Susan Norman workshop and a doodle

Lets get the doodle out of the way........here is my response to this weeks CPP word #32 Even.
I choose to keep it simple and did an equilateral Triangle........all 3 sides are even.

Now, about the workshop...........well I have to tell you that yesterday, I was privileged to attend a thread painting workshop conducted by fibre artist Susan Norman. Her machine embroidered pieces are amazing, you can read more detail about the workshop itself, here. Susan is not only a gifted artist but she has a terrific teaching ability as well.
I have to admit that I did not produce anything wonderful during yesterday's class........ not being in my own "space" seems to have an adverse affect on me. Since this is only the second workshop I have ever taken, I am hoping that I will become more comfortable with the process as I take more classes in the future, but fortunately I was able to spend some time today working on the techniques we were shown.

I began with the single flower petal exercise. The idea is to try to replicate what we see in the detail of the petal using simply our machines and thread. Unfortunately I had only 6 threads that even came close to be right for this, consequently, I did not get the depth I was striving for. Achieving the look I was after would require many more variations of the colour than what I currently have........oh no! looks like I'll have to go thread shopping.
First I lightly drew the outline shape of the petal, then began adding thread starting with the mid tone, then darker and finishing with the lightest using both zigzag and straight free motion stitches. You will notice that the petal did end up a little distorted, I did not use a hoop and I guess I really should have since the stitching is incredibly dense.

Susan had told us to expect to need to clean our machine quite often during this process......just look at the amount of fuzz build up after only a single petal was stitched.



Next, it was onto the exercise of creating backgrounds, again my supplies were limited, as you see here, I simply layered several shades of tulle and net, covered everything with one larger single layer of tulle and then proceeded to add random stitches. It's not quite the "painterly" effect I was after but I will keep practicing. While I am not working toward becoming a machine embroiderer, I believe I will be able to further enhance many of my works as I develop my abilities using this fabulous thread painting technique.


I also learned that some of my favourite free motion stitches take on a completely different look when they are done using a zigzag setting.....it's like I doubled my stitch repertoire in a single day