Some days, when I am thinking that I have not accomplished a thing lately, I make myself look around the house. I've got "Fractured Honeysuckles" hanging on a wall in my house now. Picture driving along a country road and glimpsing wild tangles of vines with an illusion of white blurbs here and there. To further illustrate my thoughts of this idea, here are some her beginnings as she appeared from my mind to the design wall.
I'm thinking that it might well be a good piece to redesign one day. I'll just put that on the list and see if the spirit moves me to actually do another one.
"Shirts & Skirts" is also finished. Once washed and dried, it is ever-so soft and cuddly. Not sure if it is the woven plaids and stripes, the linen, or the wool batting, but I am sure it will be a favorite for snuggling under on my sofa while watching a movie on a cold, winter evening.
Click here and here if you would like to see the befores. I had intended to do minimal quilting on it, in the vein of "Fresh Modern" , but decided that it would be a good chance to practice my free motion quilting. I don't think that I will ever learn to stay focused long enough to do a "quilt police approval" job on my quilting. I have heard many folks comment about the process of quilting, whether it be by hand or machine, being so soothing, calming, but I just have yet to discover that nirvana. Doesn't mean that I will stop trying. Some things just seem to take longer to get my head and hands around than others.
In the mean time, I'm still quilting along on my grandpuppy - just about to get her ready for show. And also thinking about using these blocks and/or some of my hand dyes for the backing on the other Shirts top. I was inspired by Tonya R at Lazy Gal Quilting and her "challenge" class. Sometimes the picture just doesn't say it all and a few words are necessary. And oh, what fun it was to create the words. I didn't take the time to read her tutorial about her process of creating her letters, but jumped right into it with my pencil and notebook paper, and filled up my page. It may have gone a bit more quickly for me had I actually taken the time to read first, but now that I have, I see that it was to be all about the fun. And since I'm not the teacher type, you can see all the great ideas that Tonya has taken the time to share for us all in this link. I used more of my plaids and linens for the words of John Lennon. I'm thinking John would approve of the tie dyes.
