Take It Further Challenge - April

As is the norm on the first of each month, Sharon B. released the concept and color palette for the Take It Further Challenge. The concept for April is "How Do You See Change?" Basically, is "change" welcome or avoided?

Until recently, I avoided change. I was set in my ways, very routine and regimented and I resisted it. Over the last couple of years though, I've come to welcome it. We can't avoid change. Every thought, every idea, every desire, every fear, every bit of information we gather and every observation we have contributes to change. We expand whether we want to or not. It's evolution and it's inevitable. It's the nature of reality.

That of course is "internal change". But our outer world is a reflection of our inner world. As above, so below. It's Manifest Destiny so to speak.

I have already chosen my theme based on Sharon's concept. The color palette that Sharon chose reminds me of the rusts and browns of Autumn and Winter (when there isn't any snow on the ground). Because I have come to welcome change, the title of my piece will be "Winter Into Spring".

As always, I will work with Sharon's color palette. This time I will use it only as the foundation for my block. My stitching will reflect the pastel colors of Spring as new life gradually emerges from the dark days of Winter.

For those of you who like to work with the color palette as well, here it is with the DMC Embroidery Floss #'s:



Please keep in mind that I matched these based on my monitor settings. All monitors are different. At first, that dark color looked like black to me. When I looked at it in my image software, I suspected that it was actually dark green. I let my computer figure that one out and yes indeed, it is a dark green.

I'll be treadling today. I want to get this block pieced up and ready to stitch. I haven't decided on a focal point yet. I'm thinking of bird, maybe a robin. I'm going to go through my vintage jewelry pieces and see what I have that I can use. If I don't have anything that will work, I may just embroider a robin on the block.

Stay tuned to see where this goes!