So, I've been too distracted by house stuff to get much photography organized and posted. But my fingers have been busy nonetheless! Christmas at my parents' house in NJ was like 10 days of much-needed craft camp for me. I got to try a couple of new things I had been interested in for a while.
This flower was made with the Petaluma pattern by Indygo Junction. The technique is the same as or similar to the Kanzashi-Tsumami technique, as described in this tutorial (which helped a lot!).
The rolling and folding of the petals was pretty tricky, and you can see that the flower turned out a bit lopsided. Definitely a technique that will require practice to master!
The other thing I tried out is punchneedle embroidery. I had gotten a couple of the punchneedles last year, and tried it out without too much success. It got shelved in the preparations for the move, and then I couldn't find the box!
My mom had developed an interest in it on her own - we never compared notes - so she pulled out the tool and a little stash of floss she found at a yard sale. She had some of the proper cloth to use for the backing, and that made all the difference. I guess it has to have the right weave to hold the little loops.
Here's the back of my first piece, a little folk-art chicken. What I'm drawn to in this technique is how readily it lends itself to improvisation. You draw the design, in reverse, on the back of the fabric, then you just follow the outlines. You can choose the colors as you go, and it's dead easy to rip a section out if you don't like it. I'm sure you can do it freehand without a drawing if you have confidence in your drawing skills!
