Hi everyone,

I came home this morning after a busy 13hr shift Friday night & a
normal 8 1/2 shift last night, all fired up to try something new.

I thought I would combine some of Birgitte's techniques for needle
landscape into another portrait. It's my son's birthday next week & as
I'm BROKE I felt it would be nice to make something special for him.

I had another copy of the enlarged, shaded photo that I used for the
pre-felt portrait of Brendan. I traced off a copy on tracing paper,
then, using my embellishing machine, I traced over the shading
outlines with a fine fibre cord . As there are many different shades,
it has taken quite a while.
I needle felted 2 layers of batting together by hand, first, then
layed the tracing paper on top.

In retrospect, I probably would have been better using the washaway
vilene on top, as I could have done all the needling through this &
washed it out afterwards. As it is, there are still lots of gritty
bits of paper to contend with, as it has been punched all over & I
haven't been able to pull or rub all the residue off.

It is recognisable already, so at a later time, I'll needle in little
bits of coloured wool in the shades . I had a colour code worked out
for the previous one, so it should be ok.

I am still cutting out prefelts for the replacement picture to the
first one. I thought I would have a go at needling that one too, but
that will wait a while.

I'll keep you posted.

regards, Barb..

Ps Rae, I'm still embroidering ;( I put yours away for a bit, as I
wasn't happy with it, so I had to wait for inspiration again, I'm
sorry. ( I haven't forgotten you.

PPS I shall participate in the exchange, as I have some more time off
next week.

Have to get a bit of sleep, before my husband comes home. I have an AM
shift tomorrow.