November 12, 2007

I have had these fall-colored silk flowers cluttering up my studio with a vague idea of what I wanted to do with them. But the vision refused to form, lingering in the back of my mind shrouded in mist. Today I decided they would show me what to do with them if I would just bite the bullet and play with them. So I did. First I had to find a background fabric and that was really difficult. I don't have a huge stash (dh would say otherwise, but what does he know?), so it was really hard to find just the right fabric. I found the perfect piece, but there wasn't enough of it. (Being a mostly landscape quilter, I tend to buy lots of quarter yard pieces). I ended up piecing together squares of two similar fabrics. I really needn't have obsessed about it so much, because in the end, most of it doesn't show. But one doesn't know that going in, so you obsess.

I put the borders on right away because I wanted the leaves to spill over them. Dh believes that almost everything I do looks best with a narrow black border and then a second, wider border to complement it. I rarely add the narrow black one, mostly because I don't think of it. This time I did and I like the effect.

I scattered the leaves (oak and maple) around the background and it was fairly easy to get an arrangement that I liked. then I realized I had no idea how to tack them down. And then I realized I hadn't put any stabilizer on the back of the background fabric. I had to take all the leaves off and put a stabilizer on the back. Then I replaced the leaves. Back to "how am I going to stitch these down? They are all twisted and turned and overlapped." Aha! Tulle! I will cover the entire piece with purple tulle (yes, purple). I pinned the tulle over it and it was very cool. I used invisible thread to stitch it all down. It went much faster than I expected it to. And in the end, it's not so bad! A little bit wonky, but not bad for a first try. Of course, hating to bind as much as I do, I did the pillowcase and turn method. I really really hate bindings.

So - here it is for anyone out there that might be interested in how I spent my day today. I've titled it "Autumn Carpet".