Sewing Sunday Progress 3/7/10

Sewing Sunday wasn't as successful as I would have liked this week.  I did commit and do a little sewing work, which I would like to share with you today.

The first project I worked on was finishing off one of my UFO projects. I received a piece of lovely rust dyed fabric as a gift. It wasn't a very large piece and I had no idea what I was going to do with it. So it sat in the drawer for several months.

I then took an online class, for thread painting. Something that has interested me for some time, but was never able to find a live class to take on this subject. I joined an online learning group from yahoo, and that is where I found this class on thread painting.

My first lesson was to make a rose bud, with a stem and leaves. Which I thought came out pretty well for my first attempt. But again, now that I had this rose bud what was I going to do with it? And so a few more months passed with this thread painted rose bud and my piece of rust dyed fabric.

Then one day it hit me, and I started to work on my art pieced which I titled "Fallen Rose". I cut out the rose and appliqued it to the rust dyed fabric and then proceeded to quilt the background.

I started by quilting the top half, (Sky area) with a meandor and then I outlined the spiral (Sun)

Next the area where the rose was put, I thought looked like dirt or the ground. And by laying the rose on the ground it was where I got the title of "Fallen Rose" from.

I wanted to be sure I liked  the design before I stitched it. So I took out a piece of tracing paper and with a marker drew a line around the rose so I knew what was left for stitching. Next with a pencil a tried out several designs. If I didn't like one, I just traced the rose and tried again.

I liked the one you see here and it was what I used. for the final design. I removed the paper and after tracing it several times on my dry erase board I was ready to go to the machine. Using a dry erase board is a great way to practice machine quilting designs. Do them several times until you feel comfortable with them. This exercise helps train the brain, or imprints it into the brain.  You can do this on paper, but then you waist a lot of paper. 





I also used a heavier thread for the ground work. I liked the look of this gray thread. I would tell you what it was, except the label is gone!  LOL

Once I finished that I added the beading. Now I need figure out what to do with the borders. I am thinking of appliqued vines or leaves, but not sure yet. I might just quilt the vines, I guess it will stay on the wall for another few days, weeks or maybe even months before I figure out what to do next. And that is ok. I like to work on more than one project, and by putting it away until I get the next idea allows me to just let the quilt speak to me. Tell me what to do next.

Here is the piece as is it is today. Waiting for my next moment of inspiration. If you have any suggestions for finishing this piece, I would love to hear your ideas.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoyed reading about my Sewing Sunday. Stop back next week to see what happens next Sunday!