Wednesday, January 9, 2013

A new project

After weeks of working on a super secret spy club project (that I will be able to tell you about next week), I'm treating myself to a special project. An applique project that I can work on with no deadlines, one where I can incorporate all the embellishing techniques I've been learning.

(For those of you who are wondering, I haven't yet decided on doing a block of the month this year. I know it was missed last year, and I missed the contact for sure. Just give me some time to catch my breath, and then we shall see.)


I rarely start with a "cartoon", preferring instead to create the motifs and then play with the layout. For this project I wanted to be a little more exacting with size and placement. Still, I anticipate that the final design will change. I'm already thinking about adding another small flower, maybe a pale yellow, to the design.



I am also predetermining the value placement, carefully marking each motif with the desired value. L = light; M- = light medium; M = Medium; M+ = dark medium; D = dark. I'm only using one fabric per value, but that might change.

Up until lately, my applique process has been all about mass production of perfectly copied motifs. Now I am tending towards cutting the shapes one at a time, adding a little individuality to each one as I cut, which I consider one step forward on the road to becoming a truly recovered perfectionist.


This is part of my palette. The purples are for the spikey yet rounded flowers. (I'll surely need to come up with a better name if I ever decide to publish the pattern. Any suggestions?) The basket will be three shades of brown, not quite settled upon. And I haven't decided on a background color. I'm tending towards a pale blue, like a summer sky.


Here are the parts for all of the roses, pinky peach to red, pressed to the fabrics (on the wrong side). This is how far I got on Monday. My plan had been to post each day's work, but Blogger has been a pill. I couldn't upload pictures. I finally solved it today by using a different browser. Geesh. Now that I know how to work around the problem, I can get on with my posts. I'm aiming for a catch up post tomorrow morning. I don't anticipate much work being done today, it's my day to shop for the new wardrobe that I'll need for next week. (I'm such a tease!)


4 comments:

  1. Love your new project. Miss your block of the month.
    Quiltmaker sent me today.
    phyllisjoconnor@gmail.com

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  2. Valinda10:53 AM

    First,I love your shawls.Lace knitting is my relaxing place.Second,my heart hit the runway when I saw you were thinking about a BOM(it can't soar until you're sure it will be fun and not just a chore for you).I'd be willing to pay for the pattern,people should be paid for their time and their talent.Third,that pup is so cute!We got a new pup this year too.She'll be one year old Jan 27.It's a little harder for her to get into trouble without one of us noticing,she's a Great Dane.

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  3. You are a tease! Love how you think, wish I could upload that type of thinking to my brain.

    Giggles,
    Kelly

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  4. The selfish part of me is glad that you're considering doing a BOM, as I sure miss it. I certainly understand if you choose not to, as it's a great deal of work and you're a new mom to that cute puppy!

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