Back in the saddle

I'm doing much better now - thanks for all the sweet well-wishes, both here on the blog and privately. It made a big difference!

After crawling out of bed on Saturday I managed to have a really productive weekend - good thing, too, because I was getting behind on several things. That's the thing about being self-employed: there just isn't any pinch hitter to call in when things get tough.

Here are a couple of pictures of one of the quilts that I finished this weekend for a customer. She (like me) is a fan of double batting. This quilt was done with Hobbes Cotton batting as foundation, then Hobbes Wool on top. It is quilted with one of my own designs, Trellis Vine. I think it really complements this top, and adds a lovely diagonal movement to the texture.

As you see it is really quite big! I've taken to hanging quilts sideways on my stand - they seem to fit better that way, to sit less on the floor.

(***later edit*** I have no idea where this photo went!***)

Last night I spent some quality time finalizing my Cherub quilt drawing. I'm finally at the stage where I can break out the inks and start painting this up (the fabric is in the dryer as we speak...the iron is getting hot). I may yet change a couple of the details, but not many at this stage. I know there is a lot of open, 'negative' space in the lower left of this final drawing, but I wanted to 'hang' the grapevine on a structure and needed an area that would establish that structure so that it would make sense behind the cherubs and vine. That area will be quilted in a trellis pattern, done sole-ly with thread. I'm hoping that will give a bit more depth to the whole piece.

I'll probably move that little rabbit (I love the rabbit) down to the lower right corner, more, and remove or change any of the leaves that are upside down. In the original stonework there were upside-down leaves, but I can't seem to get comfortable with them...my grapevines in the back yard just don't grow like that. You may also notice that I've redrawn all the leaves to make them a little simpler, and much more 'grape-y'. The whole works has undergone quite a big change, and is starting to feel like it's going to work.

O - the dryer just shut off... Time to start tracing!

Hope you are well wherever you are,

Lisa