning about one another?
I’ve been learning about what types of embroidery Michelle is interest in, based off what she’s recommended to me, and she has been learning about what I like to embroider too. During our first couple of meetings, I explained to her why I wanted to learn embroidery, and she had told me about her embroidering journey. Though this is less about embroidery, I’ve also noticed that Michelle travels quite a bit, which sometimes makes it hard for us to meet.
Challenges
I’ve found it hard to find time just for in depth recently, there’s been a lot of outside distractions that keep me from working as much as I want to. My progress is slow, but I’ve been taking advantage of longer weekends and such to continue working on projects. I hope to get back to my old schedule, where I worked on in-depth every Sunday, so I can finish my final project for in-depth without rushing.
Though this is not a pressing challenge, I have no idea what I would like to do for my final project yet. It will be a cumulation of the patterns and skills I’ve learnt throughout these past months, I will discuss this frustration with Michelle at our next meeting, and hopefully we will find some ideas!
Updated Timeline
| Plan: An outline of methods, activities, strategies, people, and resources you can use to meet your challenge | Timetable: The specific dates or times when you will accomplish the steps in your plan |
| Find a vision or goal. | Before December 17th (done) |
| Find and contact a mentor. | Before December 20th (done) |
| Make sure mentor has completed necessary forms. | January 12th (done) |
| Do some research on embroidery. | December 31st – January 10th (done) |
| Start finding stitches I want to learn. | January 3rd – January 10th (done) |
| Find four types of patterns that I want to work on and two types of fabrics. | Before January 31st (done) |
| Buy (most) needed supplies. | Before January 31st (done) |
| Start learning and practicing stitches. | January 16th – January 31st (done) |
| Start practicing a certain genre and complete a design for first mini project. | Before January 31st (done) |
| Finish first mini project. | February 6th (done) |
| Learn to care for finished product. | February 6th (done) |
| Start working on second genre. | February 7th (done) |
| Finish and care for second project. | February 28th done) |
| Finish and care for third project. | March 28th (done) |
| Finish and care for fourth project. | April 18th (done) |
| Finish final project. | May 22nd (in progress) |
| Complete a journal of what I have learnt and this journey. | May 28th (in progress) |