Once a week, most weeks, I take the ferry to “town”. In the local parlance, “town” is Victoria, on Vancouver Island. This time of year, that two-hour commute is at the right time for sunrise magic.
This was the view, from the back of the ferry, that morning…
I just zoomed on the wake, and let the reflection of the sunrise do the abstract magic…
My latest quilt is Jungle… and it’s a jungle of stitches out there! I have been putting in the hours for the past two weeks, both on this big one and the smaller companion quilt.
Work is progressing, which is good. I am adding a layer of much more intense texture into this piece than I had planned. Guess I am incorrigible.It’s going to be an interesting piece to look at, once I block it on my work wall.
In the meantime, here is a shot of the beast, in the process.
Much of the quilting is improvised and I draw inspiration from the colours and the shapes. This quilt is so graphic, with bright contrast, that I decided to stick with “stitching within the lines” rather than add another set of markings by going “off-road”. I think it would have been too chaotic. Well, it’s how I feel at the moment and this may change in the next couple of days (smile). People who quilt will understand what I am talking about!
And to give a better idea of the texture, here is a picture of the back.
Still much more work to be done, one hour at a time. And of course, all the finishing.
Did I mention that I plan to finish this beast by Saturday? Better get going…
Over the past week, I have spent many hours a day learning to drive my new Janome. It’s one of the wide-throated sewing machines, and it’s fun to have this much room to move the fabric around.
It’s quite the transition from the 20-year old Bernina, but I am adapting quite well. I am having fun.
The smaller piece I have been working on is titled Que Onda? (What’s Up?) and is already textured. It’s ready for finishing touches. Below, 3 detail shots of the texturing.
I revisited some favorite texture patterns of mine, to see how tension settings and various threads worked out with the new “beast”…
It turns out that the Janome is really easy to manoeuvre… and remarkably quiet. Maybe that’s a hint that I should get the Bernina to the technician for a bit of maintenance. I still plan to use the Bernina for piecing.
Below, another pic showing two of the pieces in the works, the little one (Que Onda?) and the big one, It’s a jungle out there. The big one is on the floor, ready for pinning. Once that is done (tonight), I get to texture it to my heart’s content. This will put my driving skills to work!
Jungle may still get trimmed quite a bit, depending on how I feel when I see it with some texture. I am not sure, yet, about the cropping of the piece. But I’ve decided to go with the flow and let it be fun. These colours are bringing out my inner child. I am letting the child play…
Work in progress, is what’s up! Go all out, and make it colourful, that’s right. This piece is jumping off the wall.
I just remembered all those beautiful and lively artisan weavings and carvings from Mexico, and got started… I am ready to start quilting this top.
Now that it’s pieced, time to get to the texturing phase…
There is something about the iris.
When I got here, I inherited a fenced garden (the only way to have a garden around here, because of the abundant deer and goats that forage freely in the neighbourhood — more about that in an upcoming post)… with three flourishing groups of irises.
I am not sure that I love them, but I still find them fascinating. When you look at an iris bloom up close, there is something almost menacing about the way the flower is put together… To me, it resembles some insect mandible…