What's going on at my house

This will be the third time I've written this post. The first time, I didn't realize, until it had been posted, that some of the photos were so out of focus that they were useless to a viewer.  So I reverted to draft, and tried to figure out how to improve the quality of the pictures.  (Lately, I've noticed a slight hand tremour, the type that sometimes comes with age.)  So, a couple of days later,  I managed to haul out our tripod.  It's a good tripod, purchased for a fire sale price ( final sale) that turned out to be a video tripod, not a still photo device.  Still, it gives me something to rest my camera on to take a steady shot.

The piece, that has been giving me grief, is the one I've titled "Frazil Ice: Fall 2019".  It is the third of the three hand-made batik pieces I am working on. It had reached a point where I felt it was not worth pursuing.  It had just had far too many problems, and I was ready to declare it part of my "crap quota".  ( We all have them, we just don't talk about them --much)

As a last resort, I took it to The Fibre Art Divas meeting last week, and they felt that it just needed more work--that the white areas could be better, with just a bit of persuasion. 

I used my stiletto to adjust the white fabric, and stitched it in place, using a programmed stitch, and an old hand embroidery thread called Accentuate, that is no longer manufactured.  I absolutely love this thread, which came in many colours, fur use in my machine, despite the 50 yard spools.  I certainly miss it, and have not found anything to replace it.  Then I went to the flatter areas and used a line of the same stitch as an accent.

Here is the result.  I plan to exhibit during my gallery show in May ( Fingers crossed!!  It might not happen, given the current covid19 situation)

At the same time, considering that we haven't left the house in days, I've also been working on FMQ'g the second of the three batiks. When I started on these three pieces, I mentioned that, if nothing else was accomplished, I could use them to practice my FMQ'g.  Believe me when I say it needed work!  Well, this piece is not my best work.  The need for practice is obvious--to me.  Will a viewer notice?  I don't know.  I will need all three of them for my exhibit, so this one may just be exhibited as "Not for Sale".  I don't think I would dare put a price on, what I see as, poor quality work.

 I plan to link this with The Needle and Thread Network.