When I am planning on free motion machine stitching on a piece, I like to practice a little bit first. Usually I practice on a small piece of felt or even plain interfacing. So when I was working on my tamarack piece, I needed to practice the leaves.
Here is the finished piece with the leaves in the upper right hand corner. I was going for a more abstract approach and decided to try some zig zag stitch for the leaves and “straight” free motion stitch for the branches. I practiced with different thread colors on a piece of nuno felt.
Here’s the finished greeting card that I created from the small scrap of FME practice. I added a piece of painted paper behind it and stitched it down with zigzag around the edge. I love to make cards from whatever is laying around in the studio.
Ruth Lane Art 
That’s a win-win Ruth. Practice pieces usually end up in ‘the box’ but you’ve used some to make a pretty card!
Thanks! I definitely have plenty of practice pieces that don’t make the cut but this worked out well for a card.
Thats a really nice way to use up your sampling pieces and I love your finished Tamarak piece
Thanks Karen, I do like to use up “stuff” as best I can. Lots of times, pieces cut into smaller sections look better than in large sizes so cards are often the answer for me.
I can only echo the comments of Lyn & Karen – they’ve said it all perfectly. X
Thanks Antje!
Both are wonderful Ruth. Cards are such a great idea for small bits.
Thanks Ann, I always enjoy making cards as you can make small compositions fairly easily with just scraps.