Ups and Downs on the Upcycling

I have not made much progress on getting a clear idea for my Upcycle entry... I have been playing with some possible materials.  The old quilt top that I featured in my last post is out of the running.  I want to show off my hand dyed upcycled textiles, so the base is going to be a dyed damask tablecloth.  There are so many possibilities for this theme.  My vast stash of vintage textiles includes men's ties that are intended for a wearable project, but there are many of them.  I could use some of them with other pieces of old clothing in a collage

Of course, I have many dyed doilies which I have fun using to create texture in a piece.  Too many of them might look too antique, too stale for the art gallery patron.  I need to think about making something more edgy and unexpected.

Along with dyeing fabric for resale and my own creations, I often throw a few pairs of socks in the dye buckets.  Some of them are starting to wear out, but they are too beautiful to toss in the trash. 

A while ago, I found instructions for making sock dolls.  Since then, I have wanted to make a wall hanging with a whole bunch of wildly embellished sock dolls.  Maybe it is time to pursue that idea.

Stitching Around

Maybe I am too ambitious, as I habitually envision myself completing more than I actually do.  Obviously, I am not as far long on my collages as I wanted to be.  But, I have been stitching:

The stitching in the center of the doily is just a lazy daisy in a Valdani 8 weight.  I think it is looking reminiscent of a sunflower seed head. 

I have also played with filling in the designs in the ivory dyed doily:

Here is a detail of the stitching:

I like the leaves, but I am not completely sold on using the buttonhole stitch to fill in the flower petals.  It is looking better the more I go along.  How much father will I have crept along by Thursday?