Needlefelt Challenge

I have been busy just playing with the embellisher trying all sorts of different fibres. I haven't tried threads yet just fibres - silk tops, mawata caps and the like. For this weeks challenge I have been trying various backings. I did one sample using sizoflor and Myfanwy asked if I had tried Lutrador. I hadn't tried it with the embellisher but have been painting and burning it with varying degrees of success. When I used the sizoflor which I have been using for many years I thought it was a little like lutrador but thought no more about it. Until that is today! This landscape is done on the lightweight lutrador. I used hand dyed silk tops, mawata cap and silk hankies. This is the front of the landscape. The colours aren't very good in the photographs the middle section is in fact green! I thought it was OK.

However when I turned it over I like the back of it better. It is a little more subtle than the front. I was busy embellishing whilst my Bernina Artista was busy sewing a label for my Marie Curie quilt. I need to get that off in the mail soon! I have one or two other things I need to post so I will get everything together which will mean only one trip to the post office. I might go into the one in Linlithgow and pop into Nifty Needles and see what they have in the way of fibres to try on the embellisher. Not that I need more you understand but it's always nice to have to practice with.

When I went for my walk yesterday I passed where the workmen has been laying pipes and they had left behind the wooden bits that held all the pipes. I just couldn't resist and brought one back with me. I had been eyeing them up all week and had thought of asking the workmen if I could take one but I was sure they would think I was mad. Anyway I walked about 4 miles with this thing and was getting really funny looks from passing motorists. I decided to take a short cut home through the trail in the woods. Norman's face was priceless when I arrived home with this huge frame over my shoulder. He laughed and laughed. The frame is so sturdy it will be just grand to stretch fabric over for painting - it's a wonderful frame. I saw a further two this morning but I resisted the temptation. They will be gone by tomorrow I suspect - I think I could do with another one. We shall see.