Crewel Embroidery ~ From Wall Flower to Wildflower Garden!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I am so excited to show you my latest project that I just finished!

It is a Fiber Wildflower Garden that has been waiting to bloom for over a decade!

There is a FUN story of how it came to be!

About 10 years ago, I bought a vintage 1970's crewel embroidery kit from Ebay to learn how to embroider and create a beautiful garden all at once!

This 12 x 12 square is actually only half of the giant kit that I started many years ago.

Embroidery is a wonderful craft that takes a lot of time and attention to detail that I guess got pushed to the side as other kits, projects and paintings presented themselves in my heart and hands over the years.

While cleaning out my craft closet this Spring I found it again and saw the wonderful stitches I had started with Emmitt by my side so many years ago.

I looked at Archie and thought, what a wonderful Summer project this would be to finish the part I had started and make it into something new for our sun room.

I had an idea in my head that I wanted it to be a fiber creation that grew on a 3-D garden wall just like you would find outside.

I knew it would take more time than just the Summer to finish the whole kit, so I decided to focus on completing the half I started and cut the other part off to complete at a later time if I decided to.

Like life, when making art... there are no set rules.

Make every piece your own so that it is FUN for you to create!

My twin sister Melanie is not only an amazing fiber artist, but also a gifted gardener!

Look at her real wild flower garden!

She inspires me everyday and after seeing her living work of art, I knew just how I wanted my garden wall to look!

To combine the other fiber arts I love to do... fabric collage and crochet, I decided to add felted wool shapes cut out like leaves to finish the flowers and crochet an abstract painting along with Strings of Pearl succulents to complete my garden wall.

I wrapped the crewel embroidery around a 12 x 12 x 2 canvas and then mounted the crochet abstract fiber "painting" to a 16 x 20 x 2 burlap covered canvas.  

I hung the embroidery onto the larger canvas and then covered it with the crocheted succulents I made.

Ta Da!

This is my new fiber garden creation!

I just love how it turned out!

I found the perfect wall to hang it on that I can see from every angle and corner of the room.

It is also hanging right by the door where we go out into the backyard so it feels like you have either brought the outside back in with you or you are taking a breath of anticipation of what you might see when you go out!

I am really happy with how it turned out!

It also feels good to finish an old project that if i finished back when I bought it, would never have been made into what it is now!

How wonderful to know that everything blooms when it is supposed to in its own time!

xoxoxo

Melissa and Archie