Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Yesterday, Embellishments and Titania

Wasn't yesterday a proud day for the US? Democrat, Republican or Independent, you have to admit we have come a long way, baby!! ;0)

I've begun adding more embroidery to the bottom border. I took a deep breath and began a clump of grass in the center of the middle block. I decided on the grass because I wanted the center portion to be a little taller than I was getting with the bunches of leaves. I used Caron's Watercolours in two different shades of green. First was a darker green for the bottom layer of chain stitch. I liked the varigations that resulted but it looked flat. Now if I had my act together, here you would see a picture of just the chain stitch; however, I don't have my act together, so you get a picture of the grass bunch after a second layer was added. ;0) I worked a row of back stitch on top of the chain stitch using a lighter, yellower green to pop it out a bit.
Embellishments - Block 4
The second layer adds quite a bit of depth to it. Here's a closer look.
Embellishments - Block 4 Grass
I'll leave it here for now 'cause I don't want to overwork it. I can always add more later! That bottom row of red basting stitches you see is the final seam line and the row just under the grass bunch is the line I'll use to keep my embellishments on an even keel. I'd be really ticked off if I had to rip a bunch of stuff out because it was heading downhill!

Last weekend we made an unscheduled stop at the Flea Market and I found some goodies. In the last post I was bemoaning the fact that the crocheted leaves I had were such a light green. Well, guess what I found??
Doilies with leaves
Two different doilies with two different shades of green leaves on them! WooHoo! These will add some interest to the bunches of leaves.

I also tried my hand at printing on fabric. I bought some Bubble Jet Set and used a variation of Allie's instructions to print a picture of Titania. Because I didn't have any full-size label sheets, I tried it with freezer paper and it actually worked! See?
Titania Final on PFD Cotton
This is printed on cotton and I'm not too sure that it is as nice as it can be. The picture is crisp; however, the fabric is a little bit "fuzzy" (especially on the tree) and I think I may be able to get a better result on silk so I'm gonna give it a try this weekend. Of course, she isn't as big as I originally planned, so I had to revise the center design a bit. I think it will work out just fine whether I use the cotton or the silk.

So, that's where I am now. I'll be back in a few days with more. Take care and have a great week!

7 comments:

Jane said...

What a fantastic find and the printed fabric looks great

Debra Dixon said...

Very impressed with your grass!

Susan Elliott said...

Of all the flora that you've auditioned, I like your own stitching the best. It's really lovely and I think the yellow "pop" was just the thing.

Anonymous said...

Nice grass! (hee hee) Love the picture of Titania and can't wait to see where this goes next..

Candi said...

Your flea market find is awesome! We're heading to ours this week end and I'm keeping an eye out for goodies:)
hugz:)

allie aller said...

Your grass is just great, Marty! Can I borrow some for my Cottage CQ?

And your print came out great...that Titania is kinda sexy!

Anonymous said...

Wow, I like that grass. I don't know that I would ever have thought of going over it with the back stitch like that. It really looks great!