[I am following Anne Brooke‘s 2021 #52tagshannemade slow stitch challenge to make a little tag every week of the year – see them all here!] Since some of her followers have asked to learn new stitches, Anne has decided that every fourth tag will feature a particular stitch so week 4’s theme is the fly stitch. I opted to make the tag more textural than visual. It doesn’t cross over well into the digital image world, but it is nice to rub your thumb across the stitching. I’m also getting practice not using a hoop, since I am using cut swatches too small for a hoop to start with usually.

I just tacked on stitches using different number of threads (1 to 4) going in one direction, adding threads as I got toward the bottom of the tag and switching colors about midway. Then, I went the other direction, piling more on top. I could have chosen to fill in the entire tag but I rather like the organic movement – it sort of represents the fluidity and adaptability that all educators and educatees are required to possess to get anything at all out of school right now.

I selected colors that represent the university I am teaching at, as that was where my mind most actively was all week with classes starting. I have a lot of negative things to say about teaching online in a pandemic environment (where the students didn’t choose to be online students but are forced to be), but I also try to think positively when I can so I came up with the bright side of it all for my quote.

And all of January’s together: