LT81 - to date

So far...

Sixth Theme - Asylum

 For some a refuge and others a prison.

Cocooned & safe

 

or surrounded by friends,

 some may venture out

while staying in contact

 

 ready to return to the safety of familiar surroundings.

And this is why I work alone
and should probably live alone.
Apologies for the cryptic nature of the themes, they make all the sense in the world to me, until I finish and then I get worried that they wont make sense to anyone else.

With the overwhelming lack of interest I applaud those that have stuck with the Challenge and haven't once questioned my sanity - well not openly anyway.

Fifth Theme - Balance

Life's a balancing act

and some days are more frayed than others.

Fourth Theme - ODD

    

Due to happenings of late which have been somewhat odd this seemed the perfect title for the fourth block however the block quickly started developing characteristics related to my childhood.

Children play outside & stay outside

in pretty gardens 

seen & not heard

Grannies buttons 

always the odd one out

a black sheep 

a black button

The verse is an attempt at summarising my childhood and in turn how this block reads for me.

The title of the theme very nearly was 'Childhood' however I decided to stick with 'Odd' because I was then, as I am now & suspect I probably always will be.

Third Theme - K.I.S.S.

A reminder to self - Keep It Simple Stupid Sweetheart!

I wasn't sure the Third theme was going to happen this week as my creative mojo seemed to have done a bunk - pushed aside by thoughts of school lunches & workshop lists.

By Wednesday of this week I still thought it'd be presenting a plain piece of pink fabric however by not sweating the small stuff I made a start and by keeping it simple this block created itself.

The pink base is from the back of a mans shirt.

  I Vliesofixed & stitched a felted Christmas decoration to the centre of a hand dyed doily which was also Vliesofixed and in turn adhered (ironed) & stitched to the centre of the backing.

(Vlisofix cut to shape)

(Vlisofix ironed onto Doily & removing the backing paper ready to adhere to centre of block)

At that point I figured I was done however that would have been too simple and besides it was screaming for some squiggly scratchy machine embroidery - I obliged, also going around the outer edge of the Doily.  

 By stitching around the Doily I (accidentally-on-purpose) caused the Doily to blister & puff up - I packed this gently with polyfil & hand stitched it in place to the backing piece.

 I had three of the Christmas decorations and sacrificed another so I could dot the felted flowers randomly between the embroidered floral blisters.

The edges will remain raw & messy - for now.

Machine Embroidery Tutorial

Yay - my first ever video Tute, sharing one of my favourite ways to play!

I'd have liked to have covered some aspects in more detail however it got to the point where I either got what I had on YouTube or threw the camera & tripod out the window!

I'm no expert (there's plenty out there that are), this is a very simple explanation of machine embroidery, it's how I do it - I hope it helps & inspires you! 

The points I'd like to clarify & emphasize are;

Feed Dogs - need to be out of the way. With some machines you have the ability to drop them with the Feed Dog Control knob, others require a special plate that sits on top of the Needle Plate.

Presser Foot - I have always used the Darning Foot, it has a central hole where the needle goes through and a spring mechanism at the top of the shaft which allows movement when stitching.
Needle - Size 80.
Settings - Stitch Length at 0 and needle Centred.

Control - the saying, 'Slow Hands, Fast Foot' works, it is the secret to maintaining control over your design.