Finished ?

This piece is finished now, except for putting it on a backing. Its hard to know when to stop the 'seeding'. A good stitch to do when you want to get thoroughly engrossed and ignore the world around you. I didn't want to skimp on the stitching, but finally it told me it was finished and I agreed.

May walk.

I have just received my first copies of 'Cloth, Paper & Scissors' and 'Quilting Arts', thanks to reading about them on other peoples blogs. I have been diverted by making layered paint backgrounds and thinking how to transfer these to fabric.
I will certainly be subscribing. I recently started getting 'Embroidery' magazine again after a break of a few years. I used to regularly refer to it and looked forward to receiving the next copy, but I don't find it so interesting now, perhaps this is because the articles are often not by practising textile artists.

I have had a few days off work; here are a few photos from a recent walk. It has been very rainy but warm. I found a rusty farm trailer which yielded some photos with potential.

Poppy Silks

For the second version of the Tissue Paper Poppy I am using the silk carrier rods which I used in the pieces which I showed in my first postings. This time I have dyed the silk with acrylics and fabric paints, just touching the silk with iridescent tinting medium in places to add some sparkle.

I fixed the silk strips in place with a machine pattern after stripping the layers apart and ironing flat. This will then form the basis for hand stitching. I have used these silk strips quite a lot now as they are so tactile.
I wonder in what ways other people are using them.

Beads

This is the bead sample which I could not resist on Saturday. It only cost £6. It is a funny mixture really, heavy metal discs together with pink plastic pieces. I have pinned up on the wall at the moment and may decide to frame it at some time. It sort of looks ethnic but isn't.

The way forward ?

I am quite pleased with how this first piece has come together and am saying to myself that this is a good plan, to work on one image which motivates me over a few pieces - but, of course, this always happens, I think I have found the way only to get diverted again.
Yesterday I was up at 6am on my way to a nearby town to set up a stall at their Saturday market. There were over 200 stalls mostly selling collectables, coins, pottery etc. I was in the wrong place really. I could have spent a lot had I not had to man the stall - I did buy a beadwork sample, with metal discs, quite heavy. It was still on its sample card complete with rusty staples. I sold only three items and didn't break even, but I had lots of lovely discussions about techniques; all in all a good day as the people who bought things seem to really appreciate them.