2021 #the100dayproject - The beginning

Having completed #the100dayproject in 2019 and 2020, I wondered if I would do it again this year and thinking I had lots of time to think about it , I didn't think a decision would be imminent. And surprise - this year, the starting date was brought forward to 31 January - TODAY. I hadn't really given it a lot of thought and there wasn't a lot of planning... However, I had decided I didn't want to go another 100 little things, but still wanted to feature the garden, or my neighbourhood somehow. Not to go into the long story how many projects I thought of and how many times I changed my mind, my project will be #100gardenthreads . in many ways, this is not dissimilar to many of the other series of envelopes and stitched pins (#100envelopes and #100pinpoems ) . In this project, I am using both meanings of thread
1) as in sewing - a fine fibre and
2) as in a book - its story or the way it develops , one part connecting to the other .

I have gathered 20 folding books - Zig Zag khadi paper books , each with 5 pages so the project will be a page a day . There will always be extra work every 6th day at the beginning of a new book - preparing the pages with a cloth cover first gives the paper more strength for stitching.

Today to ease myself into the project, I made a simple collage as in interpretation of the beautiful eucalypt tree ( ficifolia) in my garden . I have used a variety of papers including old maps, tea bags, painted and dyed paper and a postage stamp.

The cover and back of the book is eco dyed silk . Something I will need to consider as I go along is that whatever is stitched on one side also appears on the other if I work directly onto the pages. I didn't mind the outlines of the gum leaves on this first page and what is the front cover, although I may still add more to this "alternate' side. I also tried to continue one page overflowing onto the next , to add continuity - the 'thread' idea

Hope you will follow my #100gardenthreads for the next 99 days.

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