Fantasia idea almost done and dusted

With the coming of Easter, and securing a vaccine appointment, I have been able to return to the design folder. I began this pattern idea in 2020. The center fell into place nicely. The middle section is sketched out. The outer round needs a bit of tweaking. Now to tat a sample with all 3 ideas connected into one piece of lace.

I think I’m closer to performing the piece than completing the design!

Chapel chair in use

Time has flown by. I’ve been working steadily on the Saint-Saens. With the cooler weather, I’ve been able to work an extra hour or so. I did end up cutting out and changing how one of the motifs joined. That took 3 days work, but it’s worth it!

Last weekend saw a milestone:

The chapel chairs are back and now in use. Here’s my little contribution:

Thank you to Don and Penny for the photo and all your help. I hope everyone can see enough to appreciate how nice the chair looks. The design really does bring the stained glass windows into the interior of the church. In case you’re wondering (and even if you’re not curious) folks estimate 2 hours per square inch of stitching. Most of my stitching was done during the healing phase of my summer. It saved my sanity!

Now on to more Saint-Saens and may be some pineapple doily.

Saint Saens Maestoso B section

At this point of the movement, Saint-Saens gets down to business. He gives the melody to the organ. Of course some of the orchestra is playing also, but the theme is all organ. We hear the syncopation hinted at in previous movements. There’s a strong sense of going somewhere harmonically as well as rhythmically. And before you know it, we’ve moved on into the next section. Whoosh!

B section motif without border

I had fun stringing beads to use in the rings. I wanted them to look strong and uneven. The first few samples didn’t work for me until I correlated stitch count to rhythm. Again, the visual fell into place as soon as I let the structure of the music drive the design. That brought a smile to my face.

Tomorrow, I will be looking at the pretty melody coming up in the next section.

Looking at the development

For the next round of the pattern, I decided to create motifs for each section. I found the piece easily fell into 8 sections that drew on 4 different ideas. This is very common in symphonies and the ideas or themes seemed to suggest 4 different motifs. As I mulled over this realization for several days, I came to the conclusion that just like nature exhibits complimentary color schemes, music exhibits complimentary rhythm and melody. Who’d a thunk…….

All this made such great sense, except I didn’t have a clue where to attach them all and how to arrange them and…..

So, I made some arbitrary decisions that are just my way of keeping things flowing visually: the 2 beads in the center ring will sit on the “horizon” of the design; the sections will be joined with tatting in a thinner thread that provide a background of sorts; even though the melodic ideas repeat in the sections, I made two of each of the 4 motifs thus making visual duplicates. I’m pleased with creating this little bit of balance. I pray the indulgence of all those musicians and tatters out there. Forcing this little bit of visual order onto the structure of the music and this little bit of chaos onto the structure of the tatting has led to interesting discoveries. Tomorrow begins our romp through the motifs.

I’ve completed another simple motif. I’m guessing again at the colors that will compliment what the other teachers will be working with.

just a fun looking motif

and in Carribean Lizbeth thread

If the design works well for the class, I’ll adapt it for a snowflake look. As always, if someone else claims this as their design that I haven’t come across, please let me know and I’ll be happy to credit their work and ask permission to use it etc, etc.