Stitching, machine and hand, and (almost) always practicing

 I'm working away on some of the work for the Kemshall's Patchwork and Quilting class.  I'm really not much at patchwork so this particular bit was right up my alley.  It's a stamp I made from sticky-backed foam and then stamped onto fabric using Jacquard fabric paint.  I then made the piece into a four-patch using some of my hand-dyed fabric and quilted it up with batting and backing.  Not terribly exciting, but progress nonetheless!!  It was interesting to play around with the different configurations of the stamped pieces.  I also have a little hinged mirror that allows me to easily see what a design would look like multiplied several times. Very handy and it saves a lot of time..and paper.  It's always interesting and often surprising to discover which designs will look good (and not so good) once multiplied.

This is another variation using my little stamp that I subsequently stitched into by hand.  More of my hand-dyes.  This is a green made from my blue mix and golden yellow, all from Dharma.  Still not thrilled with the greens I'm getting so quite a bit more experimentation will be necessary before I'm satisfied.

And this is just one a number of pieces that I keep on hand all the time: top, batting and backing ready to practice free motion stitching.  It's so easy to get out of practice and I find that when I have pieces prepared and ready to go I am much more liable to go into my sewing room and sit down for half and hour here and there, just to keep my hand in, as it were.  I'll often take Leonard Cohen with me, or sometimes Vivaldi. One doesn't want to be alone ALL of the time!!

I'm off to stitch some more.
I'll be back.....