Still trying to figure it out

After doing a lot of thinking, I suddenly realized that in trying to plan hand embroidery, I'm trying to work with old skills--things I can no longer do.  Why not go with my current skills?  Than means getting down to machine work.  So, instead of giving up on the 12 by 12's, I've put together two backgrounds for collage and machine embellishment.

During my recent "purge" several things that could potentially be used in this were thrown out.  Most of what is left works well in a white/gold colour scheme.  I've used some cotton hand dyes, but also several scraps from silk kimonos.  The pictures aren't good, but the pieces all work together, and I look forward to starting the machine embellishment tomorrow.