Mono Monday. : : Texture

Landscape is so full of texture that I was spoiled for choice today with an interesting sky filled with a variety of clouds, vineyards sporting new growth on gnarled old vines, all manner of trees in different stages; some still virtually leafless, some covered in blossoms or bursting with new leaves and conifers sedately maintaining their year round needles. Even the conifers show signs of new growth and bear cones instead of fruit or flowers.

In the end, I opted for this ridiculously tall pair of palm trees with their unruly crowns silhouetted against a streaky, puffy, cloudy sky and grounded in trees in all stages of leafing out. I think there is even an airplane contrail up there as well. The ever-present mountains can be seen in the distance clothed in their own textures of chaparral, trees and open spaces.

Many thanks to John Edward for hosting the challenge this month.

We were on our way back from our regular visit with Kathy, who worked on my knee in her own virtually painless way and dispensed wise advice about the best ways to keep working on the last degree or two of extension, which is slow to come because of years of not being able to fully extend it. It's important because without some degree of vigilance, it will revert back to its former, less stable position.

I played around with placing the patches for a decorative sashiko pillow cover. The technique called boro was originally the placing of patches over over holes in clothing or used to thicken the fabric of coats to make them warmer. The stitching used to hold the patches in place is called sashiko. Over time  both techniques, designed for extending the life of clothing, have developed into purely decorative forms.

The best way to get a little distance on the design is to take a picture, so for a shot of color on a mono day, and a way to document a new project, I've put a picture in extras. There isn't a single stitch in it yet. Once I've settled on a design, I'll glue the patches in place with fabric glue so that I can start the overstitching. It's fun (so far) and I like the small scale and portability of the project. 

I have no idea what I'll do with the finished product, if indeed it does get finished, but I'll worry about that later....