August Update in September

I can't believe that it's September already. It's still crazy hot in Ottawa but the lovely cool fall weather will come eventually, I hope.

Perfect hand-dyed background fabric 

I had all kinds of plans for August - prayer flags and the landscape art quilt. The month is over and lots of things moved ahead, but nothing got finished. What have I been doing? Mostly hiding from the heat! (It's called estivation - what animals do as they hide in the earth from the heat!)

August's Landscape Art Quilt is coming along - there's a long weekend coming up, so hopefully I'll be able to complete it.

Here's some of the process and progress:

I found some amazing hand-dyed fabric that is absolutely perfect for the water. It even had the shading in the right places!

I then went through my stash. I'm so glad that I now have a nice collection of greens for trees and forests. It really helps the process along. I think that auditioning fabrics is my favourite part of the process, especially when it goes well :-)

Fabrics in place

I know that the fabric for the plant is a little much, but I'm hoping to sketch over it. I really wanted the background to help it stand out.

Thread sketching the trees

I think that I'm finished with the thread sketching of the trees. I love the fact that if I change my mind, I'll be able to make changes as I go along.

I thought that I didn't have a great selection of green thread, but when I looked in my box of miscellaneous thread, I found some great shades of green. What a find! That extra thread gave me so many more options.

Thread sketching the plant

Last night I worked on the plant. What fun. I love that part too!

This morning I had a few minutes before leaving for work and I worked on the rock below the plant.

Here's what it looked like last night.

What I learned:

• Inspiration is not the same as actually doing it! Oh well, it was just a plan. 
• My box of miscellaneous threads consisted mostly of non-pretty colours, like many shades of green. They are not so yukky any more!
• Since I've thread sketched the trees so much, the fabric is starting to buckle. I'm not finished sketching yet, but I know that this can be fixed in the quilting process.
• I suspect that every part of making a landscape art quilt is my favourite part. There's no serious cutting, piecing and measuring. What's not to love!

 Have a great labour day! I'll be working at what I love best - my quilting.

Link ups - check out these posts! Monday Making, Oh Scrap!, Patchwork Times' Design Wall, WIP Wednesday, Let's Bee Social with Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday with My Quilt Infatuation