Making Progress

This week has been quite productive in my sewing room. 

First:  Before and after of my Wisteria challenge piece. 

Not finished, but I am pleased with where I am. 

 

 

Second: 

Top picture has all the pieces pinned to the design wall, but nothing was sewn together.

Then I have larger pieces and many smaller ones stitched in place on top of a batting and backing. 

Last two pictures are my thread sketching and free motion quilting, both of which need improvement. 

 

 

 

 

Third: I started working on my Princess piece. 

The top picture shows the portrait piece I made during Lola Jenkins workshop. 

 

 

In the picture above, I have placed two different blacks along the sides. The one on the left has very small gold dots. The one on the right has black dots and a more mottled background. I am thinking about using one or both as borders, if I keep it at the present size. 

Four Projects

#1: Just Use It Challenge - Frame It

The base piece started out as a white damask napkin. My friend, Hazel, stenciled the wisteria onto it with gorgeous fabric paints. I decided to dye it with an assortment of softened hues that I felt would go better with my decor. It came out just how I wanted it. I would like to make this into a "postage stamp". I need to decide if I want it to stand alone or be on a post card. I have some large walls that could hold a 4' by 6' piece. I'm perplexed as to what else I would put on the remainder of the post card, but I think it can progress along that direction. 

#2: Lola Jenkins Class

 

I'm really happy with how far I am with this piece. Lola was an awesome teacher. I enjoyed every minute of the workshop. She really helped me with those lower eye lashes and the nose. The silk piece hanging along the side is from Thee Coyote. I would like to incorporate it into the finished piece. This is not a self portrait, but using Lola's methods I don't think it would be difficult to find a picture of myself and go for it. Maybe a series of family members,,, hmmm. 

#3: Cut Phobia Challenge

This is a piece that is coming together slowly. The idea is to use several different pieces from the collection of swapped fabrics I have received thru the StitchinFingers surface design group. I'm very comfortable putting lots of different fabrics together in traditional quilting methods. This one is more than a stretch for me. I have decided that as long as I like it, I'm not going to stress about it's artistic balance. 

#4: Improvisation Deconstructed Playground

Sorry for all the wrinkles, but it's been traveling. I made these blocks in a deconstructed screen printing workshop back in December. I used various width strips of white and improvisationally framed them. The seam allowances give the impression of being a pojagi piece. I love that look, so I intentionally pressed them to do that. The plan, at present, is to stitch all of those seams with a twin or triple needle and a pale color thread to enhance them. Next I would like to do thread work in each of the printed blocks. Then I would layer up the quilt sandwich, and do the actual quilting of it. 

So, that's four of my 'IN PROGRESS' pieces. 

Off to be creative,

Luann