Broccoli Tree Horizon for Want of a Better Name

I know I posted a picture of this last week or the previous week but the quilt is now finished, I have even sewn down the binding- just the sleeve to go! I am calling it Broccoli tree Horizon for want of a better name as I printed the trees with pieces of broccoli sliced in half and brushed with textile ink. The dabs of paint are just that- i took quite a broad brush and loaded it with an amount of textile ink and just made dabs ont he fabric. I have then stitched around it with dark thread which really pops them out ( the camera doesn't pick this up very well. ) I am constantly searching for slightly thicker threads with which to sew. I use rayon machine embroidery threads but really like the way heavier threads sit more on the surface whilst still creating texture. Madeira put out a 30 weight thread but only selected colours come in 800 metre spools most are 150 which goes nowhere at all when you stitch as heavily as I do. I have partially solved this problem by using a 90 needle and running two rayon threads through my machine- it gives the desired thicker line but of course you need two spools of thread.

Omega mentioned that the human figure keeps recurring in her own work- and do look at Omega's website you will see what she means- some pretty wonderful things there and i love the way Omega has incorporated traditional textile motifs from Greece, part of her childhood heritage. I find trees recur often in my imagery even when I am doodling and spirals. I once gave a talk at a rather large symposium and was showing slides of my work- and one of the quilts that came up on screen had spirals- someone near the front of the audience said "my spirals"- I must admit that comment took me aback a little, for since when have spirals belonged to anyone? They are so universal. And likewise whilst looking at maori/polynesian motifs- the four leaf image seems to occur very often and one artist using it in a fresh way is Dagmar Vaikalafi Dyck, although she uses other traditional motifs as well. But anyway when I was looking at a book on architecture in Lisbon, Portugal- the same four leaf motif appears on the bulastrades of buildings- wonder whether it came to them via South seas explorations in the fifteenth century or otherwise? When i was doing my lace work ( and I intend to do more) I was looking for motifs I could use that would not appropriate culturally- an impossible task as I found for influences come from everywhere. I found it fascinating that real trends and fashions for motifs occurred in lace for example the introduction of tulips from Turkey saw a rage of lace making incorporating a tulip motif and likewise the introduction of the peonierose from China. Memory and heritage is also something I am looking to incorporate into my work.