Here is my completed final Take It Further project. I sewed the pomegranates on to the wool that I had dyed last week. That was after a bit of free motion work on the wool. It’s now a notebook cover for my upcoming Experimental Free Motion Embroidery class.

Here’s another angle. As you can see, I decided not to add any words and just let the pomegranates speak for themselves. The pomegranate is a symbol of abundance and generosity. The theme for December was generosity.

Here’s a few details.

Another…

And the last one. In this one, you can see that I did get quite a range of colors with the dyeing process and that the cover is not solid black with a few white bits.

I also started work on felted project that was supposed to work for the Felting Forum challenge for January and also be an exchange postcard. The piece turned out to big for a postcard and I can’t bear to cut it down in size. So I guess I’ll have to make a separate postcard. The piece called “Blue Moon” is drying and then I have to add some paint. So more later this weekend hopefully.

Although I haven’t had much time to blog or do any fiber work, I did get a few things done. Here is a needle felted pumpkin pin cushion that I made over the Christmas holiday. I also showed the grandchildren how to needle felt and they both made dogs. Unfortunately, I didn’t get photos of their creations. They had a great time though. After we got home, we have been dealing with tons of snow. It seems like we are shoveling and plowing every spare minute of the day. The snow even crushed one of our “garage tents” where we store the boat. Quite the disaster. I am trying to get organized for my machine embroidery course at the end of the month. I got some of the supplies but I’m having trouble finding 30 weight rayon machine embroidery thread and 100% cotton. I guess I’ll have to check out the quilt shops and see what they have. I did get a little further with my December TIF project.

My sister Margaret sent me a whole load of paint and ink supplies that she is no longer using. She included an old wool white blanket. So I used it to begin making a cover for my notebook for my class. I dyed it with jet black acid dye in a low immersion technique. It needs to be cut down now so it fits. I wanted to give myself room in case it shrank but it didn’t. Then I’ll sew on the pomegranates and sew the edges.

Here’s a close up of the dyeing process. You can’t really see all the color changes in the photos as it was getting dark here. Note to self – get it together and make a light box for taking photos some time in the near future (as in now!)

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. It’s quite inspiring to read every one’s goals and words that they have chosen for 2009. I don’t usually do resolutions or the such but I’m going to be trying to enter more of my work into competitions etc. Also, to concentrate on developing my own style and completing more projects. In this light, I will be doing less challenges and exchanges. I really enjoyed doing TIF but it seemed to take a lot of my time which is limited. So that’s the plan for 2009.

but it isn’t a vessel used in the last supper, it’s my last Christmas present finally completed. I did this one in a circle shape using two layers of painted cotton batting with a piece of canvas sandwiched in between. I had the cotton batting left over from a project I did last Christmas (still have some left for another project).

I like how this one turned out and hope my friend likes it. It’s much more “arty” than the 11 square bowls I made.

I probably won’t blog again until after Christmas. I want to wish anyone that reads my blog a happy holiday season and a prosperous new year. Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate every one’s comments. I should mention that I won a blog award from Kim. Thanks so much Kim, I really appreciate it but I don’t think I’ll pass it along to anyone, if you’re in my list of favorite blogs, consider yourself awarded!

Here’s another fabric bowl. I decided not to give this one away. For one thing, I didn’t think I would be able to finish it. It is made with denim and then I stenciled it with oil paint sticks. The problem is that now it has four layers of denim, plus stiff interfacing and the dried oil paint to stitch through. Needless to say it was a little difficult to satin stitch the middle square. Note to self: consider the eventual thickness when choosing fabric for this type of bowl or consider buying a sturdier sewing machine.

But I liked the outcome even though the stitching is less than my usual standards. Another reason not to give it as a gift!

Here is the start of my December TIF challenge piece. The subject is generosity. The pomegranate is a symbol of abundance and generosity. I did buy two pomegranates with the hope of doing some stamping with the cut pomegranate and then use pieces of pomegranate and seeds to make a deconstructive silk screen. Since I didn’t have time for either of those projects, I decided to complete this canvas that I had gessoed many moons ago. So I used my oil paint sticks again to draw the pomegranates and then used a watercolor wash of Paynes Grey for the background. However, the grey is very blue. I like it but had wanted it to be blacker. I’m kind of afraid to do anything more with the background as I don’t want to spoil it.

I think I will add some text. Perhaps just: ” Pomegranates – a symbol of abundance and generosity”. My plan at this point is to either take it further and make a larger wall hanging. Or the piece of canvas was originally planned for my fiber bag which I did a “graffiti” treatment to here. So I could just sew it to the bag. The other cool thing is that in lieu of Christmas, I am taking a class in January in machine embroidery at the Gail Harker Creative Studies center. It is a 5 day class and I am so excited!

I got a package all the way from Finland today. This is for the Felting Forum Ornament Exchange. I got a needle felted snowman, some lovely red wool and a cute little card from Amanda.

Isn’t the snowman cute? Thanks Amanda!

I’ve been working on these fabric bowls for some Christmas gifts.

Here’s a Christmas one.

And here’s the whole set so far. I’ve got several more to go. Have to be done by Saturday.

I also started working on wool flower pins. Rebekah and I cut out all the shapes this summer. But I never got around to constructing any.

Here’s the whole set so far. I have lots more flower shapes cut out. I’m going to make some other items as well, just haven’t had time to work on any. Hope everyone is having a non-stressful lead up to the holidays. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time…