Friday, September 04, 2015

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.

background fabrics
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
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
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 MakingOh Scrap!, Patchwork Times' Design Wall, WIP WednesdayLet's Bee Social with Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday with My Quilt Infatuation



10 comments:

  1. What a great project! Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!

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    1. Thanks Cynthia. I love your Linky party. Lots of great stuff!

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  2. Thanks for sharing your step by step process. It helps inspire us by showing us the how! I think you are doing a great job. Look forward to seeing finished piece.

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    1. Thanks Joy. I see that you make tutorials. That's wonderful. I hope one day to make some also.
      The quilt is done - I just need to find a few minutes to write up the blog. Even I am impressed with it. :-)

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  3. What a great process. That is definitely the perfect water fabric!

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    1. Thanks Julie. I'm going to have to work on getting more of those hand-dyed fabrics. I have some very, very wild ones but I guess I'll have to invest in some sky and water ones.

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  4. What a lovely photo and a fabulous rendition in fabric and thread! Really enjoyed reading about your process, Andree.

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  5. Oh, that water fabric was a great find! I am really interested in landscape quilts, so thanks for sharing part of your process to make them. I'm wondering, do you fuse the fabrics or let the thread sketching hold them in place?

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    1. Hi Janine Marie, that was a great question. I've answered it in my September 14th's post. Thanks.

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Hi! I would love to hear from you and I will try to answer you. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a message. :-)