Sunday, January 22, 2012

Another troubled week

Emerging design.


Non-emerging design.


For all my optimism, it was another week of stumbles and restarts. The good news is, after another round of trial beading that was removed because it did not work, I think I have resolved the patterning in the arcs on the found pin piece and have only a few scattered seed beads to apply in the space between the arcs to be done. My floater frames arrived and as near as I can tell (barring more vision gaps), the silver-faced floater will be the perfect complement to this quilt. So near done I can taste it.

The bad news is, after trying several more thread choices, I have come to the conclusion that hand quilting simply will not give me the look I want on the Palouse piece. I should have reasoned that with the heavier weave of the silk fabric, hand stitches would have to be large and out of proportion on this small piece (but might work just fine on a larger version). The thread you see in the picture that looks so much like the doubled basting thread is a buttonhole weight silk thread. If it were variegated, I might be able to live with the big stitches, but it is definitely not the look I had in mind. I'll do a trial of my original variegated thread which may very well show up fine in machine stitching, and if that too is a failure, well, I'll just be reassessing my options again.

In the meantime, I've been laid up this weekend with some sort of a bug. Lots of sleep, lots of fluids, a bit more upright this afternoon. Taking it easy.

2 comments:

Sherrie Spangler said...

The black and silver piece is turning into a real beauty. I can't wait to see it framed.

Cate Rose said...

Hope you're feeling better today, Sheila. I love the handstitched piece, the bare/spareness of it. Have a good week!