Here’s a small piece (5″x7″) that I did today. The base is muslin with oil paint stick rubbings. I then used an automatic stitch and varied the stitch width and length througout.

Here’s a close up. I like this stitch because it doesn’t look like most automatic stitches.

Here’s one I did with satin stitch. It’s a bit smaller – about 4″x6″.

Here’s a poor photo of a felt piece I made for hubby. He wanted something to line the windowsill in our living room. We just repainted and he didn’t want to mess up the paint. So I made him a cover. It is made with merino and silk.

Here’s a close up. I used the sander to make this piece and boy is it slick. It works so much faster and is really easy to do. The only problem is my table is too low. My back has been aching ever since. I really need a dedicated place for dyeing, felting and painting. Pretty sure that isn’t happening any time soon.

Here’s another piece of felt that I made. This is to stitch on. I am planning on revising my Crazy Horse piece by adding a stitched galloping horse in place of the shield which I never really liked. I need to practice before I do the actual piece so that’s what this piece is for. But I didn’t get any stitching done due to my back hurting. Hopefully, I can do some this week because I have a whole bunch of stitching to do. I got 5-6 small pieces ready to stitch and then a piece that I am considering entering into a competition if I get it completed. So more ibuprofen for me!

Here’s my last machine embroidery homework assignment. It’s based on the California poppies that I have in my back bed in the summer time. This was done with free zigzag thread painting on muslin and dissolveable. I made the center from a machine cord of wool roving which I then cut and sewed together by hand.

The piece has lots of depth as I made the top layers of petal like machine lace and then sewed them in the center.

Here’s a close up. I was off today instead of Friday so I won’t get any more fibering done until next week probably. We are also having the inside of our house painted so we’ve been taking all the stuff off the walls and moving furniture etc. What fun.

(Edited to add photo) My wonderful DH found the inspiration photo for the piece. This is one of the many photos of bark that I have which inpired the piece below.

Here is my second homework piece for my machine embroidery class. It is based on a photo of bark that I have in my studio journal. I thought I had the photo of the original bark somewhere on the computer but can I find it??? Oh well. This is done with fused applique, with many layers of fabric and stitching. I used oil paint sticks to color most of the fabric. It’s a mistake to use oil paint sticks with multiple layers. It’s hard to stitch. I should have remembered that from my try of oil paint stick colored bowls before Christmas. But no!

Here’s a few close ups.

I even did a whipped mossing stitch in black ala Ken Smith in a recent WOW workshop on machine embroidery. I really like how that stitch came out. Now only one homework assignment left.