Hi everyone, this is my very first stitching post and I'm so excited to share one of my favorite projects with you!
Inspiration:
I had the joy to work in the desert of New Mexico for three summers while I was in college. I'm a child of rolling green hills and eastern seaboard forests, and the dry heat of New Mexico was far different from anything I'd ever experienced before. I'm used to 95 degree summer days with 100% humidity; my first June four hours north-west of Albuquerque I encountered 100 degree heat with 0% humidity. IT WAS AMAZING. Somehow, even though its still so hot, you feel like you can jump up and touch the sky.
I did learn to watch out for dehydration in myself and others though. The sun and the heat will just suck the moisture out of you and by the time you get thirsty, its too late and you're dehydrated.
These three summers were some of the best times of my life, and when I was looking for projects a few years ago I naturally wanted to stitch this license plate, once I found it.
Stitches:
In the border I used a brownish orange splendor silk. The color reminds me of the dirt where I was, and I stitched a long diagonal to try to convey the feel of an endless flat plain. (I'm not sure it worked, but I like the smooth effect of the border on the design anyway!)
The Zia symbol in the center is one of the state symbols of New Mexico. I used a bright red and a horizontal zigzag that's one of my go-to stitches. I think the zigzag conveys an idea of the heat of the sun, and the red is a not-exact match for the coral jewelry that is plentiful in the Southwest.
I used a gold Krenik thread (an 8 millimeter I think, although I finished it and threw out the empty thread bobbin before I came up with the idea for this blog, so I can't be sure) for the sun. While silver is the metal most commonly associated with the Southwest (or at least I associate silver with it) I wanted to use gold for the sun. The New Mexico license plate used for the design has yellow letter, so I just continued the gold for the letters.
The background was done in a turquoise splendor silk thread. The stitch is diagonal mosaic, which is another of my go-to stitches. I wanted to convey an idea of motion, and also structure. As I stitched, I also imagined a slab of turquoise forming the surface of this license plate. Turquoise is a gorgeous stone, and it has a lot of variation and color. I used the one blue, but I felt that the idea of variance comes through in the stitch.
Stitching Process:
I have to admit, this was one of the longer and more difficult projects for me to finish. The turquoise just went on forever, and the gold braid hurt my hands. I stitched the lettering and the brown-orange, then the project sat for about three years before I dug it out of my stash this weekend. I finished it watching the women's cycling this Sunday, and I'm so excited to declare this one done!
