Something new for the new year

I do work well with deadlines. So, I set some for myself for the next two months. And I met the first one today. There was a call for entries for the Adkins Arboretum on the Eastern Shore of Maryland with a theme of wild nature and landscapes of the Mid-Atlantic coastal plain region. Just up my alley with my marshes.

A couple weeks ago, I worked with thin strips as described by Ann Brauer in the Dec/Jan issue of Quilting Arts. I wanted to try something different that could be part of a marsh. It's not so easy to stitch 3/4" strips and keep it all straight. I like that it is a sew and flip technique and thought it could be a good background.

In some ways, it is, but not for fusing on top of the stitched strips. After I fused the leaves and flowers, I noticed that the rows underneath became part of the fused image. Not what I wanted. You cannot see the lumps but they are there and not to my liking.

I ripped the lotus flower off and replaced it with a new flower shape on top of batting and revised the shape to give it more body.

Stitching came next. I first used a satin stitch and then covered that up with regular FM stitching. I really want to remember that I do not like satin stitching with fused appliques.

The next realization was that the leaves faded into the background. I used some interference paint (has mica in it) to give the top of the leaves some punch. Stitching in the bottom of the leaves seemed to do enough.

Finally, it was time to email my entry to the Arboretum and take time to blog. A deadline met. Success!

What would a day be without a bit of frustration? It seems that blogger.com will not let me upload photos from my computer. So I have played with Picasa, not as simple, but here we are.

Time to make some dinner. Let's hope my entries are accepted.

Karen