Some things I've been working on.

I have some things to show you.  I've been working on lots of stuff and I'd like to share it.

These are the placemats and napkins that I made for my brother and sister-in-law.  They have been pole-wrapped and dyed, school glue resisted, painted with dye, block printed, and machine-embroidered.  I stayed up until midnight the night before I left for my trip to Vancouver, BC in order to get this to them.  They were very happy with what I had done and actually took them into the party that we were at to show everyone, rather than leave them in the car where I had given it to them.  So I was very flattered and enjoyed everyone's interest in my work.

This is a fabric sketch that I did.  It is tie-dyed and machine-embroidered.  I usually do more to the fabric, but I am trying to learn not to do too much.  I sometimes want to create depth so badly that I end up overdoing it.  It is important to know when to stop in art.  I think this is a good example of knowing when to stop.  I love the color and the juxtaposition of the circles with the squiggles.  I also like how the black and orange contrast.

This is a bookmark that I made.  It is pole-wrapped and dyed, glue resisted, painted with dye, and block printed.  This is an example of where I wish I stopped before I did.  I think it would have been better without the leaf.  It's not bad with the leaf, I just think it would have been better without.  I did a zigzag stitch around the edge and left the frayed edge on instead of hemming so that the bookmark would lie flat in a book.  Otherwise I think it would add too much bulk and could fall out too easily.

Another fabric sketch.  It is pole-wrapped and dyed, glue resisted, and painted with dye.  I think the color combo works pretty well here, although I did the same combo on some other pieces and they ended up looking muddy.  I like the swirly thing too.  Usually when I'm doodling I do henna designs, which is great but I am trying to expand my horizons a bit because I've been doing henna designs since I was 15 years old.  This is an example of a shape or line formation that is inspired by, but isn't, a henna design.  It's still fluid and whimsical but not the exact same thing that I've been doing for 17 1/2 years.

Here is another fabric sketch that I did, a little larger than coaster-sized.  It is painted with dye, glue resisted, and painted with dye again.  The design is supposed to be cherry blossoms.

Another slightly-larger-than-coaster-sized fabric sketch, scruch-resisted and dyed, and then glue resisted and painted with dye.  X's are a little out of my comfort zone but I like them.  This one is borderline muddy but I think the X's save it.

So there you go!  I have many more items I have completed, mostly bookmarks, but I have to redo the photography.  More show-and-tell when I have done that!