We were planning on going skiing today but it was so foggy, you couldn’t see a thing. We decided we didn’t want to injure ourselves because we couldn’t see the hand in front of your face. So we came home and I had more time to play with fiber.

 I finished cutting out the black and white applique. Some of those long strips were a bit tricky to cut out.

 Since it is going to be a “shadow” applique, I tried out various pieces of silk organza to cover the felt.

 It’s hard to see the colors in these photos.

 This one is more purple than what shows in this photo.

 It was hard to decide which one to choose.

 Here’s the piece after I basted the organza in place. I will then stitch it down at the edges of the white felt.

 Here is the front cover that I made for my little applique book. It needs to be stitched down as well. I wrote a post about the rest of the pages here.

 Then I went back to beading while I was watching the Seattle Seahawks beat the Washington Redskins. I completed the edging on this page.

 It is a “braided” edge. It was fairly simple to complete.

 Then I stitched down the cabochon on the front page. I’ve got to decide if I want to add more to the front page or just add the edge. It would be pretty plain but the book is really getting heavy. I’m not sure I should add much more.

Here’s a side view of the cabochon. Perhaps I’ll just add another couple of rings around the base. What do you think?

I’m still plugging along working every day on something creative. Today I worked on several projects, mostly applique homework.

 I finished stitching the needleturn applique aspen leaf. As you can tell from this photo, it doesn’t lay flat. Sigh.

 This is my Broderie Perse sample. I worked on this while we were driving around doing errands. Luckily, hubby drives, as stitching and driving doesn’t always work out well. I needed a better match on the green thread I think.

 Here is the finished aspen leaf. I added a stem with (drum roll, please) stem stitch. The veins are drawn on with colored pencil. I thought further stitching over the leaf itself would emphasize the fact that the fabric was not flat and it would look worse than it does.

This is what I have been doing this evening. The design on the right side is in paper and one that I did in class in November. It’s based on the “eyes” on the trunks of birch trees. I am now cutting out the pieces in felt to do an applique of the design. The cut out felt pieces are on the left. You can see my patterns just above the scissors on the right.This will be a shadow applique with a  piece of organza over the felt. I will have to audition the various colors of organza to see how they affect the black and white design. I’ve gotten quite a bit done this week and I’m happy with my progress. What have you been working on this week?

 Friday is my fiber day as I am off from work and get to spend all day doing fun stuff. Today I am continuing working on my class homework. Part of our assignment this time is to do a bit of study about various kinds of applique. So I looked up reverse applique and found some wonderful photos of molas.

 Molas are from the Kuna Indians who live on islands off the coast of Panama. They use these colorful geometric designs on the women’s blouses. And most are done with reverse applique. That’s where you have several layers of different colors of fabric. The fabric layers are sewn together in a design and then the top layers are cut back so you can see the colors underneath.

 This isn’t a very good photo but this is the stitching on the back from the horse design above. If you search for Molas online, you’ll find some wonderful examples.

 I also found this reverse applique technique on the Sew, Mama, Sew blog. She has a tutorial if you’d like to try it out.

 Another assignment is to write a book review of an applique book. I couldn’t find many at the library that weren’t just basic felt appliques sewn in “cute” patterns. This book The Art of Elegant Hand Embroidery, Embellishment and Applique by Janice Vaine was the best of the bunch. It really only talks about needleturn applique but it gives a very thorough explanation. It also has a stitch dictionary which is handy for adding embroidery to applique pieces.

 I also looked up Broderie Perse earlier as I needed to do an example of that type of applique as well. It is essentially fussy cut applique where designs from Chintz type fabric are cut out and appliqued to a solid background. Here I have fused the flower to the background. I haven’t stitched this yet but I’ve got it all ready to go so when I have free moment, I can stitch the flower down.

The last thing I worked on today is this needleturn applique of an aspen leaf. It is sort of tedious work and stitching the felt applique is considerably easier. But I’m making progress despite leaving a big loop of thread on the back of the fabric, tying a knot in the working thread and then breaking the thread in mid stitch. But I will persevere!

A small update on the progress of yurt building. I am searching for a local source of wool. I have gotten several names of people who can spread the word of what my needs are. A local Montana wool processing mill was also recommended, Sugar Loaf Wool. I will be contacting them to find out what the schedule is for getting the wool washed, carded and made up into batts. They make big batts for bedding so I think this might be perfect as it will speed up the layout process considerably. So small steps forward on the yurt project.

Hope you have a nice weekend!