Floral Ornament With Rouleau Loop Petals

Is it just me? Has anyone else noticed that time is speeding up? Or least our perception of time? I always thought the older you get, the faster the time seems to go. Then, the other day, a friend pointed out that the kids are noticing it too. Her 10 year old nephew essentially said the same thing. I remember as a kid, time dragged on and I couldn't wait for things to happen.

Anyway, I mention this because I started this flower project on January 13th and it's taken two weeks to get it done. I have more stuff on my plate that I have to attend to, and I really wonder where I'm going to find the extra time.

Back to the flower. Those rouleau loop petals were a bit frustrating to make. I have a tool to turn the strips right side out, but unless you "latch" it just the right way, it's not going to work. So after a bit of trial and error and lots of tugging, I did manage. I think the end result was worth the effort. :)

The Beginnings of a Floral Ornament

I'm still thinking about the quilting for the background mentioned in my previous post. In the meantime, I started a new project. This is the center of a flower to which I need to add petals. I follow Karen Ruane's blog Contemporary Embroidery and I thought maybe using one of her techniques, rouleau loops or prairie points, would make great petals. Now more thinking involved. Sigh.

Cat In Progress

The cat is actually finished. It's the background that's still in progress.

One of my artistic goals for 2012 is to produce more detailed works. The swirly fabric that serves as the cat's body is too perfect to spoil with additional embellishment so I left it as is. I stitched around the edge two times with medium and light coloured embroidery threads. The stitches are so close that they almost looks like a satin stitch.

Now I have to decide what kind of treatment the background fabric should get. Probably I am going to quilt it. I'll know in a day or two after I think about it.