I'd rather be blogging

Ok, it must be clear by now that I'd rather be blogging than, say, doing laundry, or picking up all the clutter around the house. Here are the promised pictures.
First, the landscape collage, made on the Xpression embellisher. Bear in mind that it is only about half done, as far as applying the fabric. The pink fabric on the middle mountain is very thin and I might apply a second layer on top of it. Otherwise, it was very simple to do. The sky is made of small pieces overlapped. The mountains are made of larger single pieces with a few patches as needed. As far as any "secret" techniques go, I was afraid that using the multi-needle attachment would make it too hard for me to control where the fabric went down, so I tacked the mountains down with the single needle, then switched to the multi-needle to stabilize everything. I tried to scrunch up the mountain fabric a bit so they would have some texture.

My cobalt vessel is still in progress. This is the side where I have cut out the resists to reveal the inner layers. I wish the overall shape was more dramatic, but it will have to stay as is. I may cut the top edge somehow. And it definitely needs some beading.

Below is a vessel I completed a while ago. This one also had resists. Small whisps of silk roving adding color to the outside. Beads inside the cuts add sparkle.

Artfelt by Skacel

I found out a few days ago that my favorite LYS, Kristen's Knits, will have to move...again...due to landlord not continuing the lease. What a pain in the neck for Kristen. She moved into this very cool space in an old Victorian house just last year after suffering through repeated water damage in her old space. But who knows what opportunities this may bring. We wish the best for Kristen!
Since everything is 20% off now, I went over to do my part to help out and reduce inventory. And, lo and behold, she had the Skacel Artfelt kits- the ones that use the Easyfelt Paper. I've been wanting to try this product but didn't want to mail order it. It is fairly expensive IMHO, but there it was, right in front of me, in beautiful colors, on sale. So I have it here at home ready to go.
BUT FIRST...I really must finish one of my other projects. I went to one of my favorite second-hand stores, Community Clothesline, and picked up some silk scarves and blouses inexpensively to use with my embellisher. I am now well stocked, so I'd better get punching! The landscape collage is calling me today, so if I can get through a bit of housework, I'll start on the mountains. I did the sky the other evening, and it is looking nice.
So I guess there will be pictures to look forward to in my next post.

Collage

Having gotten a good start on my cobalt vessel, I decided to start on another project. I can never just do one project at a time. I have to have a couple (ok several) going at once so I can rotate between them as the mood strikes. This is a collage I started.

It is done on the Janome Xpression embellisher and consists of pieces of lightweight fabrics (like silk scarves) punched into a canvas base. I've been trying to add layers to it, to add interest and a focal point but so far it isn't working for me. It's pretty, sort of, but that's about it. If I liked to sew, I'd make an eyeglass case out of it, or something of that sort.

Of course, I decided that I should start a different collage and see where that takes me. This one will be a landscape. Here it is layed out before punching. Punching is the highly technical term for attaching the decorative fabric to the base fabric using the embellisher. The fabrics are all from the remnant bin at Mills End Textiles. Some are silk, some are "sheers." The base is a navy blue canvas, also from the remnant bin. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I also worked on my cobalt vessel yesterday...fulled and shaped it, and cut out the resists. I'm not sure I like it yet. Maybe it needs some sparkle. Whenever I don't like a piece, I add a little sparkle and that seems to transform it.