Winter Trees and gadgets

These are my Winter Trees from a workshop with Alison Holt.  The background is silk, painted with a sky/sunset and the trees are worked in a hoop, then applied to the scene.

 

I have a new gadget/attachment for my machine, which sews the patterns in a circle.  It's interesting how different the stitches look when worked in this way but unfortunately the outer pattern was not a goood choice, giving a d'oyle effect.  However, this is only the first experiment!

Module One Checklist etc.

I have found that drawing and designing can be fun and feel a little more confident about using the materials I have collected but have been reluctant to use.  The mark-making exercise in Chapter 8 was great fun, once I got started.  I think I am much more adventurous with colour now and am moving away from my old favourites to a brighter, more vivid palette.  Having the opportunity to use a wide selection of threads to create effects is a skill I think I am developing.  I need to practise free stitching to get the speed of hand and machine a little more coordinated, especially when not using a hoop. I find satin difficut to control this way.

I hope this is easier to see.

This is me, stitching the colour circle in Chapter 5

I'm not sure what to do about the last box on the checklist!

 

Chapter10

 I like these samples . They were fun to do and the colours  seem to glow on the black felt.  I used the same  pink and turquoise threads on the sample on the diagonal in Chapter 3 and are some of my favourites.  The silver and gold threads are designed for computerised embroidery so it's quite strong and rather stiff. 

 The lime green satin sample reminds me of fruit.  The colour was not what I intended when I printed it but I think it has come into it's own.  I still find the satin difficult to control but a pair of shower gloves, with a rough texture help, but evey bit if thread sticks to them and I had to keep taking them off!

 Finding illustrations for this was difficult but I love the patterns on the hot water bottles!

 These are photos of a couple of prints .

 I prefer water colours to acrylics; they have a much softer look .  I seem to have amassed three boxes, one pastels, one bright colours and a box of  pale metallics so this gave me the opportunity to use them.

 My drawings seemed OK but the stitched sample seemed messy and lost the patterns of the stitches.  It was difficult to see the black on black, even in good daylight.............

 so I tried something different.

 The shapes were made by  drawing a profile of the shape, folding and cutting double (like paper dollies).

 But  I forgot to reverse the Stitch and Tear so the image is the opposite way to the design, but i am pleased with stitching and got the effect I was after.

I've learned a lot in this from this Module.  I  think my drawing and designing skills have inproved and I rely less on the Eureka Point for ideas than in the past.  I have a few philosophical problems: why does the bobbin thread run  out in the middle of the penultimate row of stitches?  Why is double-sided adhesive tape so reluctant to stick to Vilene?  Why do bits of thread fall on the carpet and not into the bin?

I'm really looking forward to the next module.

My Threads notebook

 I buy threads whenever I visit a craft or textile related store, and found I kept buying the same colours.  I put a sample of each thread and similar coloured fibres and fabrics into a notebook to carry with me when I shop.

 

                                                           This really helps!!!

Chapter 9

The example on black felt started with the blues, greeens and turquoise and worked up to the oranges and reds.  The sample on printed satin started with blobs of oranges nad worked down to the blue/greens.  Some colour was used in a few areas at a time with others blending them together