Green Man

I am going to work on a few fellas before I move on to something else. The first to get finished is this Green Man with an awesome boar hunt toile.

Some face close-ups-

He has foliage and some country house bits on his arms.

Yeah, lots and lots of foliage and branches everywhere!

Red Tail Merman

I am having fun trying out all these different color combinations.

His hair is a dark purple-red cross-hatch. And he has grey-green eyes.

Most of the decorative kanji on his arms runs down along the sides.

He has a fish button- I have had this button forever, like maybe 40 years! I have finally found the perfect use for it.

Dark Merman, Skeleton tattoos

I am really excited about working with this African wax print fabric. I need to learn more about it. This piece (which was gifted to me) has a slightly shiny surface, even after washing. I will be keeping my eye out for other patterns that would work with my designs.

I REALLY struggled with his hair. I tried out 3 other colors/patterns before settling on this orange-peachy color. And when I say tried, I mean I cut out the hair and beard, sewed up the beard, pinned it all on his head… then decided I didn’t like it! And his hair style-

I wanted to do something with 2 “braids” but it took a lot of fiddling. Of course that is always the way when figuring out something new.

Merman 2

This merman fellow is more blue-green than his friend yesterday. He has stormy sea green eyes.

More ships and a button that looks like sea glass. A port scene on his back and an embroidered rick rack belt.

Merman 1

OMG- I finished something! It is such a relief to finally have something done!

He has lots of sails and ropes and smoke because A BATTLE!

Little variegated embroidered stitches and a star button.

Different watery and fishy fabrics.

And this week, it’s mermen

Well, I got frustrated with the ornaments and not finishing anything and not enough time sewing and too much computer work and the state of the world… so, I’m taking a break on the ornament patterns. It’ll get done eventually but I need to be in a better/different head space.

Summer seems like the perfect time to make Mermen. I had body parts dyed so I’ve spent this last week putting them together. First, I pulled out a BIG pile of possible Merman colors and prints. Yeah, that’s not the half of it!

Sewing up some fins.

Also- OMG I got my scissors sharpened today- Bliss!!!

The fins, sewed and turned.

A little bit of stuffing before I top-stitch. Everything is organized in zip-lock bags.

All the fins finished.

Then, a Merman sandwich. All pinned up and ready to sew the tail side seams.

A pile, all sewed up. Now is time to clip the seams and turn right side out. I love that part!

And, tada! All the machine sewing is finished and now they are ready to be brought to life. I am really excited about the African wax print textiles I came into recently. As always I am very excited to find out who they will turn out to be.

Here is a pic from my desk- all the thread colors piling up as I was sewing.

Yes, I am all over the place these days. It has been rough . I hope I can get back to posting more because that’ll mean I’m making more so fingers crossed.