Today matters: the new journal spread

 

My new journal is growing slowly but surely, alhamdulillah! Here are the two new pages from it.

Actually, this spread was ready a while ago (if you're following me on Instagram, you probably knew from the stories). But for a long time I couldn't get myself to write a post about it because of the conflicted feelings about the project on the left.

Stitching it was a journey full of bumps on the road.

When I sketched it in my notebook and colored it with watercolors, I felt a lot of inspiration and desire to experiment and try this and that. So, the idea of adding watercolors to the background fabric arose.

I took a spare piece of fabric just to see how strong or pale the watercolors will look on it when they dry out, because from my previous experience they lose quite a bit of saturation over time.

However, the final result was really pretty! The colors did lose their richness to an extent but were still a beautiful match for the project.

My mistake was that I hurried too much in my agitation to stitch it, that I decided to use that spare piece of fabric that I colored, without considering its size.

And although, the size of the fabric piece was enough for the pattern itself, it didn't match the hoop I used. And even after I basted this piece of fabric to another one, to have two layers, the watercolored one didn't fit in the hoop with all four corners.

The uneven tension resulted in puckering, after all. And that's the source of the conflict I had inside of me :D

From one side, I actually do like this piece! I enjoyed working on it, I did some experiments with watercolors and with the beaded crescent, it makes me happy when I look at it!

But from the other side, as someone who teaches hand embroidery, I was wondering if it's okay to show it in its whole puckering glory while we normally tend to avoid this, haha.

Well, at the end of the day, it is what it is! Stuff happens.

And it doesn't make me love this piece any less. More like, it became a precious reminder to not hurry too much next time :)

And another important reminder (at least, for myself) is that everyday matters, including today. Something I tend to overlook in my hurriedness.

I guess the whole of this spread is about patience for me. Stop for a second, take a breath, think through what and why you're doing right now. Take better care of what's in front of you.

That's why I stand by the fact that journaling is a therapeutic experience :)

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P. S. The hand embroidery class still needs about 30 people to happen! Please read here for more details, thank you!