Sunday, August 12, 2007

Marne's Landscape....Embroidery Finished

Marne was the mom next door at Michillinda during my childhood, so I have known her my whole life. She and her husband had 8 children, most of whom are a lot older than me, but the last two were my age and we played together all summer as kids.

Here she is with her daughter Molly (who was an absolute goddess to me when she was a teen and I was a little girl; Molly, you are still a goddess!), taken a few weeks ago on her porch. Marne is sharp as a tack, still walks every day; I want to be like her when I am 95! Of course, decades of playing killer tennis helped her stay that way, I am convinced. We'd better hit those treadmills, gals!
Marne herself has spent each and every one of her 95 summers in her cottage at Michillinda...her children are the ones who commissioned this landscape to present to her on her 95th birthday next month. Needless to say, this was an extra meaningful project for me.

Marne's cottage is the closest one shown..you can mostly just see her porch. She would be there knitting these incredible cable sweaters on size 1 needles when I was a kid; now they've got WiFi on that porch!
I added just a smidge of embroidery to the landscape...it didn't really need it, and I hope it isn't distracting.
I'll be stretching this over foam core to finish it. Will show the details of that this week.

Meanwhile, it is back to making the floral alphabet. I do plan on making the letters available for sale on an Etsy shop...later in the fall. I will definitely keep you posted!

12 comments :

Laura Morley said...

Allie, it's just perfect. I am sure she will love it. Have a lovely Sunday.

Threadspider said...

Allie, it's just perfect. I am sure she will love it. Please delete the other post- I was unknowingly using Laura's log-on!

Possibilities, Etc. said...

What a wonderful story - and commission. I would like to be like her at 70 (in a few years) but refuse to play tennis. You have captured a "feeling" in that landscape that makes me want to go there. I love the sparkle on the water.

Grangry said...

Allie, this is fabulous. The amount of embroidery is perfect, a lovely accent. I like the sparkle you got on the water too! Nice work.

Barbara C said...

What a beautiful piece. I'm sure she's going to love it a lot.

Marty52 said...

You showed remarkable restraint in limiting the amount of embroidery! It really gives the feeling of being under the trees... just beautiful! She will be so thrilled.

Debra Dixon said...

Fab-O!

Kay said...

Beautiful, Allie! And what a range of techniques, from hand embroidery and hi tech photo transfer. Sort of like the transformation of the porch to WiFi, isn't it?

Guzzisue said...

Beautiful !!

Deb Hardman said...

It's perfect. Absolutly perfect!

Susan said...

What a lady! I hope I, too, can be so sharp. The landscape is wonderful. It might not have *needed* the embroidery, but it adds a texture that it wouldn't otherwise have. Beautiful piece. And you are signing it, of course?

Granny Fran said...

Breathtakingly beautiful for an very special and beautiful woman. What a gift you have to be able to create something like this for her. The sparkle in the water is so amazing.