Wow! I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd posted to my blog. I wanted to wait until I had a "real" piece of free style machine embroidery finished, and now I have one.

But first - for those of you who haven't seen it on my Facebook page -

I GOT A JOB I GOT A JOB I GOT A JOB!!!

I found out Friday at 5:00 after having the interview at 3 pm Friday. Then I got even better news - that I will be keeping my current salary! What a wonderful day!

And then today Keri called to tell my she had won $500 in the Power Ball lottery. What a terrific weekend! It could only be better if Steve were here, instead of fishininmichigan. But it's his annual trip and he deserves it. He's thrilled for both of us - now he can retire next May as he'd planned.

My aunt Allie, who visited at Easter, bought me a beautiful Asiatic Lily for my birthday. My birthday was the day before Easter and hers was the day after Easter. We planted it, but it didn't bloom til I came back from the workshop with Carol Shinn.

Here is the original photo of the whole stem blooming:



Here is the full photo (12" x 12") of my free style machine embroidered Lily. As you can see, it is reversed from the original. One of those things easily forgotten when printing the photo.



Here is the detail photo showing the shadows:



I documented my hours on this for future reference for myself. I put 36 1/2 hours in the stitching. I can't tell you how much thread I used because there are so many colors blended. I can tell you that jus in the dark green background I used 1 whole spool plus probably 1/4 of a second spool. There are 250 yards of thread on each spool. There are layers and layers of thread and it's pretty heavy, but also pretty good and flat.

I am pretty happy with the end results, but I'd love to hear comments on what you think. I need to continue practicing my fm stitching skills, but I also need to decide where I want to go with this, style-wise. Would you buy a picture like this of just a flower, or would you want something a little more interesting and unique? Like maybe a collage of parts of the flower? I appreciate whatever you offer for suggestions.

I also finished a small quilt, but I can't show that here in case certain people look here. Next month.

Thanks!