I caught sight of this strange creature feeding on the front lawn in the pouring rain yesterday morning and did a double take before realising it was a baby squirrel with his umbrella up!
Inspite of being soaked - it really was hammering down - he spent quite a time out there. Every now and then he would do a little jump to shake the water droplets from his coat.
Hopefully these pics will be clear enough to enlarge well and enable you to see just how wet he was. You can see by the size of the blades of grass that he is very small. That's not field grass - it's my husband's pride and joy!
These long trailing stems of wisteria have to be cut off at this time of year. I love the way they get longer and longer and suddenly coil back on themselves. I snapped this one just in time before my husband did his pruning bit. Some of them must be about 6 or 7ft long. The white blob is my finger holding the stem still in quite a stiff breeze.
After many failures I got this shot of the full moon the other evening. I would have preferred to see it through the branches of a tree, but the trees weren't in the right place and as I was ready for bed and didn't want to walk up the road in my jimjams to get a better picture, I settled for it peeping over the top of our neighbours' roof.
I have been doing more work with my embellisher and exploring creating texture. The piece above is made over a base of hand knitting - it measures approx. 4"x7" - and the texture is built up with wisps of wool and silk tops. The lumps in the foreground are silk and came in a little bag from Fron Isaf. I can't remember what they are called but in this colour they look just like tiny boulders. They look as if they'd be in a long string but in fact come in a glorious tangle.
I used two sections of silk rod to suggest tree trunks in this piece, plus small scraps of muslin and chiffon and my little boulders at the base. The 'leaves' are again made with silk tops - just tiny wisps worked in over each other to suggest foliage. There is no stitching on either of these pieces yet and they are of similar size. I am quite pleased with them and think this method has possibilities.
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I caught sight of this strange creature feeding on the front lawn in the pouring rain yesterday morning and did a double take before realising it was a baby squirrel with his umbrella up!
Inspite of being soaked - it really was hammering down - he spent quite a time out there. Every now and then he would do a little jump to shake the water droplets from his coat.
Hopefully these pics will be clear enough to enlarge well and enable you to see just how wet he was. You can see by the size of the blades of grass that he is very small. That's not field grass - it's my husband's pride and joy!
These long trailing stems of wisteria have to be cut off at this time of year. I love the way they get longer and longer and suddenly coil back on themselves. I snapped this one just in time before my husband did his pruning bit. Some of them must be about 6 or 7ft long. The white blob is my finger holding the stem still in quite a stiff breeze.
After many failures I got this shot of the full moon the other evening. I would have preferred to see it through the branches of a tree, but the trees weren't in the right place and as I was ready for bed and didn't want to walk up the road in my jimjams to get a better picture, I settled for it peeping over the top of our neighbours' roof. 
I have been doing more work with my embellisher and exploring creating texture. The piece above is made over a base of hand knitting - it measures approx. 4"x7" - and the texture is built up with wisps of wool and silk tops. The lumps in the foreground are silk and came in a little bag from Fron Isaf. I can't remember what they are called but in this colour they look just like tiny boulders. They look as if they'd be in a long string but in fact come in a glorious tangle.
I used two sections of silk rod to suggest tree trunks in this piece, plus small scraps of muslin and chiffon and my little boulders at the base. The 'leaves' are again made with silk tops - just tiny wisps worked in over each other to suggest foliage. There is no stitching on either of these pieces yet and they are of similar size. I am quite pleased with them and think this method has possibilities.
13 comments:
Those little works are very pretty though I have no idea what an embellisher might be.
That poor little squirrel! It is raining here again now.
I simply cannot get a shot of the moon with my digital camera though I used to be quite good with my SLR. Shame really.
That silk has worked beautifully in your little embellished pieces. I think Toffeeapple needs to check out Wipso's blog for a description of an embellisher.
Just in case Toffeeapple calls back...
http://wipso-astitchintime.blogspot.com/2010/04/dumfing.html
I love those squirrel pics - cheeky little creatures aren't they.
Toffeeapple: An embellisher is a machine which looks like a sewing machine but no thread is involved. Instead of one needle it has a cluster of 5 (more on some models), which are barbed and as they move up and down through the layers of felt, fabrics and fibres which are layered beneath them, they felt everything together. This can be done with just a single dryfelting needle but takes ages. There are also dryfelting tools which have a cluster of needles which is a little quicker, but the machine is of course faster than any of them. Sometimes, for detailed work it is still useful to use a single needle. Hope this is helpful.
Fabulous pieces Heather - would love to see them close up and I love the squirrels
You are going mad with that embellisher Heather - you'll be trying to make a squirrel next.
The squirrel is beautiful.
I am always interested to see what others do with the embellisher. It has so many possibilities.
The trees and foliage look great. Fabulous colours.
Love the squirrel Heather, and the shot of the full moon is just brilliant! Your little pieces of artwork are real tresures.
What a gorgeous little squirrel (and thanks for your comments on my blog, it is very encouraging).
What a cute little squirrel, and how useful to have an umbrella!
Your embellished pieces are beautiful - and I've now learned what an embellisher is by reading the comments! No doubt Nexi will be wanting one if she reads this too!
lovely textures in your craft piece there, beautiful colours too.
Cute little squirrel and lucky it has an umbrella!
Lovely photos of the squirrel and the moon. I love your embellished pieces - they are coming along nicely and will look even better when you have added some of your hand stitching. Cheers
Thank you so much Twiglet and Heather! I am so grateful for your explanations. I have a felting needle so I might, just might, have a go at embellishing something soon.
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