Applique Stump Rings

Posted on by under applique, hand stitching, Level 3 Stitch

I am back from my Level 3 Stitch class. The class was great although the return trip was a bit of a struggle due to weather. We sat for two hours on one of the passes due to snow and crazy drivers. But we made it safe and sound.

I started this applique piece in class. It’s based on shapes and rings from stump photos. I have a bunch of those types of photos and this isn’t really one stump, it’s a combination of several. This has been basted down but I haven’t started stitching yet. I have to work out where I want the lines of stitching to go, what color and size of threads to use and what hand stitches to use. Lots of decisions yet before I jump in and start stitching. Hopefully, by next week, I will have made some progress.

Have a great weekend!

I Lied

Posted on by under Color, hand stitching, Level 3 Stitch

I told you last week that you had seen the last of the color studies. But I lied.

Here’s one more. I didn’t particularly like my first orange and blue study so I did another one. This has a background fabric of silk noil covered with silk organza. You can’t see it here but I got the pattern of stitching from the pattern of dye on the silk organza. I used stem stitch and did three rows to give it more weight. I was considering filling the blue shape completely in with stem stitch but I like the balance of blue to orange at this point so I think it’s done. So perhaps this is the last one, maybe…

Last of the Color Studies

Posted on by under Color, Level 3 Stitch

I have come to the end of the color studies and I’m getting ready to go back to session two of my Level 3 Stitch class soon.

This is a take off on a sample that Antje sent me a photo of that she had created. Thanks for the idea Antje. I think mine doesn’t quite measure up to yours. This looks way too busy to me. But maybe I should have just kept adding more stitching. Plus I can’t stitch straight even using automatic stitching. Perhaps that is why I prefer more organic patterns. I don’t have to worry about it being straight.

Here’s a new set of thread that arrive today. I bought it with Christmas money from my mom. This is #12 weight Sulky cotton thread in the “first 80 colors”. It includes some multi color “blendable” threads as well. There are empty spaces in the box, oh my! Now I feel like I need to buy some more colors to fill in the blanks.

I tried them out on this color study. And again, I can’t seem to keep the machine going straight. But the thread is nice and heavy and really shows up well. I think this piece would have been better if I hadn’t used all 12 weight thread but thrown in some 40 weight so that it would give a contrast in line.

Thanks for stopping by and have a nice weekend!

More Color Studies

Posted on by under Color, Level 3 Stitch

I’m still doing a few more color studies. I learn more each time I do one so it couldn’t hurt to keep going 🙂

First I did another color overlay starting with yellow-orange and yellow fabric as a base. I then used polyester sheers over top. I like the subtle changes that you get with this.

Next up, I wanted to try a monochromatic piece with a variety of different fabric. So this is the result. Do you like it better with the uneven edges or cropped? Right now I have just left the uneven edges as they are. I think it gives it a bit  more interest.

Have a good weekend!

Dyeing More Fabric

Posted on by under Color, Dyeing

I’m a bit late getting this posted but I did some dyeing on Friday. I finished all my color wheel dyeing and now wanted to do some black and grey fabric as well as mixing it into other colors.

Here’s the page in my sketchbook that shows the dyes painted on paper. I then added a small swatch of one of the fabric types that I dyed with that color. The blue-green, blue and green all turned out very similar colors in the fabric.

And here’s the selection of fabric that I dyed with these colors. These are a fun selection of colors that resulted. I am sure I will be using them soon in more color studies.