Stitching Society Confessional

When I first started on my Stitching Society adventure, I was a lot more anal careful about following the patterns.

 As part of the program, we were given a clear overlay to use with a dry/wet erase marker.

 We could then trace the design and use it as a guide to place the wool design pieces on the hexagon.

That was really helpful on Mr. Mouse. 

I don't worry about being so exact anymore.
You can also see that I don't reverse the designs unless it is something that wouldn't look right.
I trace the parts of the designs that I will be using for wool applique onto Heat and Bond Lite and then arrange my pieces on the wool hexagon. When I am happy with the placement, I fuse everything down. Even though it's not in the instructions for the fusible, I've found a little steam helps adhere the appliques more securely.
I usually set up 15 hexagons at a time since that's how many patterns we are given each month.

This is Wintertime.
I simplified the design a bit. I wasn't too keen on the stars at the branch tips, and after stitching a few snowflake French Knots, I removed them and decided this one was done!

Okay--this is my biggest secret--my pens!
 I use very slightly tinted fabric markers to do little touches of shading. You can see I used this very light gray to shade under the wing of the bird. I also used it extensively on Mr. Mouse above.
I use a grey, peach, lavender and light olive--I'm not trying to add color to the wool, only a bit of a shadow--very subtle. 

Most of the designs are fanciful, but on a lot of the flora and fauna, I use my iPad to Google images just as little guide for colors.

Notice there are no instructions--just a line drawing, so it's fun to figure out how each hexagon will be tackled.
The little circles on the branch could be French Knots or maybe crystals--I used pearly beads. 

Cardinal

I'm almost finished with my wintry group--next up: folksy!