Moving along- but EVER so slowly!!!

Progress IS being made! I can only work for a brief time  because this silly old hand still tires easily. I AM getting there though. I have gotten all of the basic background done. There will be LOTS of tweaking , touch ups and refining to do but I'm getting there. I am REALLY not used to working so slowly. It SHOULD be teaching me patience- but, 't'ain't! So I do lots of "tangling" to get myself headed in a positive direction and unwound!!!

This is the basic, all cotton - now for the FUNNN!

Looking at the basic layers, I decided to try some tulle layers on the first two panels- far left and the one next to it. There is a lot of subtlety on those two parts and I want some softer colour changes ( why don't I just PAINT the darned thing?? ) I am a stubborn old thing and want it in fabric, not paint!! That's why!

So , now I have the basic softening started. I have experimented with the tulle. The freezer paper does not really adhere to the nylon tulle but the Misty Fuse does really well. I may not do the freezer paper next time . It seems to leave some waxy residue where it does manage to stick. Soo-- Lots of pins from here on in. Also, I experimented with sticking the tulle onto the cotton and then fusing more cotton bits on top of the tulle! NO PROBLEM at all, if that bon mot helps anyone out there.

The first of the tulle layers. May or may not do more- except in little places. Stay tuned!

The green bits are background there you could see through the Peony leaf. I hope you can see the beginnings of the more subtle colour changes here?

I am actually getting down to some smaller patches and I should make up a bunch of bug holes. It will look totally different with the bug holes in place.

And, to finish off today,  couple of Zentangles! I have started trying to add "gemstones" to a few of them.The one with the blue stones was "Explored" today, for the Flickrites among you. They are REALLY fun to do- VERY addictive, very relaxing, very ZEN!!

BTW, this looks a bit grainy here where I used coloured pencil but NOW, I have availed myself of a blending pencil and the difference it startling! If you use pencil crayon and have never tried a blender, try it! You'll LIKE it!

As it is Wednesday today and, as this IS, DEFINITELY a W.I.P.... I will send this off to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com There is always something exciting going on over there. Have a look. Post some of YOUR work!

A slight diversion!!

Needing a little break from a LOT of cutting, I turned to my beloved ( and very useful) Zentangles! I am finding that as I strengthen my hand, I am losing some fine control so I am going to lay off the rubber ball squeezing for a bit and see what happens.

I like the openness of these two and the "jewels" came out not badly

The second picture I did was in a different sketchbook with coarser, toothier paper so the "gem" looks kinda "woolly"!!!I REALLY need a blending pencil if I want to get the right look. See what the weather is tomorrow. Sounds pretty bad but if it is OK....

REALLY like this but the rough paper gave me woolly "gems" :-(

I also spent a LOT of time shooting photos of CHEESE for Macro Mondays!!! The prompt for this week was "Say Cheese" but we could not use people- just cheese! Here are a couple of examples. It was a fun week.

Holey Emmentaler , Batman!

Parmesan curls

Jalapeño cheese twist with sesame seeds

Tomorrow, I'll post the progress on the Peony leaf Macro. It is coming along - slowly. There is a lot of detail in that piece and I DO want it all in there. I want a crunchy, gnarly look to it when it is done. Lotsa texture!  Anyway, tomorrow is another day. Enjoy your evening and , maybe see you tomorrow!

Moving along slowly

Had therapy again this AM. I am doing well and working on breaking down the scar tissue as well as strengthening the hand- and , of course, keeping the tendons working smoothly without locking! So far, so good! Yay! Sarah!! I am not going back now for two weeks! This is soo great compared to the first round!

Anyway, SLOW progress IS being made on the Peony Macro. I am working on the silk overlays with varying rates of success. I have done a LOT of scissor cutting today so am taking the rest of the day off. Here it is so far. Not sure about the red overlay- the big one! I'll have to have a good stare at it and decide if I like it.

Still so much background work to do before I settle down to working on the bug holes. I'll try to repost the original picture to see and to show you how it is progressing.The big white splodges are HOLES and there WILL be colour behind them eventually. The white is just the "Southern Belle" base I am working on. It gets totally covered up in the end.

I must recheck the original photo as the hard line near the bottom of the red bugs me and I ALMOST feel the colour is too intense. More of the background colour on there will change the look a lot so I shall be patient ( it says here in the Book!) Time is a wonderful thing. It clears the mind. Mine REALLY requires clearing !!

See! I still think the colour is too intense and that lower edge of the red is too harsh. Stay tuned! All is NOT lost. I am nothing if not persistent!

OK, 'nuff for today. Hope everyone has had a good, productive and creative day. Cheerio for now!


Afterthought: I removed that deep red, hard edged piece late last night! New day today. Fingers recovered. Determination "screwed to the sticking point"- and today, I'll redo that bit! Stay "tooned"!!!

Two days running?? Almost!

Well, the "bug" has well and truly bitten me! I am chugging right along with this little Peony Leaf piece and , so far, so good!

I forgot to post some of the fabrics I auditioned and chose to use...

I am working on trying to keep the golden yellow of the leaf with an overlay in spots of a translucent rose, pink, and/or violet. So far, pretty pleased with this. I used bits of hand dyed pure silk organza (and chiffon still to be used) fused in place with Misty Fuse. The Misty Fuse is magic- very adhesive but also quite transparent so, in this case, my golden leaf shows through! Yay, Misty Fuse!!

The deeper purply brown here is not transparent. It is a cotton hand dye. It will get some heavy stitching of veins eventually! I think the next place to go is to the left hand panel to do the broad sweeping colours and then, back to the bug holes! All in good time! I'll have the "big picture" and then I can go for the remaining nitty gritty details! This is going to be FUNNN to stitch!

Am I having fun yet?? You betcha! Sadly, I have a headache today so may not push too much harder for the moment. Don't like headaches!!!

We awoke to a glorious sunrise today, not spectacular but soo pretty! I HAD to shoot a couple of pictures.

Not a spectacular photo but it DID catch the glow of the SUNSHINE :-D for the first time in ages. Sorry it's crooked! I was hurrying before the light changed.

The orange stripe is the sun on the Niagara Escarpment running just north of our back garden. In summertime, as many of you already know, we don't see the Escarpment from the back windows as the trees in the foreground act like a green screen! What you see here is about thirty feet below the upper part of our back garden.

It has been a good day and continues to be , despite a sore head! That will pass. I hope you are ALL well and happy, busily engaged in creative undertakings. Enjoy!! Groundhog Day tomorrow- also Imbolc ( for the Celts among us) and St Brigid's Day for the Irish among us! Happy Groundhog day. Hope we get our wish! ( Secretly, I am pretty ready for SPRING, despite the lack of decent winter so far!)