Blog hop almost here

Art with Fabric blog hop

It's almost that time already! Fibre artists from around the globe will show their creations based on art, architecture, books or music. If last spring was an indicator, it's going to be awesome. What a treat to see everyone's creations.

The Art with Fabric bog hop is almost here - and I'm sort of, almost ready. I will definitely have something to post, it just might not be the absolute final version. There are ways of creating an art piece that will be presentable but that will then have a second section added to it shortly after. At least that's my working theory. We'll see if I can pull it off :-)

I have been working as hard as I can on this, and if I had a super power, I would still choose the ability to stop and restart time. Imagine what I could do in that pause! But, since I haven't acquired that particular power yet, here's what I've been doing without adding pauses.

When I left that wonderful quilting retreat where I worked between 8 and 10 hours a day, except for Sunday, the picture below shows what I had accomplished. I had finished rows one to four of the stained glass window. I'm very happy to say that, to date, it's come out better than I expected.

Rows 1 to 4 of the window

Getting the pattern ready for row 5

I resumed work on the window a few days after my retreat. This was the first (and last time I hope), that I've had to rest after a retreat. I followed the same process at home and it went well.

Final row has been attached and is ready to be sewn

After finishing the final row, it was time for the free motion quilting, which technically was more paint sketching, since there was no batting and therefor no quilting involved.

That's what I did last weekend. I wanted each piece with the same colour to have the same pattern. This was the most challenging part because some of the colours are almost, but not quite, identical. I really enjoyed the thread sketching and finding different patterns to stitch.

I took the picture below to see what my window would look like if it wasn't quilted and had light coming through it. It just might be worth making something like this in the future.

Light coming through the thread sketched window

The window is now pieced. Here's what's next:

• Add panels to the sides and top of the window;
• Quilt; and
• Add the lead cane (ribbon) between each piece of glass!!! 

For the side panels, I've consulted my photos, countless images on the web as well as the book below, The Colours of Light, that I bought at the Sagrada Familia the last time I was there. Although Gaudi designed the church and left specific instructions for the work to take place after his death, the master behind creating the stained glass windows is Joan Vila Grau. If you want to learn more, this link will take you to an interview with Joan Vila Grau about his work.

The Colours of Light

Now you know my plans for this weekend (which is Thanksgiving in Canada).

Finishing these tasks should result in the first part of my project. I'm afraid that you'll have to come back to see the results of both Part 1 and 2.

What I've learned:

• Sometimes there are not enough hours in a day to get everything done. That's when we have to be flexible and come up with plan B (or C, or D, etc.)
• I went shopping last night for the lead cane (aka ribbon) for my window. I am hoping that I found the perfect ribbon, that I will be able to machine stitch it onto the quilt and that it will look great. This is my favourite outcome!
• I'll be sending poor, frazzled Alida, who is organising this blog hop, a picture as soon as I can.

My post within the Art with Fabric blog hop will be next Friday, October 14, 2016.

Please join all of the artists who will be participating in this blog hop next week. I know that they have worked hard on their creation. Let's encourage them.

I am linking this post to the following linky parties: Needle & Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Fabric Tuesday, Let's Bee Social,