Kitty Collage

Toward the end of the day yesterday, I finished off the rest of Cricket's collage.

When it was all fused down, I peeled it off the pressing sheet to check for any holes. This one looks pretty good. You can see where I patched a hole kind of in the middle.

Next, I'll fuse it to a background piece, and then use a smoky monofilament thread to stitch down the edges of the pieces. When that's done, I'll be ready to thread paint in the contours of the face and the details.

I thought I was going to have a day at home yesterday, but I ended up needing to go out and meet Mike to take care of some business with our new cell phone carrier. Without going into the whole long and boring story, our phones are not completely compatible with the new network, and so we'll have to get new phones. That will need to wait for a bit, and even that part is long and boring.

So that cut a pretty big wedge out of the pie of my day. Sadly enough, it was the portion set aside for housework. What could I do but get on with my sewing tasks? First on the list was to get the sampler ready for the Stitch Along that starts today. I still needed to color my piece. The colored pencil set I purchased didn't have all the same colors suggested, but I was able to pull together this grouping.

And then I got to work coloring. Meg Hawkey suggested having something to rest one's hand on because the color can come off on your hand and then transfer to the fabric. I just grabbed a scrap of batting.

When it was all colored in, it looked like this. The blank spaces are going to be applique, but that won't come until the end.

From there, I was ready to use the "extender." This is the one suggested.

It will dry colorless, but it appears pure white in the bottle.

It's easy enough to paint on with a good paint brush.

Here's how it looks after it's applied and still wet.

When I had the whole thing done, I hung it to dry overnight.

I'll use an iron-on stabilizer on the back when I get going on the stitching today.

As for my other slow stitching, I finished up the bottom of the barn and then moved my hoop to the left.

And that encompasses the last of it. I stitched a good portion after I moved the hoop. It won't be finished today, but maybe tomorrow.

Today, Sue and I are walking, and with that said, it's time to get going. Mornings start early on the days I walk with Sue.