Getting the crinkly crunchy

I am making good, but slowish progress with this little piece! I really want the stamens crinkly and nicely textured. To that end, I am free motion satin stitching, varying the density and the width. My machine makes a maximum 9mm satin stitch so that leaves a lot of choice. The hardest thing for me is "driving" with my left hand while I twiddle the knobs with my right. Adding to this, I feel like the knobs twiddle the wrong way- you know, righty tight, lefty loosey? Well, on my machine ( Bernina Artista 730) Righty makes the stitch wider or longer while Lefty makes it shorter or narrower! I feel like it should be the other way round! I am just an old dog and it takes me a while to catch on, but I AM making progress! Here are a couple of shots to show you what I am talking about . Remember, not finished, just started!

When I get more done , I will decide if I will completely fill some of the anthers

I think I am beginning to see the crinkly, crunchy look I want!

I am linking with the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com  Drop over for a visit.

And still that Urchin

I have chosen a background from my hand dyed fabrics. I have decided on a treatment for the "holes" and I have done the stitching, and attached the background and the urchin mask and now, am working on beading the almost finished piece. Some photos of the continuing process.....

This looks messy but I was working out what I wanted to do with the "holes".

Chose a background fabric

The background fabric. I was planning to dye some silk for this but liked this piece. The fillins for the holes have been free motion stitched.

Mask and background attached to each other and free motion stitched

Detail of the stitching. I really like the fly stitch along the ribs. Stroke of genius!

This should be called "the story so far" but I am actually well past this - no pictures yet!