Man, what timing. I was just sitting down to start working, and all of the sudden this thread pops up. I mean, I’ve procrastinated the last two days, what’s another half hour or so, right? I’ve been pretty busy with sewing lately, which coincidentially, is part of the reason I haven’t done a Rambling Kaiju Review in a while. It’s kind of hard to read subtitles on a television screen and sew at the same time. So what have I been working on? Quite a bit.

Let me get this out of the way. This was part of a practice piece I was doing as also a gift for someone. Overall, the piece did not turn out too well, but I think it was still appreciated overall. The only really good thing that came of it was, I got to experiment a bit with using multiple threads of different colors to sew with. For the first time, it came out alright, but I think kind of muddy. If and when I do this again, I’m gonna use two colors instead of three and make sure they contrast with each other a bit more. If I’m gonna use this technique, I want the colors to pop instead of blend in.

These are the two big projects I worked on in November. They’re gonna be gifts for some friends of the family this Christmas, underneath the pieces of paper I’ve embroidered their initials, to kind of look like how lovers carve their initials in trees. There’s a few variations between the two, namely the one on the left has cotton underneath the fabric that’s used for the leaves and the hill, to kind of give it a 3d effect, which turned out alright. Because I didn’t want it to get too plush and bulky, I only used one layer of batting, which I ended up not liking because the whole thing feels a bit flimsy. The one on the right is completely flat, but feels a bit thicker because I used two layers of batting in it. The extra weight feels pretty nice actually. The little knots for the apples? Those are colonial knots, which play the same role as french knots in embroidery, but let me tell you, I can’t make a french knot to save my life. Overall, I like both pieces, but each one took over fifty hours to do. I feel for the amount of time I put in, I would have like better results.

So that brings me to this guy. Here’s a sketch of what I have planned. When I drew it and asked Dala what she thought, she said she’s concerned it’s gonna look like a chocolate bunny. Which, maybe it will? I dunno. Is it really my fault that my artistic approximations of nature look like other people’s artistic approximations of nature? Either way, I have more hopes for this piece, even though overall, it might be more complex. For one, I’ve learned a few lessons with the two trees to save me some time. Two, this is gonna be about half the size when all is said and done, so even with more pieces involved, and more embroidery involved (for the eyes, ears, legs, etc. and maybe I’ll throw in some flowers), I think if this takes as much or even more time than the trees, I’ll be happier with the final results. We’ll see, I guess.

This is as far as I’ve gotten before I saw this post. The image on the left was the picture drawn to scale, so I can trace over it and cut out the pieces I need to get the cloth ready. Pieces are on the right.

If you’ll look at my idea sketch, you’ll see the bushes are labeled “Napkin Fabric.” I bought these with the sole intent of using them for projects like this. Something tells me that I’m gonna get frustrated as heck working with these fabrics as they’re gonna wanna fray like crazy. But you know, they’re so cool looking, they’re worth the shot.

Edit: These napkins smell bad and need to be washed. So there's a bit of delay there.

To answer kingmudsy's questions . . .

Do you have any projects you're working on right now? How's that going? Can you share any pictures?

Not that I can think of. I'm pretty unproductive, not really creative, and never really inspired to make anything. ;)

Do you have any projects that've fallen by the wayside which you intend to get back to? What happened? When are you going to pick it back up?

Unfortunately, yes. My bookbinding is kind of on hold, because certain things I wanna try, from double fan binding to making my own book cloth, I lack the proper resources and space to do. So I'm a bit uninspired at the moment. The other week, I wanted to try and do some book binding before it got cold, only to discover my glue has gone bad and is no longer sticky. Know what doesn't last forever? Glue. Who knew?

Is there any new type of crafting that you'd like to explore? What's interesting about it to you? What do you hope to create?

More stuff with fabrics? Just cause they're lovely. The other week, in a Pubski, I said I wish I had room to have a loom. I wasn't joking.

Would you like your username to be tagged in the weekly thread?

Frankly, I'm insulted that you assumed I don't want to be tagged for these threads.

Well, I’m done procrastinating. Time to get started. Wish me luck.