Some Unfinished Business

Over the weekend I was cleaning out my work space given that I had finished the Sea Dragon and need the table space.   I decided there was a WIP somewhere that I wanted to revisit so I opened the DLP. 
'Drawer of Lost Projects'. 

While it's always fun to see completed works and hear about their construction, where they can be see, what techniques were used; having unfinished items is like the 'dark side' of quilting.  I am certain we all have those and am always interested to see others' works when published on blogs.  Makes me feel less inadequate and more human. LOL 

I was surprised that as I took them out and did a review, several I am still drawn to finish.  Yay! So in no particular order here they are.

I enjoyed putting the pink leaves in metallic stitching on the black.

 I had learned this technique about beading around the rope to give a coiled effect.  It's very cool, but very time consuming (and bead eating!)  If you have a container of 'bead soup' it would be a great way to use it up!

This I found and it melted my heart! She worked so hard on it.  I envision her young hands all dirty holding the hoop & all the pencil drawings of the words and hearts.  She was 11. 

 I have finished it this weekend and will post the photo shortly.  :) 

 Here's me trying to learn the Terry Waldron method of needle turn applique.  Yup, this is as far as I got in the class and someday when I simply run out of things to do I may have the patience to do this again. I used the technique in the Koi project for the silk leaves. 

I have no words.  (besides, WTF) 

oh look, the rose is bleeding.  I must have been listening to too much Evanescence. LOL

(in truth it was to be about the Oscar Wilde story The Nightingale and The Rose)

these are rather sad.  They are 12" blocks.  There's 11 of them.  Those are all hand created bias tape fused & stitched down in the Celtic patterns I first had to draw.  I like the green background, I like the triangle borders.  Some of the bias strip colors work, most don't.  The goldenrod is hideous.  So all that work and I have all these giant squares in a plastic bag since what, like 2005.  I did use a couple to cover the front and back of a book so they may yet come in handy. 

I still adore these colors, love the pumpkins, love the kitty.  The pick -up- sticks, not so much. LOL 

By the time you un-sew several ties to get all this silk, then paper piece them for a 'crazy quilt-ish' idea then you realize none of your ties went together it's really too late. urg. 

Here's an idea I am still in love with.  Though admittedly cutting out all those little rectangles was rather daunting the whole thing is only 8 1/2"  x 11"

But the fish gleams and it was great use of old prefused scraps.

 

I really wanted to do a face out of leaves and see her blend into the tree bark.  Obviously I had issues. Still like the idea though.  I think it is exceedingly difficult to create a persons image as it would appear in camouflage without losing it in the background image you are camouflaging with.  Does that even make sense?

 ummmm.  *shrugs*

This still may work out.  Some dear friends treated me to the San Diego Wild Animal Park where we got to see the big cats (in particular the Cheetah) up close.  That's us standing in front of him on the platform.  You aren't allowed to touch but it's as close as you can be without contact.  Simply gorgeous!  We were all in heaven.  

Not sure what I will do with the strips sewn together but was trying to get a feel for it.  Then...

I got another idea and sorta got carried away.  I wanted to have an all black background, then have the outline in white of a tiger.  These blocks would be placed strategically inside and possibly overlapping the outline.     I like the idea of the literal blended with the abstract.  I just haven't been able to make it work. I need more brain cells on this one.



Still in Africa, visiting the Weaver Birds now.  The challenge was to have a small quilt that is your house.

So I chose a nest (no literal minds here...*eyeroll*) but decided to build the nest with all the phrases my daughter and I toss back and forth.  It was fun to read them again.  Many phrases we still use.  Alas, the quilt won't be. 

This is what I wanted to finish.  I made this with the leftovers of a quilt I made for a dear friend's daughter.  (It was a pinwheel quilt) To this day it remains my favorite.   I was playing with making these flying geese.  Not a perfect job by any means but it is all I have left of the beloved fabrics I made her quilt with. This will fit nicely over a long decorative pillow.  I plan on putting Ellen's Mother's Day piece on the back, along with a her note that I have scanned & printed on cotton fabric. A very homey feeling. 

I am making it a point of quilting it by hand. 

Another Terry Waldron class.  I never could get this technique.  Good thing this was only 8" x 10". 

I traced and cut two separate Celtic blocks, then matched them so they would appear as one block.  That was it.

The rainbow wave was a beotch to make.  Then I fused it onto the blue.  Added the wee black & white fish (that i still love) and there it sat. I am thinking on machine quilting this in a really fun pattern, I think it would make a child's room very fun!  It is meant to hang vertically.

What I learned:  I love the way the lighter leaves of this 'Butterfly Bush' pop out of the darker border.  I love the way the long tubular flowers can be made out of one solid piece of material if it has the right shading.  My favorite flower is the one on the bottom.  I won't be finishing this one though.  The pukey light green fabric in the center is just, well, pukey... And the flowers are placed to symmetrically.  ick.

So, that's really it.  Hope you had some laughs and enjoyed the 'behind the scenes' from the

DLP!