Long Weekend

I've had a busy long weekend,spending most of it working and the rest sleeping cause I was so tired from working.  I got roped into doing the cooking at the hostel (as task I'm not overly keen on) and therefore didn't get the time to work on my project that I'd planned on.

I did some time yesterday while B was at work however and things are progressing (albeit slowly).  It must have been Wednesday night when I got up in the middle of the night to work on the fabric (the chiffon sandwick), so I spent yesterday sewing it but only after once again getting frustrated with my sewing maching and relegating it to the floor and working with the one I've borrowed from a friend.  I seriously think that it is time to start looking for another that can handle the work that I do.  Anyway after 5 bobbins of thread I finished my piece of fabric (which is only about 1/2 metre square) which will later be burnt and melted.

I have now begun wrapping the fencing mesh which will overlay the stitched fabric before I attack it with the heat gun.  This is slow work but I think that once I get a couple of trees done that it will start to come along much quicker.  Besides the wrapping is something that I can do in front of the telly where it is warm.  My plan is to get in and wrapp lots of lengths of the mesh and then do some assembly.  I still need to make a decision about how many layers of mesh I'll use.  I think that to get the strength that I want that I really do need two layers, however I am also toying with the idea of using plain wire, sprayed black, machine wrapped (and maybe some chiffon) and then wrapped around the whole tree (like a vine), this could end up turning into a branch and would give more strength to the structure.  It may also be quicker if I can machine wrap it - will give this a go once I start assembling. 

Before I start assembling I will need to make a base to which the trees will be attached.  Again more decisions!!  Do I use a circle of the base fabric and stitch radiating lines from the centre and then attach pieces of mesh also radiating from the centre? Or do I make a number of small segments (about 10-15cm by 2-3cm) and join them radiating from the centre?  Either way the mesh will help to give the piece a curved shape.  I think I might go with the second way, making some longer, and overlapping the trees, so it all becomes part of the assembly, rather than joining two pieces.

I will also have to get a wriggle on with my visual diary.  It has taken a back seat again since I've got a go ahead with my 'ball of trees'.  I still have quite a number of pages to do and I'm running out of days.