box of birds branches

I made ten samples for a tree branch and the final choice is between #2, #3, and #4.

For anyone interested in the methods employed:

#1 Soft cord wrapped with a scrap of furnishing fabric and stab stitched to the calico background.

#2 Soft cord wrapped with crinkly dyed muslin and stab stitched to the calico background.

#3 Couched lengths of knobbly yarn with scraps of green crinkly dyed muslin applied to suggest moss.

#4 Portuguese knotted stem stitch in various sizes with three strands of Anchor tapestry wool stitched onto onion netting and then applied as a slip.

#5 Soft random-dyed yarn stitched as a raised stem stitch band.

#6 As #1 but with different fabric.

#7 Silk scarf scrap wound around polyester toy filling and stab stitched to the calico. Moss as in #3.

#8 Same yarn as #5,  various stitches with over-stitching also to suggest roundness.

#9 Wire inserted into a cotton rope and overcast with Anchor tapestry wool.

#10 Rope as #9 with different sized straight stitches close together.

gone to pot

I have been asked in the past if I sell the things I make but I’ve always said no and I recently turned down a commission to make a fabric bowl or two for someone who liked one of my fabric pots that was being used to display items in my son’s shop. I don’t know what changed my mind about selling them but I did and this week I’ve made two large lidded pots and a small bowl, with another under the machine needle as I write this. My son has kindly agreed to sell them in his shop at the end of November so I have lots of time to make more and still do other things too.