The portrait is finally finished or at least the embroidery part is finished. Now the question is what next... perhaps a layer of trapunto and then a painted layer under that to give more dimension like in "Icon". Here is a closer look at the 'back stitch'. In an earlier post there was another version of this image done in 'chain stitch'. I was not please with the ease of manipulating the stitch. Another embroidery artist, Michael Aaron McAllister (http://www.michaelaaronmcallister.com/) suggested the 'back stitch' was more suited and his preferred stitch. I love the ability to create lost and found edges with this stitch.
After a year in Tennessee I went to a Quilt Guild meeting. There I met a group of art quilters who have a bee. I so miss my bee in Florida, BeeArty. Now I have a new group to play and learn with. This is the tart of my version of the current challenge. The challenge, a cliche...
Can you guess what mine is?
Whether it is cliche or not the autumnal colours are breath taking. And best, they are just beginning. This year I promised myself I would not miss photographing the change. Here is one if the first bursts of colour.

There is new wall in town...

There is a new wall in town. Last week I took down the smallish flannel I used as a design wall and replaced it with a new one. Larger and pin-able it is terrific to work on!

I started with a layer of insulation board. Two pieces that I cut and wedged into place. The outlet and the light switch were cut out and the whole was wrapped in 'headliner' (the stuff used for the ceiling of your car, foam on one side and a knit fabric on the other). It is perfect to pin to and large enough for a couple of projects at once or one really large one.


BeeArty, the quilting group I belonged to in Florida has been including me in a number of their projects. The current one is the annual "Zippy Challenge". That is where you take a number of items, fabrics, trims, etc, and put them in a Ziploc bag to exchange for another person's. This is what I made the machine lace for in a previous entry...

This is the fabrics that I received. After studying them I saw something... can you guess what it was?

This is an image of the piecing. Now I must determine how to quilt it. I will let you see in an upcoming post...