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Miniature sample of Eisenberg Fountain design

The studio hasn't seen much of me the last few weeks it seems. And now I'm facing down some Christmas gift-making deadlines with no work space if I don't finish something. Besides no table space, one machine is set up for quilting on the shibori piece while the other is set up to work through construction issues on the wall fountain piece. Time to free up some space. Yesterday I finished putting together the puzzle-like pieces of the fountain sample, first finishing up the "quilting" (pleased with the straight line section, cascading section needs some work), then holding overlapped sections together with glue baste so they could be stitched together. I'm really going to have to be careful to allow plenty of extra for those overlaps and be very accurate in my cutting, I now see, as well as watch my values to ensure good contrast between the different sections. I still have questions about the stitching along turned under edges and am still pondering how to apply the backing, but those can wait. As I've said before, I am so glad I chose to do this sample before committing to the really big piece. I've saved myself countless headaches. And now I have one machine freed up.

Overcoming the fear of over-quilting

But it's not the machine I need for the gift item I want to finish before next Tuesday. So today, it was the Shibori piece that got attention with addition of more quilting lines along the Shibori pattern, this time without the copper thread added in. If you recall, I'd stop working on this because the first lines of stitching not only were more glittery than expected but also appeared to cause the Shibori patterning to be lost. I lamented that I was stuck and disheartened. But since then, I've become unstuck and am now encouraged. I'd left it on the table, had studied it numerous times until I remembered what I'd told my art group - that I was going to put lots of quilting in that water section so the texture would read rippling water. And yet, I did what I so often do when beginning the quilting process - I stopped for fear that more quilting would make it worse. No no - in this case, lots of quilting makes it better. There's just enough sparkle and rippling I think. So this too can be set aside for later, freeing up not just the machine but a place to put my cutting mat. There was even time to start that gift.