Making a forest floor machine embroidery piece - part two

We were asked to make a 3D piece for the assignment.  I had thought about Art Dolls, not my thing at all.  Vessels were a possibility but I found myself making things very similar to bowls I had already made and I couldn't see any real use for the piece I had modelled on a vase.
I ended up deciding to make a 'sculpture' of the forest floor.  I went back to some work I had done a year or so ago, making free motion machine lace and rolling it up to resemble a tree trunk.

This is where I was so happy to have blogged about it in the past, I found it easily online rather than having to search through various hardcopy visual diaries and not being sure where I had put that work. I just had to put in a term in the search box and there it was!

I used the same technique I had used previously and laid out some sari silk and some pieces of sinamay that I had.  I used them as part of the design and because the work seems to shrink less when I have a base such as this to hold the shape better.

I then hooped it up and sewed between the pieces, using them as good anchor points for the lacy part.

After that, I rolled it up loosely, to resemble a fallen branch,

and auditioned the fungus.

Making a forest floor machine embroidery piece - part one

After all my taking photos and thinking, I finally started making some distorted machine sewing based on the images.
I also used ideas from Exploring Dimensional Quilt Art by C June Barnes.  I didn't do the quilted shapes but used an idea for one piece. She explains her designs and the maths involved and they can be adapted to free motion sewing.
The idea was to make two identical circles, cut a slit in each one, then join them together.  I didn't quite follow the instructions but came up with something that could possibly be found on a forest floor.

I played around with ideas from the samples we had done, trying to use colours that might suggest a more muted fungus - despite the fact that I was finding orange fungus on my walks.

I wasn't sure how the non circular piece would come out once off the hoop but it turned out ok.

I chose a base fabric that was in the colour range I was using, so that it didn't matter if you could see a little bit of the fabric through the sewing.

Hugely disappointed!!!

This is nothing to do with textiles but I must comment and hope that people who read my blog will contact the Victorian Government.
The RSPCA has alerted us to the fact that the Victorian Government is proposing legislation for puppy breeding that is not acceptable. We only have till August 14th to send in our submissions about our response to the proposal. Go to this link to hear an interview with the minister responsible.
I find it exceptionally disappointing that the leader of the party making these proposals is a qualified vet. You can go to Oscar's Law to read more about this issue. (Facebook link to Oscars Law)
If you live in Victoria, Australia, please contact your local member and express your dismay at the proposed cruel treatment of dogs and cats.

Beneath the Southern Sky still travelling

I received an email recently about the travelling exhibition of banner quilts for Beneath the Southern Sky. I was lucky enough to have my work accepted for this and am always excited to hear about its travels around the world.  I would LOVE  to go to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, in the UK and see it in August but, alas, will not be able to.  Here are a couple of links to some of the showings of the works. (Smilebox, American Quilters Society)
It is even going to South Africa - oh to be able to go and see them in another country.  I saw them twice in Australia, at the AQC and the Craft and Sewing Show last year but it would be even more special to be able to see them internationally.
I am so grateful to Brenda Gael Smith for organising the exhibition and putting in all the hard work to have it shown in so many venues. I am still amazed at the fact that I am in an exhibition with so many wonderful textile artists.

My piece in the exhibition was inspired by eucalyptus trees and their wonderful trunks.  I am still taking pictures of trees and branches, fallen or on the trees!  (Just look at my last couple of posts.) There seems to be a theme here.

Stump work, nothing to do with trees!

I have just been to the Embroiderers Guild for the monthly machine embroidery interest group meeting.  We don't do any actual sewing, we sit around and share ideas and tell of interesting exhibitions we have been to.  People are very sharing and pass on all sorts of information.
I showed some of my work from the SWTAFE class and also from the Olga Walters workshop. I seem to post my latest work off for assessment just before each meeting.

However, today I was blown away by the exhibition in the rooms - it was of the Stumpwork Masterclass work. It took two years to do the course and the work is amazing!!!!
We weren't allowed to take photos so I can only recommend going to the Guild rooms to see it.  It is well worth the trip.  The exhibition is on from August 3 to 31.

Fungus walk

As I have been experimenting with the samples for our assignment, some of them have made me think of fungus (or flowers).

To get this effect, you draw a circle on your fabric and then sew in straight lines from the centre.
It wrinkles as you sew, giving dimension. It has to be hooped to be manageable. The one nearest the camera was done by going around and around the circle, rather than straight stitching.

I did the samples with  a colour that I don't often use, to get rid of some of it.

I had to take the camera out again and get more photos, while walking the dog. This time I was looking at various fungi that is in the park. As I have said, it has not been very wintry (although it is today!!) and the park is reasonably dry. I did find a few dampish spots though and there were some interesting sights - if I looked carefully.

Texture walk

I have been working on my latest assignment for the SWTAFE machine embroidery course this week - after a bit of a slump in the last couple of weeks. We were asked to come up with a 3D object.  We had to do samples using a few different techniques and I found a lot of my work tending towards organic shapes - what a surprise!  Not.
I have plenty of pictures of trees and tree trunks, logs, etc. but just had to take more.  Some of the older ones were lost when I deleted all my photos (I will recover from this eventually) but I still have a rather good collection.
However, I took my camera with me on the last couple of walks with the dog and it was my turn to get distracted and wander off into the bushes.  The walks have been an absolute bonus, given how my back reacts to hours of sitting and sewing.
Here are some of the images that I have been using - my theme has been fallen branches and leaf litter, which might explain some of the otherwise not very interesting photos.

It is funny how having a particular theme makes you look at things differently.  I will have walked past these branches and stumps many times without taking much notice but this time I could see wonderful patterns and designs.