Mixing things up. in a good way.

Our machine embroidery group has the song and music title theme.

I found an interesting link online: here is the link.

I have been playing with the above technique, using inks.

I have also been trying out transfer dyes. The dyes had the same consistency as ink and you do the original image on paper, so it is just like the technique above.

So I have tried to combine the three.

My free motion foot broke and I bought this one. I found out why it is not as good as my other one - you can't do zigzag stitch. Fortunately, I realised before I broke the needle!

The theme is All That Jazz. The size is A5.
I have to admit, I am not finding this sort of theme all that interesting and am struggling to come up with images. But I will persevere because it makes me experiment.

I dyed through two layers and some of the images are rather faint. Not to worry, it gave me a background that I can live with. 

Park bench inspiration

Going on with the Inspired By ... theme, I have another small piece done.
It is still inspired by Van Gogh and Kathryn Harmer Fox.
I used the seat in the garden at the asylum, by Van Gogh.  On my frequent walks with the dog, I came across many bench seats in parks.

The image I used as my model is nothing like the Van Gogh painting, but the painting was still my inspiration.

I have continued with the technique we learnt early last year, from Kathryn Harmer Fox. I used lots of small pieces of fabric, loosely attached them and then did some heavier stitching to give shading, etc.

Once again, it is roughly 12" by 16", or A3 size.

I actually quite like the back too, except that a piece of fabric got caught up in it, not that it matters as it is on the back.

It has taken me a while to get it finished, not for any good reason, just that life got in the way. But finally it is finished. Now to get the four framed. One day.

Missed my group

It was the meeting for our machine embroidery group today but I was unable to attend.

Not to worry,  took the opportunity to work on the piece for this month ... The Four Seasons. (Based on a song title.)

I had worked on the design and decided to just do it!

 You can see the basic (very basic) idea in the printout.

I traced the vague outlines of the piece onto the fabric, then laid out the sky, then the ground. All this is supposed to reflect the landscape in the different seasons.

I had noticed that our last winter was extremely green! I don't think I have noticed it being so green in previous winters but maybe I just wasn't looking.

Anyway, I have done winter as very green, summer as brown and the current autumn as a bit greener - but we are in dire need of some rain soon.

I seem to have attached the tree at an angle, so what was a straight on view is now slightly downhill.

It is only an A5 piece, so not very big. (14.8cm x 21cm, or 5.8" x 8.3")
It was a challenge to get my ideas into the small piece but I am reasonably happy with it.