Seas Ready to Quilt

On my last post, Wil asked if I'd be quilting in the ripples before fusing the mast reflection squiggles into place. I did consider this but since there will be a lot of vertical quilting somewhat echoing the appliqued pieces, I decided it would not be that much to my advantage to quilt first and fuse later. Yesterday I finished cutting out and arranging the parts of the additional reflection on this one and started the layering process. Both quilts are getting the same batting and backing but not the same color of thread for the background quilting. Imagine my panic when I went to pull the "perfect" thread I knew I had on hand for this one and couldn't find it! Am I losing my mind, because I definitely remember making note of an Oliver Twist hand-dyed thread awhile back. Had I set it aside and just couldn't see it for all the piles stacked about the room?

Well, no. Once I got the second quilt layered and pinned, I realized that the Oliver Twist in question was for this one which reads more pink than burgundy.

And it was waiting in the drawer, proving it would read just as I remember thinking it would. It has a nice subtle variation to it that should work quite well. It might actually work on the other one too, if I stop looking at how the spool seems to clash but the thread drizzled across does not. I even checked on-line to see if there was an Oliver Twist in the darker blood-red color range but there is not. However, my next favorite - Superior King Tut - looks to have several like I had in mind and with any luck, I can find it locally - because there isn't time to wait for an order to arrive. Otherwise, I do have a cotton-covered polyester that will do in a pinch.

Just when the finish line is in sight and some of the "debris" gets cleared away to make room for the layering and basting, I find myself sighing at the possibilities of scraps that should just go in the trash - sighing partially because I don't really need any more ideas to divert me from the ones already crying for attention and partially because I know it is my nature not to waste. It almost feels like drowning, this constant influx of inspiration, trying to keep my head above water but tiring from the effort. However, that little voice that won't stay silent insists I could do something fun and maybe even a little crazy with the parts that still have fusible on them. Not much cutting required...

And were it not for the art journaling exercises of late, the ones showing me what cool effects one can get by painting over scraps of thin paper, these release papers would have been in the wastebasket already, not piled up on the table. And so these and the fabric scraps got cleared into a shoebox for another day, because: a. obviously, I really can't help myself and b. I really must get on with quilting some wine-dark seas.