a stitched photo...

tomorrow i am headed out to the west coast of the island, for an annual "girls" trip i do every spring for about eight years now. a few girls, a cozy beachside cabin, a few bottles of wine, and perhaps a bit of surfing and definitely lots of beach exploring - it's always a great time. the crew of women varies each year, except for my friend who organizes the whole thing, and me. the spring date usually coincides (give or take) with her birthday, although this year we are about a month late. hopefully that means warmer weather will prevail, although we have often been surprisingly lucky in march.



anyway, i wanted to bring her a little present, as i usually do. this year i thought it might be fun to bring something that was actually somewhat commemorative of our annual trip. i printed out a photo i took of some of our surfing crew about three years back, in black and white to add a bit more timelessness to it. i faded out the bottom of the sand to leave a bit more white space, and then i started stitching.



some bull kelp, a seal, and a bit of a border grew on the photo. it was fun to be stitching on paper, so completely different from working in soft, pliable fabric. i only stitched in black thread to keep this fairly monotone, but i'd like to try some colour in the future. it could also be interesting to work in a much larger size - this is only an 8x10 sheet of bamboo paper. i've put it in a simple white frame for her. i hope it will be a good memory of our times at the beach, especially now that she lives far away from the ocean.



wishing you all a relaxing weekend - i'm looking forward to three days without work and worries.