Needlequest update - 11 August 2014

Here we are again, working on a new theme/technique and I decided to use the lovely hibiscus thread painting from one of Trish Burr's books as the basis of my first (hopefully, i.e. I hope I'll be able to do more than one) experiment this month.  First I did a quick pastel drawing of it on some light blue paper.  The contrast is greater in reality, but it does show up a little here.

I've prepared this piece of blue fabric to work on and am thinking of using these pretty, metallic and pearl fabric paints to provide most of the colour in the piece.

I'll do the leaf in non-shiny paints, I suppose.  The metallic paint pack I bought didn't include the red or green shades, which I thought was a shame, and they only do larger sizes (the same size as the pearl white) in those.  I wouldn't mind that in theory, but in practice, my paint drawer is already full.=)

After painting the flower, I plan to pick out some details in stitch and, all being well, mount it in a card for my big bro's 20th wedding.  As that's in just over a week, I'd better get on with it....  

I had hoped to have got further along by now, but I've been spring cleaning (OK, just pretend I live in the southern hemisphere if you're picky!!), and have been devoting my time to mucking out the bedroom, living room and my study.  Ugh!  All that dust under the bedside tables (nightstands) etc.  No small wonder I was sneezing, dealing with itchy eyes and a runny nose!  I've been allergic to large amounts of dust over the past five years.  Strange.  I never was before.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014