the letter "N"

 This letter was the one in July for an animal one had to make for the
#bibabowildmarathon

Again a challenge for Yaroslava Troynich

 I chose the  NUDIBRANCH

Well, let me be completely honest :

I  DON'T  like slugs
in my garden,
but these ones live in the sea !

But when you have to pick one (living) animal 
that starts with a certain letter
then the choice is limited !  (and it must be executable)

Nudibranch means literally "naked gill"

Sea slugs (there are more than three thousand known species !)
don't have gills, like fish, but they breath
through the bulges and tentacles on their back.

They have tiny eyes on their backs too

but they get around mainly by feel and smell.
They pick up chemical clues from the water about
food, other nudibranchs or predators.

Many nudibranchs have the most fantastic shapes and colours,

to warn off that they might not be safe to eaten.
 

I started with a piece of old (failed) bag

that I roughed up with a cat brush,

a thin body and a thin strip and many "tentacles"

Because the blue (old) piece was thick

and already felted it didn't shrink very much.

A fun project !

photo-start

Yes, why not a photo-start
instead of a photo-finish ???
Well, here the photo was the inspiration,
it was the beginning of another wonderful STITCH CLUB workshop by
Sue Stone

I think it was Sue's fourth workshop already,
but she never stops to amaze me
with her thorough way of teaching !
She made three series of little works and added
plenty of ideas and "what-if's" !

Finding a suitable photo was my first step
but when I found one, all else followed suite :
our granddaughter at 4 showing her swimming goggles
(she will be 22 very soon !)

The first work in just stitch

The result after many many stitches

Then came the next piece with a lot of appliqué.

Ohhhhh . . . a puzzle of many different pieces of fabric

All the puzzle pieces in place and ready to stitch

Number two finished

The last one was trial and error :
wrong kind of fabric at first !!!

better choice for after unpicking the first try !

And number three finished

The very last step will be to frame them,
probably separately.
Each on measures about 16 x 17 cm.