Threads of Yosemite

L to R, Kathy Adams,  Joanne Bathe, Louise Page

It has been a long time in between posts!  I have not lost my love for fiber art, I have just found a few other loves which seem to fill a lot of time.  Spending our winters in Indio, CA, affords me the opportunity to spend a lot of time playing under the blue skies and warm sunshine.

I begin working with a newly reformed group of my art quilting friends, Kathy Adams, Joanne Bathe, and myself. We formed our group in the Fall of 2013 and completed our first piece in the fall of 2014 We call our group Threads Times Three.  We decided to do fiber pieces of the national parks.  Our first piece we chose was Threads of Yosemite, which was derived from a photo taken by Kathy.  We split the photo into three slices, discussed colors, techniques, etc.,then headed out on our own to begin creating our portion of the whole. We met once in the winter of 2014 at the. Road To California show to view our progress, share bits and pieces of fiber, and to give each other feedback and problem solve.  Then it was back to our separate corners to continue working.  In May of that year, and also June, we managed to get together again.  Finally, in September of 2014, we had our last gathering to complete the pieces, bind them, and prepare them for hanging together.

We entered the piece in Yosemite Renaissance, an art show sponsored by Yosemite National Park, held at the end of February 2015.  The piece was well received, winning a cash prize and receiving the status of The. Viewers Choice Award along with another piece entered in the show.  It will hang at Yosemite NP until May of 2015 and then either join a traveling exhibition or be entered at another venue.

As you can see from the picture above, there are a number of techniques and fibers used to arrive at the finished product.

More Seagulls

Since playing with painting the first seagull, I have been been working on tweaking it.  It has been a learning process which I have enjoyed most and hope to employ what i have learned in the future.  The actual painting of the bird was pretty straight forward.  However, painting the water was not so easy.  Do you know how many You Tube videos are available on painting the ocean?  A ton, and a lot of them are very informative and well done.  After watching a number of the videos, I sat down and attempted to paint the water, and attempted again, over and over again.  I finally came up with a something that I will let be for the time being.  

Since I had such a good time painting the birds, I decided to try another piece.  This piece embodies the birds from two pictures which I merged together to make a group shot.   Again, the birds were fun to do, I struggled somewhat with the rocks, and the water was done over numerous times.  I will be adding more texture to the rocks, although they really were worn very smooth by the ocean waves.  I am looking forward to doing some thread painting, quilting, and moving on to some more birds.

 

Seagull

I have played a little bit with painting some pieces for future quilts.  Last spring and the spring before, on our way north for the summer, we stayed at Avilla Beach, just above Pismo Beach.  On our walks, I would frequently snap pictures of the seagulls.  I have wanted to use my photos to do a quilt, but had not gotten any farther than composing them in my mind.  Since my creative muse has reappeared in the last week, I have been looking at some of my photos.  I decided it was time to try to combine some of thos seagull pictures to make a fiber art piece.  I spent a day last week playing with the pictures and decided to attempt to draw a pattern using some of them. 

I thought that for once I would start small and just attempt one bird to see how I might do it.  So today, after spending 30 minutes searching for my patterns, I began with a single seagull.  I traced it onto fabric which had been treated with Scotch Guard.  I then searched for another 15 minutes for my Inktense Pencils, but to no avail!  I then had to use my Inktense blocks, a brush, and some floating medium to begin the painting process.  For a first attempt, I am happy with what I have come up with!  I still need to add the water behind the bird, do that pesky eye, do some threadpainting, then layer it, quilt it, and finish the edges.

First Frost, FFC 85

I have been on hiatus this summer visiting with my children and grandchildren.  Not much time for playing with my creative endeavors, but plenty of time for making wonderful memories.  We left Washington right after Labor Day, landed in Bend and Oregon for a couple of weeks, and are now taking a leisurely trip south for our winter home.

Gerry, my husband, was wondering if it was time to get rid of the sewing machine and art supplies, but alas, they will remain with us at least for the time being.  I was busy this week working on a challenge for the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge.  It is my first completion in a number of months, but it is done.

I took a piece of fabric which I had created using the Gelli Plate, which is fast becoming one of my favorite texture tools.  I achieved the desired effect by doing numerous layers using stamps, stencils, brushes, etc. on black cotton with metallic paints.  Love the ethereal look on this piece.  I also like the ghosting imprint of the trees on the right, along with the bird image in the tree.  Sometimes serendipity takes over and things turn out better than you expect!  I decided to step outside my comfort zone and mount it on black stretched canvas, adding metallic leaves, jewelry findings, and some decorative trim. 

First Frost Challenge 85

 

Here is the finished product and I am very happy with the way it turned out.  I think that I will continue to play and do more pieces in this manner.

2013 CV Project

I finally received all of the pieces to my project a week ago.  I had been working on the roosters which will go on the bottom of the piece and had also created the dirt for the area below the wagon.   I had also been busy reconstructing the piece on the far left.  Here is the picture of all of the wagon pieces hanging together.

The pieces from left to right were done by Kathy Adams, Joanne Baethe, Dona Ford, and Susan Massini/Louise Page.  Overall, I am quite satisfied with the results, although I now have a lot of fine tuning to do such as darkening the very light wheel in front, resizing the front wheel on the far right piece, adding more detail to the wagon, playing with some of the colors, etc.  After all of that is done, I can proceed to the quilting. 

Here is a picture of the dirt piece which will attach to the bottom of the wagon.  It will be irregularly cut and the roosters will be located close to the wagon and then come down into the dirt, smallest to largest for perspective.  I am thinking that there is a lot of work to do yet, but I know that it will be well worth the effort.

The top rooster was done by Kathy Adams, the next one down on the right by Joanne Baethe, and the other two I made.  I have one more which will go on the piece done by Dona Ford.  I will add some rocks, grasses, etc. and do some simple quilting on this, as i want to maintain as much of the texture as I can. 

Portrait Playing

I have been working hard on one section of the rooster quilt and making good progress, albeit, not without some do overs!  I decided to take a break from it yesterday and go play with my friend Carolyn.  She had already made a pattern and gathered fabric to do a portrait of her daughter and son-in-law at their traditional Indian ceremony.

I told Carolyn that I would spend a day playing with her on this project.  I must admit, I have only done a couple of portrait quilts, but I have done a lot of research and looking at what other fiber artists have done.  When I got to Carolyns' she had a table full of fabric, fibers and what ever else she had gathered ready to go.  We played, laughed, and learned together!  It took us about five hours, but when I left, Carolyn had the beginnings of her quilt.  Below is the original photograph and the face/head of Kristen, Carolyns' daughter.  This makes me want to do some portraits of my grandchildren again!  Thanks for letting me play Carolyn!

Deke

I have been working hard today creating my last chicken.  He told me that his name was to be Deke.  Deke was created from another photo of a rooster which I took in the Spring of 2012.  I began with a base of 809 Pellon, added fabric, and then began creating the individual feather sections.  I need to complete the tail section, feet and head and he will be good to go!  I have used felting, silk hankies, fishing Dub, real feathers, netting, snippets, mono- printed fabric and velvet to create him to this point. Another positive experience.




The original photo

The beginning of Deke
 

Amos

I began working on one of the roosters for my piece this week.  While at Pismo Beach in April I made an aquaintance with a beautiful Polish Chicken named Amos.  Some one had dropped him off at the produce stand and he has become a treasured pet there.  I thought he had a lot of attitude and deserved to be featured in a quilt for posterity.

Here is the picture of Amos which I worked from along with a few pictures of the progress which I am making on him.  Needless to say, I will probably be making a few adjustments to him and still need to add his feet and a few more feather sections.



I have taken some creative licensce with Amos because I wanted him to be more colorful.  I will be moving, adjusting, and adding bits when I put him on the final piece. 

I used some of my monoprinted fabric on the rust/gold feather pieces.  The netting like feathers have bits of different yarns thread painted between orange netting.

Amos' topnotch came from a barette bought at Joanns'.  I will be shading his beak and working on his waddle?

Amos with his posse!

Play Days

Had a wonderful time with Joanne & Kathy exchanging ideas and techniques.  We played with Gelli Plates and did some monoprinting.  We had some wonderful successes.  It is addictive and I have actually used a couple of the pieces I did in some of my fiber art.  Here are a couple of pictures of what we were able to create.  I will definitely be playing with the Gelli Plate again in the near future!

 

 

Collective Vision 2013 Exchange

It has been a busy few weeks since my last post.  We have landed in Spokane and are staying at out daughters home.  Having lots of fun with our granddaughter and enjoying being set for a while.



I got together with our two members of our Collective Visions Group to exchange our completed pattern pieces and have some play time together.  The following are the pictures of the pieces which will be put together by the originator of the pattern.




This is my piece which comes from a picture I took of an old wagon.  The roosters are also some which I photographed last year.  This piece is going to have some revisions on the two pieces on the right and the large red rooster.  I will be making and adding a section to the bottom of the piece along with two other roosters.  Lots of work to do!
 



This is Dona Fords' piece which was made from a picture which she took of an old homestead on the Sprague River in Klamath County, OR.  My piece is to the far left with the large yellow pine on the left.  It was the first piece I tackled and although it was a lot of work, I am very happy with the way it turned out.  I think that this piece is going to be a winner when it is finished.

 

These are the Jelly Fish for Susan Massinis' piece.  After seeing the others, I am going to be redoing my jelly fish, it needs to be more transparent.  Love what the others have done!  Susan will be doing the background for these which will be the blue behind two of the jelly fish.
 

This is Joanne Baeths' piece.  Love the color and texture of the aspens.  Mine is the fourth from the left.  Joanne will be mixing up the bush textures.  I know that it will be beautiful when she gets it finished!

This piece belongs to Kathy Adams.  Don't you love her dog?  Lots of roving & stitching, pretty realistic.  My piece is second from the left.  I have since taken off the cow in back which resembled a bear and redone the face of the heifer and sent it on to Kathy.  I was not happy with the finished product and wanted to give it another go.  I was happier with the last face which I did.

I'm Back! Collective Vision Pieces for 2013

After a short hiatus of two years (that's a joke) I am going to try this again.  A lot has happened in the last two years and a lot has stayed the same.  I am still on the road in our motor home with my husband Gerry, and yes, we are still enjoying it very much!  I have also continued down the path with my fiber art, adding lots of new techniques and tools to my repertoire. I have my very creative times and my not so creative times, but it is still one of my passions.

I am posting some pictures of my most recent endeavors.  These are pictures of the pieces done for the Collective Visions group which I belong to.  We are into our ninth year and going strong.  The members who have remained for the last four years are Kathy  Adams, Joanne Baeth, Dona Ford, Susan Massini and myself.  We seem to be a good mix and able to work together well.  I know that I love to spend time with them experimenting on techniques and bouncing ideas off of each other! 

Each of these pieces is only one out of five pieces for the complete project, which means that there are five completed pieces of art at the end of the process.  We exchange pattern pieces in the fall, complete them over the winter, and then return them to the originator of the piece in the spring.  The parameters for each piece is set by the originator of that piece and can be whatever they so desire.  That being said, here are my the pieces for the 2013 CV's:




All Of My Pieces On My Display Board!



Dona Ford's Piece/Old Homestead
Sprague River Highway
 



Joanne Baeth's Aspens
 



Kathy Adam's Piece/Cattle In
The Field

Susan Massini's Piece/ Jelly Fish
 

FFFC 57, Art Deco/Art Noveau

I am about a week late, but I have completed the latest challenge for the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge group.  This month the task was to create a piece in the Art Deco/Art Noveau style.  I was excited about doing this as I had purchased some books from Dover dealing with this subject matter.  I had perused them many times, but had not gotten around to using the designs for a project.  That coupled with the fact that I am determined to use up some of my fabric stash, led me to creating a slightly Asian style Art Deco work. 

I began by drawing my own Art Deco pattern after looking at some of the shapes used in that style of art.  I then ironed fusible web to the back of the butterfly batik panel and cut out a circle shape.  Then I drew the cutting lines on the piece and cut it into sections.  I kept some of the sections and discarded the others.  I cut out a black circle a couple of inches larger than the batik circle, layed the batik sections on the circle and fused them.  I added a few of the discarded sections in order to create more interest in the piece.  After this, I stitched the sections down, added some quilting around the flowers and leaves, and then quilted the black background.  I used a varigated King Tut thread by Superior to stitch a decorative motif around each section to lift them of the background more.  I finished the outside of the circle with the same thread, but a different motif.  I then added piping around the edge to finish it off.  I am disappointed because the circle is not perfect, but am not willing to pull the piping off at this point.

This is the first quilted piece which I have sewn on my Janome 7700, and must say that I am very impressed by this machine and the free motion quilting capability which it has.  I loved my Viking Designer 1, but this machine is light years ahead of it in this area.  A lot of improvements have been made in the last nine years (I bought the Designer 1 in 2002) and I am just beginning to experience some of the strides which have been made.  What a blessing this machine is going to be!

Fractured Quilts 2011 Exchange

I was so excited to make it back to Klamath Falls, Oregon last week as our group which does the Fractured Fiber Art was meeting to exchange pieces.  Then the arduous task of reassembling and completing the pieces begins.  This year, in my opinion, no one piece stood out above the others.  Everyone worked very, very hard to produce the best product which they could and the end results shout that out!  Thank you very much Dona, Joanne, Kathy & Susan for your commitment to excellence.  Without further ado, here are the pieces and a short explanation of them.

Susan's Bird nest was taken from a painting by one of her friends.  Each piece is very dimensional, done with a lot of roving, yarns, threads, feathers, and actual fiber from a palm tree.  The bottom of the nest will stand out a little bit from the background so the eggs can tuck into it.  The background on the third piece from the left will either be replaced or toned down to flow across the piece.  That was my section, and honestly, the original picture had blue and green on that part of the painting.



L-R, Kathy, Joanne, Louise, Dona



 The next piece belongs to Kathy Adams who combined three pictures to draw this scene depicting her Grandmother's catch at her favorite camping spot.  Joanne and Kathy did Gramma with her catch and the detail is very life like.  Kathy requested that the mountains and the ground pieces be done in a traditional pieced style, which seems to flow together quite well.  The two large trees are quite dimensional, begging to be touched.  Everyone provided Kathy with lots of bushes, grasses, foliage pieces, etc. which will be added after the quilting is completed.  It is really a wonderful piece, but lots of work and ingenuity will be required to get it put together and finished.



L-R, Kathy, Joanne, Dona, Susan, Louise

 
Dona chose to do zebras for her piece.  She did the background felted piece directly behind the zebras and each of the rest of us got a zebra to complete.  Dona provided us with the pattern and a color palette to use on the zebra which we were given.  Initially, we tried to exchange some fabric for the zebras to obtain some continuity in the piece, but soon discovered that each zebra was a different color.  The base fabric for each zebra was either found in our stashes or painted and then the stripes were cut from fabric or felted wool, fused on and then further embellished.  Each zebra seems to have a definite personality and Dona will have to showcase that in her finished product.  We auditioned several backgrounds, and the final one will be left up to Dona. As one of our quilting friends used to say, "her quilt, her way."



L-R, Susan, Kathy, Louise, Joanne


Joanne chose to draw a rain forest scene, providing each of us with a line drawing of the whole piece and the pattern for our section.  She also gave us a color palette to follow and then sent us on our way to create.  This piece really stops you in your tracks for a number of reasons, first and foremost the colors!  After that, the dimension and all the interesting pieces draw you in.  An arsenal of techniques was used by everyone on this piece and it begs for a closer look and maybe some petting! 




The tree on the left, Louise, the ground layer, Kathy, the parrots and background, Joanne,the plants above ground level, Susan, and the tree and flowers on the right, Dona


The last piece is the one which I am doing which is about a young Indian man from my tribe, Jackson Bussell.  This piece has truly been a labor of love and a spiritual walk for me.  In so many ways it has touched my heart and those of the other women who have worked on it along with Jackson's family.  I can see the hand of God guiding this piece.  He has, and continues to mesh together so many lives and situations to bring this piece to fruition.  I believe that it truly is blessed by God and meant to be a testimony and honor to Jackson's life and his love for God.  The main figure is Jackson, taken from a photo of him in his Chicken Dance Regalia performing at a powwow.  The other figures are Chicken Dancer drawings done by his stepfather Marc McNair and created from those line drawings.  Numerous techniques were used, fabric painting, needle felting, beading, etc.  Not all of the small pieces have been affixed as of yet, but believe me, it is going to be over the top when it is completed.  Thanks to each of my Fractured friends and Jackson's family for allowing me to be a part of doing this work of art.



Top L, Susan's Chicken Dancer, Bottom L, Kathy's, Center, Jackson top half, Joanne, Bottom half, Dona, R Chicken Dancer, Louise





8 hours of intense labor!



I have been thinking of learning how to make a small basket for Jackson's fracture which I am working on.  Last week I went to Madonnna Needle Works in Morgan Hill, CA, and a woman was teaching a class in making minature baskets.  Nancy Jones, the teacher, offered to give me a private lesson on coiling baskets on Sunday.   Of course I felt like a total klutz, but Nancy was very patient with me.   After 5 hours I had the start of a basket, about 1" in diameter!  Not fast work, but I did enjoy it.  I worked on it some more on Monday just to cement the process in my head and it is now about 2".  I think I would like to make it between 4-5" and see how it looks.  It is something which I think that I will enjoy pursuing.  I thought it was very funny that a non-Indian taught me how to coil a basket!  Go figure.  Thanks Nancy, you are a great teacher, and I have made a new friend.

 

I also worked on finishing the moccasins for Young Buck and have temporarily attached them to him.  I am very happy with them, now I need to finish the arm bands, which is also proving to be lots of work and size 14 beads are itsy, bitsy things!  I will work on shading once I have attached him permanently to the quilt piece.  I feel like I am really making progress on him, but I need to put him away and finish a couple of odds and ends on the rest of the fractures before I get to Klamath Falls.  

My New Best Friend!

I am superexcited today, as I just purchased a new Janome 7700 Horizon for a great price at Eddie's Quilting Bee (http://www.eddiesquiltingbee.com/)  I have been salivating over this machine since it's release in the spring of 2010.  The sewing machine tech who usually services my machine for me in Klamath Falls, Jeremy Franklin (http://www.wildernessperspectives.com/  )  told me last May that I would probably need a new machine in the not to distant future.  I have had my Viking Designer 1 for over ten years and parts were just wearing down!  It has been a great machine, but I didn't need all the bells and whistles this time around because I primarily do art quilting and don't use all the additional features which come with the top of the line machines.  If any of you follow Leah Day's 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting website (http://www.freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/ ), she has used the Horizon for the last year and for the most part has only good things to say about the machine.  I have also read reviews by others who have the machine, and for the purposes for which I will use it, it seems like the best machine for me at a great price.  My Viking will be gifted to my oldest daughter Carly (unfortunately, there is limited space in my motorhome)  and hopefully the quilting muse will someday speak to her spirit.  In the mean time, I am sure that she will put it to good use making things for her home.  What a blessing this is and I am truly thankful for it!

More work on Young Buck!

I have spent the last few days working on this piece and feel that he is really coming along well.  I worked on the ribbons for his apron and added some more stitching on his breast plate.  I really felt that I needed to get him on a background before proceeding much further.  I dyed three pieces of cheesecloth and finally decided on the final one which I did.  It is dyed using Dynaflow Brick Red and Burnt Umber along with adding highlights of Luminere Gold and Copper.  Initially the cheesecloth piece was to large for him, but I didn't want to cut it up and lose the organic edges which had been created in the dying process.  So I just began folding and scrunching and ironing the piece to reduce the size.  The cheesecloth is layered onto a piece of lightweight suede upholstery fabric is a soft brown/gray color.  After attaching it with some small pieces of fusible webbing I added the young buck by trapuntoing him.  I will not permanently attach any of his regalia until I have quilted the background.

His yellow headpiece (a maribou hair clip found at JoAnne ),  will have some added lime green deer hair and purple something to it to complete it.  I am in the process of making his hair and beading moccasins and arm bands for him.  After that, I will add feathers, bells and necklaces to complete him.  I am thrilled with the way he is developing and feel that he will only compliment the focal point of Jackson.  This is such a fun piece to work on!

Fractured Quilt, "Young Buck"




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I have been working on pieces for the fractured art group which I belong to since last October.  It has been an enjoyable experience for me as I get to learn new techniques and utilize old ones in order to interpret the pieces as I see fit.  I have been very busy finishing up pieces for the other four women in the group and just began working on my own piece yesterday. 

I am very excited about it, as I have chosen to do a piece related to one of my many cultural backgrounds (I am what many call Heinz 57, as my parents were of various lineages).  I am an enrolled member of the Klamath,Tribe located in Chiloquin, Oregon.  Our tribe is made up of Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin people.  I have wanted to do something depicting a Native American Dancer for some time.  With God putting together all the parts, I am honored to do a piece featuring Jackson Bussell, a young man of Modoc descent.  Jackson was first and foremost a child of God, a devoted son to his mother Felicia McNair, a professional boxer, a Chicken Dancer, and a student of engineering at OIT in Klamath Falls, OR.   Jackson was also a very good role model not only for young people but for those of us who call ourselves Christian.  Jackson collapsed in the boxing ring at the end of a professional fight on September 20,2007 and went to "kick it with God" as his mom says.  His life story drew me in and I want to honor Jackson and the things which were important to him in this piece.  You can read about him  at: http://www.californiaindianeducation.org/sports_heros/jackson_bussell/

All of the other women in the group have been working on their parts for this piece which I believe will be titled "Sacred Ground" to  honor this God loving young man.  I have truly enjoyed working on another Chicken Dancer, part of my work for this creation,  who I call "Young Buck" in remembrance of a term my mother, Marilyn Hall, used when talking about IIndian men who were younger than her.  The pattern for my Chicken Dancer and two others which will be used in this work were drawn by Marc McNair, Jackson's stepfather. 

I enlarged the pattern, copied the pieces onto fabric which had been fused, cut the pieces out and began assembling him. After assembling his body, I added the apron and chest piece.  I used some braid to decorate around the edges of these pieces and then used some decorative stitches on my machine stitched with metallic thread to decorate the chest piece.  I have a little bit more stitching to do on it, but need some different thread colors.  I am in the process of stitching ribbons to hang over the apron.  The belt to the apron is a copper piece of leather which came from my stash.  The heart in his left hand will be trapuntoed, and the mirror piece in the center is a reflective material which my friend Joanne purchased in a fly tying shop. I will be adding more decorative stitching, arm cuffs, moccasins, roach for the head, hair, etc. in the next week hopefully.  I have to say that I am really enjoying working on this piece because it holds so much meaning for Jackson's family, myself, and the other women in the fractured art group.  It will truly be an amazing piece of art when it is finished.



Ethan and Caleb's Portrait Quilts

I began these two pieces while staying in Spokane before Christmas.  I had completed Caleb's portrait, but just began Ethan's before we left for southern California in February.  I have been working on various fractured pieces, but knew that I had to complete these before returning to Washington in June, otherwise my daughter would just have one more promise of something which I was going to do for her.

Caleb's portrait was taken from a picture of him while he was on an annual camping trip with Nate's (Caleb's Daddy's) family at Icicle near Leavenworth, WA.  Caleb was spending some time fishing in the river with a stick rigged with string and a bottle cap.  I have titled this piece "Caleb, a Fisher of Men!" which is who I believe he will grow up to be some day.

Ethan's portrait is of a picture taken while he, Caleb, and their mommy were at the strawberry farm picking fruit for jam, which they also do annually.  Usually Ethan and Caleb have full tummies and red faces by the time the journey is over.  I titled this one "Ethan the Harvester".  I believe that his walk with God is just beginning and that he (Ethan) will do great things for his holy Father!




"Ethan the Harvester"



"Caleb, a Fisher of Men!"





















Both pieces will attached to wrapped canvas and hung as portraits.  My next portrait quilt will be of my daughter Mandi, her husband Nick, and my granddaughter Pearl taken at their wedding over a year ago.  I think that this time I will try fused fabric rather than painting the faces and body parts!

FFFC 56 "Splintered Leaves"



Original UFO





"Splintered Leaves"

The most recent FFFC was announced on Thursday and after working on it for the last two days, I have completed it and am pleased with the result.  I was the first one to post a completed piece on the FFFC Blog, and that is most definitely a first for me and an accomplishment which probably won't be reached again!



I had already been thinking about what I would use as a background for the next challenge, one of my UFO's!  I had another one in mind, but after digging through my stash underneath the bed in my motorhome, I came across this piece and decided it would work with the challenge theme of Nature's Rhythm.  I began with a piece of sun printed fabric which I had done about five years ago.  I had already trapuntoed the leaves, but was not enamored with the results, so I put it away, as I seem to do with a lot of the pieces which I am not happy with.  Little did I know, that I would eventually pull it out to recycle, redesign and rebirth it!

The piece had already been trapuntoed and layered for quilting before I rejected it.  All I had to do was finish the trapunto and cut away behind all the leaves.  After that, I took it to my cutting mat and began disassembling it with my rotary cutter.  Then I fitted the pieces back together in a fashion which looked good to my eyes and joined them with a zigzag stitch.  After that, I layered a thin flannel backing behind the piece and begin quilting the open areas and around the leaves.  I enhanced the trapuntoed leaves with jaquard and setacolor metallic paint.  I made 1/4" bias tape and applied it first with glue and then decorative stitching to cover my joining stitches.  My plan is to attach it to a prewrapped canvas and hang it as a piece of wall art.  It measures approximately 18 x 20".

I am very happy with the way the piece finished out.  I really like the color combination and the happy accident that the trapuntoed leaves form a diagonal pattern.  I am wondering if I need to somehow enhance the quilting in the right top corner to make the piece more visually balanced.  I was thinking about darkening the background behind the leaves to lift them, but this is supposed to be an abstract, so I am not sure that is warranted.  I also want the colors and interesting paint patterns to be apparent.  Any and all comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciate.