If you haven't had a chance to enroll in any Jude Hill stitch classes,
I really recommend Patchwork Beasts.
Jude of whirled wide Spirit Cloth fame is listed to the right under Artist's I Follow.
Love all her classes,
most of which I've taken over the years,
but it's her beasts faces that are so fun to play with.
Her drawings and watercolors of their faces in her on-line class are whimsical
and offer a lot of ideas to choose from.
I believe this is my 2nd attempt.
My first one can be seen here.
Jude is a wonderful teacher and I've learned so very much from her,
and her blog still continues to inspire and delight everyday.
So thank you Jude!
In our Tues. Nite Fiber Arts class,
we did a bunch of eco-dyeing about year and a half ago.
Above are the pieces drying out.
We experimented with lots flowers, leaves, fruits & vegies for their dye properties.
After the pieces were opened, washed and ironed it was time to learn a few embroidery stitches along with needle turn applique.
Dang,
this close up really shows my very messy embroidery.
Whoops!
Anyways...
We only used thin white and off white perle cotton threads to embroider with
which we had placed inside our bundled fabrics so they too absorbed the dyes.
Kinds of fabrics were thrifted linens, cottons and silk.
Each of us choose something different to fill our applique opening with.
I wanted to try another beast face.
Using Jude's famous invisible tacking stitch,
the face was attached to a contrasting piece of dyed cotton.
I like to thrift really soft,
old white bed sheets that have been washed many times.
Makes it much more easy to slide the needle thru.
Knowing I wanted to log cabin around the beast,
here experimenting with several pieces of dyed, torn strips.
Then more stitching to secure/quilt over top,
a few vintage buttons and a twig complete the beast.
Oh,
in one of Jude's first classes I took,
she demoed how to easily fray the edges of the fabrics for a very cool edge.
I love the texture it adds.
A super fun project.
