Something besides snow!

It's hard to believe tomorrow is the last day of January! Where has the month gone? I have to admit, I started out like gangbusters on my goals for the year, except for the one I'm supposed to do weekly - the 8x10s I said I'd do like a sketchbook. Above is really the first new one I completed, and I just did that today! Actually, I did it in three parts over the last few weeks: first, painting the white canvas with acrylic paints and inks, then adding the free-motion stitching with metallic threads, then adding in the sand, seaweed, and seahorse. Maybe step one was a sketch all by itself... And, of course, I made several of the rejected snowflake pieces, if they count (I think I may actually have to do it one more time!). Anyway, I got tired of snowflakes (see the last post), both real and stitched, so this was a nice break from all that white and blue. One new technique I came up with: the seahorse is a separate quilted piece with a back and everything, sort of like a little flat stuffed animal. He's only stitched on in a few spots. I was hoping this might give him a more three-dimensional look, but I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo. It looks much better in person. I wish I could capture that dimension with the camera! Since I'm so drawn to the seahorse and have made so many of them, I thought I'd play around with the possibility of him being a little logo or mascot to put on business cards etc. I'm not sure if he's "the one," but he's the closest I've come so far. If nothing else, at least I'm seeing improvement!