Back To My Comfort Zone

First, thanks to all of you that weighed in on my design dilemmas regarding the current bubble prayers piece. It really helped and as Wil suggested, I decided a blue would probably be best for the hands, cut from the sketched hand pattern. My art group agreed I was on the right track and offered additional insights. However, I've set it aside for the moment, both to let all this info simmer and also to await a care package with some additional options for the bubbles. Instead, I am forging ahead with my Sunset piece.

I decided that perhaps the fabric I'd auditioned for the background was not too dark after all if I just found a different spot in the yardage. This is actually two sections that I've overlapped and fused together where sky and land meet. The sky and ground have lighter areas plus it is a much bigger background to work with. That other piece was cramping my idea. And I love it when the fabric does so much of the work for me - instant landscape!

I also decided that the triangle cut-offs needed fusible on the back. Normally I would consider Steam-a-Seam Lite, but I am hoarding what I have for the bubble quilt and another idea using circles. There seems to be a shortage of it at the moment and I didn't want to get caught without on those pieces where I really needed it. Instead, I decided to use up some Misty Fuse, which frankly I don't care for very much. I only bought it based on the extreme raving over it when it hit the market, but have only struggled with it myself.  For this I laid the Misty Fuse on a sheet of parchment, arranged my triangles on it, topped it with more parchment paper and hit it with an iron.

I just like my Steam-a-Seam much better - easier to work with plus it has that tackiness that lets you move pieces around on the design wall without using pins. To make the Misty Fuse work the same, I sprayed a little 505 basting spray on the back after fusing, then separated the pieces and trimmed the tiniest sliver off of each triangle edge.

And then the arranging began. Those orange triangles really aren't that bright but you get the idea. This is not the final arrangement but getting close. Need to remove some of those print triangles I think. This project is much more in my comfort zone, a good break from the more challenging bubble design.