Large Leaf Me Alone Installation Update with Video

I tend to bounce between a lot of projects. I always have a really big one going on in the background while I'm working on my beaded jewelry, knitting, gardening and larger house projects. The big, detailed pieces run on a low hum in my brain.  Leaf Me Alone (the big version) is the current large project for the past 2 years or so. I have a drive to get it finished finally!

It took a while living with that low hum before I decided what shape the leaf panel was going to take. Leaf Me Alone's sister piece, She Can't See The Forest Through The Trees, has a leaf panel hanging at the top third of the installation.  I wanted this one to be longer. I debated making the panel the same size as the woven panel but that just wasn't jiving with me. 

After some sketching and getting the leaf panel started I decided I really like the full lenth of the woven panel but only half the width.  When I'm making the leaves, I think I've got a lot of them, but there are never enough!  

I managed to pick up COVID somewhere so I was on paid time off for 2 weeks until I got better.  The first week we just slept all the time and tried to be comfortable (the sinus headaches and body aches were the worst, and zero energy, I hate not being productive but sleep was the only way to ge through it). The second week all my motivation came rushing in and I was able to really dig my heels in. I was busting out fresh leaves from my sewing machine and beading. No surface is safe in our house. I clear off a table and another project would sneak its way on to that nice clear surface within 24 hours. The leaf panel for Leave Me Alone moved in and I was able to really look at the whole thing. The above photo there are leaves laid out on the left side but I'd not yet commited them to be stitched down yet. Below is a time-lapse video of the side length of leaves being stitched on. It took about 2 hours for me to get them all stiched which was actually faster than I thought it would be.  Amazing how much more productive I can be when I'm not allowing notifications on my phone to distract me (because the phone was busy taking the video)!

I have a deadline for an exhibit I want to submit this piece to so I'll be getting on top of the finish work this month (hemming, cutting the metal rod for hanging etc). I'm also working on a new website to get up before my Textiles & Tea talk with Handweavers Guild of America, January 18, 2022, 4pm for live but you can find it later on their Youtube channel.  Fun things are on the horizon!!

This partial panel has been pinned in my studio for months now, glad to have it almost done!

Finishing and Hanging "She Was Lost in the Woods and Followed the Sound of Your Waves"

It's finished.  And even a little bit before it's being hung at Grove Gallery & Studios this coming weekend so I can enjoy it at home for a minute.  I was kicking around a lot of titles for this piece.  I don't like how long it is, but it's descriptive and means a lot to me.  

"She Was Lost in the Woods and Followed the Sound of Your Waves"

I've had a lot going on since August 2014...really since before then.  My residency with the Friends of the Porkies was very enlightening for my future.  This is why it was so important for me to put the work into this piece.  I did a lot of hiking while I was there, alone.  Sometimes I would feel lost, and then I'd hear Lake Superior and head that direction so I could take off my hiking boots and socks to dip my toes in her cold waters.

This piece is also very defining for me, I feel a lot less lost these days and I cannot wait to get back up to the U.P. this August to visit Lake Superior and the Porcupine Mountains again (I'm teaching a 3-day Beadweaving workshop August 19-21!!!)

Anyway, on to what I've been doing to finish this piece.  I hemmed the edges.  First machine stitching 3 rows in my header (something I learned in a Mary Sue Fenner Workshop)

I decided a blanket stitch would look nice for the actual stitching of the hem.

I had to fix this weaving error, which involved cutting, pulling two weft passes and re-weaving them with a needle.

Then on to measuring out the webbing..

Sewing the "loop" (fuzzy) side of the Velcro to the webbing. So if you need to roll the weaving it won't catch on it.

Pinning the webbing/Velcro to the weaving.

A "fix" for me, I wanted to extend these light blue waves a little more for aesthetics. 

And during critique it was decided that the above white area stood out too much, so I needed to tone it back. I pulled some of it and stitched dark blue through.

The "hook" side of the Velcro I connected to my strip of wood and I drilled 3 holes in wood panel for hanging purposes.  

Why the Velcro? It's much easier to hang.  The wood panel is either nailed or hung to the wall first. Then you can press the weaving up against it and slowly level it.