The Best Part

 So, I had a couple of the fabric collages fused together. Next I began stitching over the surface of the collage with my machine. My goal was to secure the scraps where I had loose edges or fraying areas, as well as to provide some overall texture and color. I used lots of my fancy machine-generated stitches, especially in areas where they would be highlights. I reduced the foot pressure so I could easily make circular and loopy lines of stitching, in between straight stitching. Then I added some free motion stitching. Best to do that as a separate step, to avoid having to reset the feed dogs too often.

 

Straight, decorative, and free motion stitching

Finished collage sheet with fabric, decorative papers, book pages, and digitally printed fabrics

So, I had a couple of sheets of fabric scrap collage all stitched. The clock was ticking, my suitcase was nearly ready, my stops along the route were secured. By this time I had conceived of adding a bit of hand embroidery to the little pieces. I love to embroider in the car (especially if someone else is driving :-) and this was a great excuse to get going with it again

Travel embroidery kit - nice clear zippered sections. A repurposed toiletries travel bag.

 Almost time to leave!!! Back into my studio to get all this into a container for the trip. So, I flipped the collage sheets over, marked the correct dimensions for those little art machine boxes with a Sharpie, and started chopping.

Marking the back of the sheet and cutting

 When I collected all the little collages and turned them over, I was astonished! So many of the pieces were such lovely little compositions! I couldn't have done better if I had planned each one.

The whole collage sheet all chopped up.

I scooped up all the little pieces, dropped them into a zip lock bag, grabbed my embroidery kit, and hopped into the car with a sort-of-a-plan! See you again on Friday to conclude this particular tale.