Sun, Moon and Star Update

I wanted to write you a quick update today 

as I am flying out in the morning for the south of France.

 I won't be working on my piece while I am down there 

but I wanted to show you my progress so far.

I picked the lower left hand corner for my first sun and I wanted it to be red.

 I really liked the way this cotton gauze and silk gauze looked together...

I layered them over a piece of golden velvet and appliqued them onto my square 

and then created the face. 

I have never used the silk gauze in my sewing,

 I mainly had it on hand for the shop for nuno felters.

 I think in the future I will avoid it for this type of work.

 It snags easily and I wasn't expecting that. But it is here now so it will stay.

 Unfortunately two of the other squares are layered with the silk gauze on top of cotton.

 I will have to take special care with them.

 Ah well, lesson learned.

I had a lot of fun with this applique method. 

One I really haven't used before but I found the silk was such a dream to handle. 

I started with Silk Charmeuse which is as always gorgeous

 but it is a bit thick for the corners I am working on. 

So the second ray I used silk habotai which is perfect for those extreme angles,

 then I pulled out a pile of silk ribbons because they are so nicely variegated and the 12 cm is wide enough that I was able to do the third ray with a ribbon.

 I will definitely be using this method with silk in the future. 

It gives me much more control of my angles and curves

 and I think with practice will even go a lot quicker than my old methods, 

Hand stitched satin stitch is a long consuming thing and was not always the effect I was going for in the past so I am glad that this looks so good without it.

I am sure I will be eager to pick up where I left off when I return home.

 I am so happy to continue stitching again. 

My eye doctor agrees with me that resting has not solved my eye problems and so there is no sense in continuing to go without sewing. I will return for observation in another 45 days. 

Hope you all have a blessed holiday season,