IT MUST BE SUNDAY

Yes, it must be Sunday, because I worshiped on line this morning via Facebook.  Yes, it is an new world at the moment.  I must admit though it's kind of nice to be able to go to church before I even get out of bed in the morning. Much more cozy that most church chairs or pews. 

After church it was time for a cup of tea and to read the newspaper. Then get into activities of another day.  Work on the computer, do a Sudoku puzzle, make lunch (I don't do breakfast) and then plan out the rest of the day.

I actually started and finished a project I've been thinking about for a while.  Coloring on fabric.

About six months ago I purchased Derwent Inktense Pencils. I've played around with them a bit but not been too happy with the results. Last week I watched a YouTube video on using them on fabric and discovered that I shouldn't have been using water with them but rather Textile Medium. So I decided to give them another try.  I've been thinking for some time that it would be fun to stitch out a red work embroidery design and then color it in.  That is what I did.  I found an Anita Goodesign pattern called Baltimore Album and chose a few of the blocks to stitch out. This is the design I started with.  I stitched it with black embroidery thread and did place some batting behind the background fabric.
Here is my beginning of coloring. I started with the leaves because I thought the would be the easiest to deal with.  I wasn't sure how I would handle shading so it didn't look flat, but decided not to worry about it and just jump in and see what the result was.  I started with coloring the whole leave with a very light green, then put down a little bit of a darker green at the bottom and finally added just a touch of very dark green at the bottom of the leaf. Before going over everything with a stiff paint brush dipped into a tiny bit of textile medium the look is very pale and streaked.  You can see all the pencil strokes.


See the rose at the right.  It certainly doesn't look like much. Below is what it looks like after blending it with the textile medium.  It is much brighter and vibrant. I am very pleased with how my shading has turned out.  I think I am hooked on this. I plan to do two more blocks and then turn them into a wall hanging.







 Below is the block that is finished as far as the painting goes. I still  have it in the embroidery hoop and tomorrow will put it back into the machine and using My Design Center create some stippling to quilt around the flowers.