I haven’t blogged for two weeks because I was working away on this piece. It took forever! I covered all of the applique with thread painting and I sewed and sewed and sewed. It turned out OK but I’m not thrilled with the perspective. It doesn’t have a name yet. I was considering calling it “California Tourists” but didn’t want anyone to take offense.

Here’s a closeup.

And another.

I also made some rusted fabric out of muslin and scrim that I had already dyed with leftover black dye.

I think I’ll layer the two together but not sure what I’ll do with them as of yet. My next project is going to be collaged, felted home accessories. More on that later.

I debated with myself about posting about my recent disappointment with the Pfaff Embroidery Challenge but decided I should, since I had already posted about being accepted. I got an e-mail this week that the jury panel had not accepted my work since it wasn’t 3D as they had expected. Apparently, they thought that my piece was 7 cm deep instead of .7 cm (7/10) as I had put on my form. I guess because I didn’t put 0.7 cm, they didn’t notice the decimal point. To say I was disappointed is putting it mildly. I would have much rather been notified at the very beginning that I didn’t make it as opposed to thinking I had. The organizer apologized after I sent a return e-mail explaining the decimal point confusion but they are returning my piece. I’m not sure how they thought my piece was going to be 3D since a sample was required which was a near duplicate of half the piece but…

Anyways, now you can all see the piece entitled “The Landscape of Bark – Beneath Notice” that I entered. It is a 2D piece that is 18 x 27 cm. It is machine embroidery with on lay applique on a base of canvas. It is based on a photo of bark that I took in Glacier National Park. It represents a topographical map of bark as I always am reminded of topographical maps when I look at all my bark photos.

Here is a close up. I am trying to let this whole incident not upset me and felt much better after the apology. Next time I enter a piece, I won’t be announcing acceptance until after I’m sure that it has been accepted. So I won’t be coming to London this fall (even though I’m not sure I could have come even if I was in the show) and don’t look for my piece at the Knitting and Stitching Show.

I have been working today on my machine embroidered poppy piece that I showed a preview of last week. I have all the background done and have started on the foreground. I’ll post it as soon as it is completed. Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Here is a machine embroidery piece that I have started today. It is loosely based on the photo of the California poppies that I posted about here. I am using canvas as a base and then I fused down various hand painted and hand dyed fabrics which I am stitching over. The canvas is stiff enough that I don’t have to use a hoop.

Here’s a close up of the background trees. I’ll show you more once I get it stitched. I am debating on whether to do some poppies on dissoveable fabric to put in the foreground. I guess I’ll decide once I get part of the foreground done. Thanks for all the positive comments on the jelly fish!

Sorry it’s been so long but I seem to never get time to play with fiber in July. I always have company, we’re busy with tourists at work and I’ve been out and about boating, hiking, going to festivals and fairs. Hopefully, I’m now back on my regular schedule.

I did manage to finish this felted jellyfish lampshade. I wanted to make my own base for it and I still plan on doing that but I made this for the Felting Forum July mixed media challenge so I wanted to post it today. It’s done with wet felting, machine embroidery, machine needle felting and then sewn on to an acrylic lamp shade. My hubby suggested that I put wire in the tentacles so that they would sway out to the side as if it was really underwater. I’m not thinking I’ll do that but I have to see how it looks once I have the lamp base made. Hope everyone has been having a wonderful summer (or winter if you’re on the other side of the world) and you’ll hear more from me in August.