Free motion machine embroidery group display

It is almost November! That is the month that our free motion machine embroidery group has its display. We have had the Farmyard theme this year.
I have tried to do each month's challenge and have, finally, done each one so far. December is working dog or cat - what is a working cat??
Anyway, I suspect that I won't get to do that one. Our display has to go up next Sunday and there is not much incentive to be doing the December challenge.

I have - finally - done a Sheep/Goat image that isn't too terrible. I have tried several times and they have all been disasters. This one isn't great but it is done!
It is based on wool - coming from sheep. I love the Hedrena brand of clothing. So do the moths!! So I have plenty of pieces of clothing with holes. I decided to use some of them for the background. And the layer beneath is wool too. The sheep are made using wool wadding/batting.

The image isn't all that good but it is what I have ended up with.

Then I realised that I have one for the November challenge, something to do with water supply or windmills. I actually made this image earlier in the year, thinking it would do for the machinery theme.

So now I have made one based on a picture I took several years ago, at a weekend workshop for tapestry weaving, at Tandwancoort. It was of an abandoned car and some equipment.

I used the eucalyptus oil image transfer that I tried recently. The image didn't transfer all that well this time. It may be because the calico I used may not have been washed properly and may have still have size on it. Or I may not have done it properly. Or it just didn't remember how it worked last time.
Anyway, I have done some heavier machine sewing than I intended but it is ok.

I have framed it and tried to do a mount board frame around it. It is a while since I did the framing course and it didn't turn out all that well. But, as it isn't for sale and no-one else has to deal with it, I am just going to go with it as it is.

A new way to transfer images - new for me.

I recently was inspired by a friend who had been to a paper workshop in which she used Cirtasolv to dissolve the inks on old National Geographic magazines to produce some lovely new papers.

It only seems to work on National Geographic papers. Well, she did get a bit of movement with an old BOM weather calendar, but it wasn't as good as the National Geographic.

I had a look online when I got home and found that Citrasolv has a link dedicated to using its cleaning product for art!
Having watched a few videos, it seems that National Geographic magazine has clay used in the printing process (or the paper itself?) and that might be what makes the difference.

I had some Orange Power solvent and thought I would give that a try but it didn't seem to work. I didn't have much and it was old, so it might be worth trying again at another time.

Then, as I was reading about these cleaning products, I thought: eucalyptus oil does that cleaning too.It probably came to me as I have been using it recently for my heavy head cold (it clears the sinuses wonderfully, especially if you put a few drops into steaming water, put a towel over your head and inhale - works wonders, keep a hanky nearby).

So, having read the other product information sites, I had a photo printed on a laser printer. The sites say that inkjet won't work.

I washed some cotton, to make sure the sizing was gone, and tried it.
I put the photo face down and taped it with masking tape around the edges, to make sure it would not move around.

Then I gently brushed on the oil. The paper instantly became transparent.
I rubbed it gently with the back of a teaspoon for a little while - not long at all.

Peeking to see if was working. 

The image has transferred. The printout is still not too bad either but I think I got all the transfer I was going to get.

I have rinsed and ironed it and nothing seemed to come off it. As it is only going to be an experimental wall hanging piece, I didn't give it a thorough testing of fastness.

I put cotton batting behind it, into a hoop,  and used free motion sewing to highlight the different areas.

I cut the batting away to the edge of the image and then wrapped the sides around some mount board.

There was a little bit of frayed cotton under the fabric when I did the transfer and it is clearly visible so I will have to be more careful if I do another.

The piece is for my machine embroidery group at the EGV. Our monthly theme this year is Farmyard. This month's topic was farmer or farm worker, neither of which enthused me. Then I was browsing my photos and came across this one of a bee and the sunflower in our backyard.

The bee is doing the pollinating - a worker. What would we do without them??