Circle the Star

“Circle the star and put an ‘x’ in the box....”

When I began the surface design of these two pieces, this little phrase was playing again and again in my head.  It is an instruction from my own primary classroom---my own childhood.  I remember a workbook of sorts through which we progressed as first graders.  We read instructions (like this one) and performed the tasks required.  Perhaps this was an attempt at early reading comprehension?---following directions?  I can’t really say.  I do remember the smiling faces inked at the top of pages after they were completed correctly--perhaps the only motivator in such a task.

These two textile pieces are the result of a pair of old---but very charming camp stools--perhaps from the 1950s.  The frames are orange red, and the seats look to have been recovered with the remnants of an old tent.  The seats are seamed and double stitched in some places in the sturdy light green canvas.  Because they have some charm--I decided to keep this canvas as the base for the new covers.

I have always loved the architecture of small camp stools--easily carried on one’s shoulder---folding neatly and perfectly--- and able to stow completely flat wherever you put them.  I have one that sits in the corner of my studio, and another in my classroom---once used routinely in a school that embraced outdoor education--and one with which I often traveled to the top of a berm along Westerly Creek at lunchtime to journal and think.  They are now the relics of another time---only available as ‘vintage’ when one can find them!

I decided to repurpose these stools for my daughter and her husband---a wedding gift for a couple who loves to camp, raft, and find adventure outdoors.  They are looking forward to a camping trip in remote Colorado in the coming weeks.

I started by hand painting and stamping commercial fabrics.  After cutting painted fabric into squares and rectangles, I arranged them onto the existing (laundered) canvas.  I attached these with a loose zig-zag stitch on all edges.  I then set out to create the surface design using free-motion embroidery.  I used a palette of soft greens, yellow greens, orange-red, muted oranges and burnished red-orange.  I included the “circle the star” motif in a number of places--as well as childlike scribbles inspired by my granddaughter’s art on my studio wall.  

I also included the sweet wedding ‘logo’ that my daughter and her husband used on wedding stationery
“C + F” inscribed in a heart (carved in a tree) on each cover.


After the stitching was complete,  I used Briwax to clean and preserve the finish on the original red paint and re-attached the covers with tacks to their original positions.   Voila!--ready for sitting around the campfire---or alongside the river.