Currently doing Bethanne Nemesh' Breaking Boundaries class. It is as intensive as the Feather Fiesta class was that I have just finished with her. Very enjoyable and lots of learning and experimenting. She certainly packs a lot into those classes.
After a while I got a bit bored with my practice sandwiches and while I could have used the pre-prepared improvisational quilts, I decided to use a very colourful and interesting panel that I had in my stash. Yep, got majorly side tracked once again!
The panel is called Art Excursion by Denise Burkitt for Free Spirit Fabrics.
It is very pretty with its vibrant colours and odd shapes. I was thinking that I may have finally bitten off more than I can chew. I started off with a loose plan to fill the wormy structures and then add backfill in the surrounding areas. Sounded easy enough but as I found out the transitioning is not that easy. As I go along I find that I start interpreting the fabric in different ways...new ideas emerge and the original plan has already been surpassed by impromptu decisions to do something completely different. Couple that with some unfamiliar background fillers plus stitching with 100wt Invisafil is making for an interesting journey. Bernina Q20 is behaving fabulously...I am using prewound decobobs in the bobbin and am stitching in manual.
Not entirely sure what this will look like when finished...I am hoping for an organic flowing picture over the surface that makes sense to me and the viewer (what exactly that picture is remains unclear at the moment) but I am also really aware that someone may look at it and see it as nothing more than colouring in a background. Very interesting exercise. So far I like the 'worms' best...seem to be able to do that for hours. The panel is quite large and I have heaps more to go with no firm plan anymore. Should be interesting to see how this develops. I am thinking that it could turn out to be a stunner or a complete and utter flop.
Oh my word, amazing texture. Makes me want to reach out and touch it. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteI think it looks incredible so far, Karyn! And you are totally on the right track, using a gorgeous panel like this for working on technique, because the beautiful panel itself is challenging you to a higher level since it may very well end up AMAZING!
ReplyDeleteHi Karin, so far so good. I'd be surprised if it doesn't turn out great! You are obviously enjoying the process and learning. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteHello Karin,
ReplyDeleteThis looks amazing, and I can totally understand the enjoyment of it all, especially when it comes to improvising a design while you are sewing.
Thank you for linking up with free Motion Mavericks. Your quilt is this week's featured project!
Love, Muv