Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Short session today

I only had about an hour and a half in the studio today so decided to couch threads over the candy foil I glued on the journal size sample piece yesterday. I don't really like the placement of the foil that I decided on, and it was only slightly improved with the addition of two additional vertical lines of couching. And as so often happens, the thread itself, which when draped over the piece looked to give exactly the effect I wanted, looked too dark, making me think I should have gone with a pastel yarn instead. Grumble grumble. I hate it when this happens, when I am so enthused about an idea, but the more I work on it, the less I like it. It is ready for quilting now and I have no idea what I want to do. Well, maybe an inkling, but it's not very clear yet. With the few minutes left before racing off for an appointment, I decided to sandwich it for quilting using spray baste and worry about the rest later. Fortunately, I'm still feeling positive about the bigger piece (which you can see the beginnings of in yesterday's post). All aspects of it are different with the exception of the squares of foil and the fact that thread will be couched in a grid over them.

The warm weather continues, so much so that when I got home this afternoon, I donned shorts and a tank top and set up camp on my patio with dog, a late lunch and my neighbor. Solving the problems of the world, we were, or at least of our immediate domain, and feeling like marguaritas were in order (but drat! No makings on hand...). Anything I might have thought to accomplish in the hour or so before the evening routine took a back seat to this pleasant time in the sun.

I looked at the journal piece again once I came inside, pondering the quilting lines and a binding that would help set it off. Throughout the day, it had continued to bug me, and I'd wondered about chopping up some extra foil and scattering it a bit like glitter across the open sections. Now as I stood before it, knowing something needed to happen through the middle, I suddenly thought about that grass that lines Easter Baskets. I have some tucked away in a bag, and now I could envision loose clumps of it undulating from left to right through the middle and held down by quilting lines. Ah, this may be saved afterall. But in the meantime, it strikes me as so awful that I don't want to show it to anyone! You'll just have to check back to see if I successfully salvage it..

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