fiberhart

I Made It!!

I made it through the workweek after time off, and I have the Sunflower piece almost finished- just a sleeve and label left. I will still be gifting it, but have changed my mind about the recipient. An even more perfect one has come to my attention.

My small group, WAQ, met on Friday. I took the Sunflower, Blue Tsunami, and Autumn Mountains for critique. Blue Tsunami got good reviews, with only the suggestion that some beads might be a nice addition. Not too many, just some. Since I had been thinking that myself, I'll be going ahead with it. They said Sunflower needed beads, too- and it was like a knock upside the head- of course! I'd already added the metallic paint over the background quilting, and loved the effect. I spent Friday and Saturday night beading, and this morning hand sewing the back of the binding. I am very pleased with the result, and am even more pleased with the learning that came from doing this piece. I got experience dye painting with soy wax on a wholecloth design and applying paint after quilting. With that, I can cheerfully let Sunflower go to a new home. I'll do similar processes on her sister, and hopefully will see improvement in my skill with the techniques. Here she is finished-



And a detail shot-


I'm going to hit Home Depot in hopes of finding a paint roller that is only about an inch wide. And, I will figure out a way to mask the flower on the second piece when I paint. That should help alleviate the problem I had with too much paint in some areas, since I was trying to keep it off the flower. As for the beading,
I used big seed beads, size 6 I think. And, there was a lot of variation on the size in the package- which I think adds to the effect.

We had an interesting discussion about quilting on Autumn Mountains. I was thrilled when Robyn volunteered to let me quilt it on her frame with her HQ16. It will be easier than wrangling a piece that size under my Juki, that is for sure! I will just need to practice in the morning before we load the quilt, and Suzanne volunteered to come over and make sure we got off to a good start. I have played with the HQ16, but not for extended lengths of time. I won't be doing it until late in January or February, since Robyn is leaving on a cruise. So I have time to practice with paper and pencil. I'm both nervous and excited, it would be great to get it quilted in one day!

Yesterday was a red letter day for Shannon- she turned 21. We did some clothes shopping in the morning, then she got some German beer to enjoy with the German meal she is making for us tonight. It just does not feel like it has been that many years since I held her for the first time as a newborn. Where do the years go?????

We did see Doubt last weekend, I would highly recommend it. I love Meryl Streep, and the supporting cast was excellent. Not a light hearted movie, but one to make you think.

I think I will spend this afternoon cleaning up in the studio, trying to figure out what I'll work on next. Thanks for visiting!