Under the Sea

 I finished this cute little star fish this week. This is part of the monthly challenge for my FiberWorks group and I am ahead of myself.  I have to get to work on my big piece for the show in October. You'll see it when it's finished.

We usually see the bleached skeletons of starfish and they are white. So I went online to see what color they are when alive. They come in brilliant colors, including orange and that's I elected to do. The embroidery was done on orange felt with yellow embroidery, then used a buttonhole stitch to attach him to the linen page.

I'm linking up with Off the Wall Friday. Go check it out.

One more fish

 This fish had its own challenges. I sewed the flat (as apposed to cupped) sequins in two different sizes to a felt cut-out fish. The fins and tail were fused on lame, which I have in a lot of colors. I machine stitched the accent lines on the head, tail and fins. Then I fused the whole thing onto the page. I had to use a pressing cloth to keep from melting the lame and sequins. I painted the backround with watercolors before I fused down the fish.

It was very hard to photograph. I toook a lot of pictures. In some the sequins were just a shiny blur. This shot shows the sequins, but not the shimmer.

My hernia surgery is well behind me and I feel great. BUT, I have been dealing with tendonitis of my Achilles tendon since January. Very painful! It used to hurt only when I walked but now it hurts all the time and much worse when walking. I went to a doctor in Florida and PT, another doctor in CT and more PT. Noothing was helping. 

So back to the doc yeaterday and as I suspected he put me in a boot. Up to the knee. Very awkward and uncomfortable, but hopefully it will get me better.  You cannot get a cortisone shot in the tendon because it may shred it. There are blood platelet shots, but they are controversial, are very painful, don't always work, are very expensive and not covered by insurance. So for now the boot is my best solution.

I am linking up with Off the Wall Friday.

Another fish

 I was hoping to get this fish done by last Friday, but life got in the way. I painted the body and fins with acrylic paint thinned with fabric medium. It made it a little harder to stitch thru, but I like the look. I think he's pretty cute. 

I have my next fish halfway done. I hope to get him up soon.

Monthly Challenge

 Here's one more fish. This was also done on one of my fish fabtics. The fish was nestled in a clump of coral. I have sooooo many sequins left from my big sequin ball project a couple of years ago and I thught this was the perfect place for some of them.

Unfortunately the little fish gets a bit hidden by the sequins. You really have to look for him but he's there.

I thought I would get a lot of hand sewing done this past week while recovering from my hernia surgery. I even made up a couple of packets with all the necessary floss and/or beads. but  just didn't feel like sewing. I did do a lot of reading. I started and finished Fredrik Backman's My Friends and loved it. It was sometimes sad, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny and always quirky. He is the author of The Man Callled Ove, which I loved, book and movie.  I have read several of his books and enjoyed them all.

My recovery was much better than I expected. One week later I am almost back to my old self. 

I am linking up with Off the Wall Friday.