Sewing Like I Was On Retreat!

Well, not really, but more than I normally could get to sew.  My problem is not the time, but finding the time when someone else can keep a eye on McGee.  DiNozzo just lays by me or looks out the window.  McGee eats stuff.  Maybe that will be a positive point of Carrie and Andrew being here.

I decided to get the Chicken Dance as far along as I could.  I will have to deal with the outside borders are sort of wavy.  I need to address that before I go futher on the chickens.  But, I got the center done.  All the chickens, the green behind the chickens, the apples, the vines and the orange behind the vines are done.

After I took the Chickens off, I put one of the baby quilts on and decided to do a close hand drawn straight lines.  Very modern for a very modern quilt. And Carrie actually likes it!

I really like those lines.  The back is a neutral Ecology Cloth which requires a nice hand on the machine stitching!


Nothing finished but the baby quilt is close!

I also put together the Aquatic Challenge for the Fiber group.  Then I found out we were cancelling the meeting in favor of the Slidell GSQA Show.  My Matisse Lady is hanging in that show!

What I Just Did.......the Chicken Dance!

I just signed up for a Photoshop Elements  class with a friend of mine, who is a professional photographer.  She teaches classes on any number of subjects and I have wanted to take several and never have.

Several of the art quilters use Photoshop elements in their work.  I am impressed with their ability to manipulate photos and make incredible pieces of work.  Combine that with the need to improve my abilities with new and wonderful things........and there you have it.  A new class.

I also  want to take her digital photography class, and her lighting class, and her nature photography class........you know how that goes.  Once you find something, you want to immerse yourself in it.

So here is what I did last night:

 This is the first time I am doing block specific free motion with no worries about marking or pattern.  Just do it!

This worked against me in the very first Hens and Chicks block because I had not refined the idea yet and it was a "work in progress" shall we say.

Yes, that is what we will call it.

Of course, the work is not perfect, certainly not show quality.  The Chicken Dance was in one of the early magazines I subscribed to, most likely McCalls or Love of Quilting.  I named it The Chicken Dance, because I like weird names (notice the Forest of Frozen Sorrows) and I can't remember what they called in the magazine.   But I did like it, I still like it.

There is one more problem.  I used heavy duty fusible, not knowing the difference at the time.  And it was what i had.  And the chickens and the apples are thick.  I am thinking that if I wash the quilt a few times it will soften??

Any thoughts?