One of my favorite authors was Shel Silverstein; he was truly one of a kind.  In addition to many books, poetry and artist, he wrote the music and lyrics for "A Boy Named Sue."  You can read more about him here.

As a teenager, my daughter was really touched when she read The Giving Tree.  It is one of his most famous books, and was a modest success when it first arrived on the scene.  Since that time, it has sold more than 5.5 million copies in 30 languages as a best seller that is likely to be on the shelf in your local book store right now. 

When I saw an embroidery design called "The Tranquility Tree", I felt like it was something I wanted to use in a creative project with The Giving Tree in mind.  This is what I came up with.

I had wanted to use an unusual fabric/material/textile in its design.  I did not have to look any further than my laundry room.  I selected the dryer fabric softener that I use.  There were a couple of things that I did not realize about that cloth.  First was that a ‘used' cloth was not necessarily a ‘completely' used cloth.  There were still chemicals left in that cloth.  The second thing was that when I used water paint on the cloth that I used in several dryer loads, it still would not take the paint evenly.

So, I spattered on some paint because the paint was an afterthought anyway.  The main concept was the tree and the dryer cloth.

The next consideration was a strong color for the background.  I checked out several colors, including brown, red and green.  I selected the green for my background.

I sewed out the design and wanted to use a ‘frame' along with the tree.  With 34 different and unusual designs, those frames supersede those on my machine.  In the end, I used an oval - - so much for innovation.

I wanted to showcase the interesting design so I made the frame a little smaller than the design.  You can just see the sun and two roots peeking out from the embroidered frame.

After trimming to the frame, I was pleased with the outcome.  The only thing I would change is to have used more vibrant colors for the sun, water (horizontal lines) and roots. 

What do you think??

I like the smoky affect the dryer cloth gives.  Using net, organza, voile or other delicate fabric may be even more beautiful.