Wednesday, November 30, 2011

sketching, needle lace, thread painting


Now that I've mostly finished my Christmas sewing, I was anxious to go on to some fun stuff. After my swim this morning and then my lunch, I sat down with my cup of tea and did this little sketch of a birch branch with moss on it. The moss covered branch has been sitting on the dining table for a few weeks.  Isn't it wonderful how our husbands will put up with all manner of flotsam and jetsam and sewing bits all over the house?

I stretched a piece of fine green tulle over a hoop, chose some thread, and went to work with some free motion stitching. As you can see below, i simply outline my shape and then fill in with stitch. It's not exactly the color of green that I want, but when you live 2 1/2 hours form a fabric store, you make do. Once I layer on some other colors of thread, it will become more realistic.

Here you can see that I've added black which is meant to be the darkest parts as well as the holes. Next, to make it more realistic I will add some different shades of green and grey.
 I  then pulled out my birch tree rubbing that some of you may recognize from earlier  in the fall. Since I had the black thread on my machine, I added another layer of stitching to the tree. As you may notice, I ran out of bobbin thread close to the bottom. I took that as a good time to stop and add a bit of color with my Neocolor II pastels. It's amazing to see how much color there is on a birch when you examine.

I am linking to the The Needle and Thread Network for WIP Wednesday.

5 comments:

Dolores said...

You are having fun. I can't wait to see the finished product. I wish I could say that I am almost finished my Christmas sewing.

Marjorie's Busy Corner said...

That is so neat!!!!

elle said...

Thanks for all the steps you've shown. This is wonderful. Question? Is there an order to the colours? Could you have started with black since it is the deeper holes? Just wondering but in any case I very much like it!

monika@mysweetprairie.ca said...

mmm beautiful! I snapped pics of orange lichen all over the rocks at the buffalo jump. This would be a good way to do that. I've seen the technique but never thought about how to incorporate it. You are so smart ; )
ps- as for the 2 mags you sent, I'm taking an artists' altered /embellished journal course in the spring, so those mags you sent are great inspiration!
: )
~Monika

Anonymous said...

Hey Holly, what kind of green thread did you use? It looks thick. Fun watching you create. phusia