Waiting for the Muse

It has been a dry month creatively- no surprise, given the events that have impacted our family over the past two months.  Until last weekend, I hadn't spent any time in the studio, except to clean.

I know, having been down this road before, that just the act of sewing can help get my creative juices flowing again.  So I have been working on a tee shirt quilt for my daughter, a gift to help her heal from the loss of her fiance.

I cut and backed the parts of the shirts that I'm using, and played with layouts on graph paper and on my design wall.  I learned again the wisdom of the adage "Measure twice and cut once!"  But it is all pieced, we have gone from this. . . 

 

to this. . .

Now I just have to add a border around the outside.  I'm doing simple straight line quilting, probably on a diagonal.

I hand dyed the fabric that I used for the sashings.  I wanted a medium gray- there was already enough darks in the tee shirt blocks.  That was another lesson on the many variations of gray!  I think this has a green undertone- which, fortunately, works.

I'm already planning for some time off work that I'll spend dyeing fabric.  I want to have a selection of fabric to use in the discharge workshop I'm taking from Carol Soderlund in September, and I have another tree piece that I want to start- probably using shibori fabrics.  Just the thought of spending several days in the dyepots makes me happy!