Ring of fire

Austin's not burning - yet. Sure looks as though everything surrounding Austin is on fire, though. It was only a matter of time; the entire state is crispy.

Suddenly, selfishly, I'm glad we never got the energy to move from our convenient-but-sorta-boring place in central Austin after the girls grew past the stage of having to be chauffeured everywhere. About once a year I used to fantasize about a cabin in the Hill Country surrounded by junipers and wild grass. Not this year.

I'm also glad that so many of our neighbors have been flouting the water restrictions and keeping their lawns green.

Clearly disaster is not good for the soul (mine anyway). I guess I'd better do penance by collecting clothes and stuff for the people who've been burned out already.

Lusitania - finally finished!

Actually, it's been done for a while; I've just had a hard time making myself set up photo lights in the sewing room. Now I've caught up and have reasonably good pics of all my recent stuff.

I had to soak Lusitania in a tub of water for 3 days to get all the Solvy out, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. So happy, in fact, that I'm going to inflict a lot of pictures on you.

Here's a shot of the whole thing:

This is what the face looked like after overlaying the sheer fabric. I was hoping the overlay would blur the texture of the embroidery stitches a little more... oh, well.

These two detail shots of the coral show some of the painted laces under the overlay and others on top of it...trying to create a feeling of depth here.


And finally, this super-detailed shot shows how the painted lace pieces merge into the machine embroidery.