Mid-Week Fun Break

My postings of late have deviated from my normal planned schedule of five days a week.  I haven't played much with fabric with the exception of the new project.  The studio is most all put back together - it's good enough to work in again.

While my down days are really draining, I've been able to mostly keep up with reading other quilty/fibery blogs.  I ran across a link to 'Peanutize' myself on one of those blogs and here I am.

Kevin the Quilter posted HIS and inspired me to share mine too.  You can 'Peanutize' yourself right HERE.

Back to some quilt progress tomorrow.

Sectioning the Tracing and Fabric Choices

The Master Sketch has been traced twice. One for the right wing and one for the left wing.  The tracings will be cut apart into pattern pieces.  The Master Sketch gets preserved as a whole and protected - it can't be reproduced! 

The majority of the work will be done from the right wing, as it is pictured on the quilt in it's entirety.  The left wing is only a partial but needs to be an exact mirror image. So, you know, no pressure or anything! 

The right wing tracing needed to be refined, and have it's areas sectioned off and coded.

The coded areas then need to have a color assigned to each one.  Ummm, can't do that until I figure out my color palette. DANG!

Okay - time to sit down and get serious.  I brought piles of fabric.  

Only part of the fabric I sorted through trying to make a decision

I was truly hoping to use a more muted colorway for the body of the butterfly and save my brights for the accents.  I had to really work to limit the number of fabrics to stay within my parameters. 

Here's were I ended my day:  

Tracing sectioned - check!  Fabric palette decided - check!  Pattern pieces coded - check! Fabric colors assigned to sections - check!  Background made - check!  And finally, outline lightly traced on background fabric - check!  And day is done!! 

Now I can start actually cutting fabric and assembling the wings. Oh, and the accent colors need to be decided on, but thankfully, that has to wait until the wings are complete.

Hanging on the Wall

Nope - not a Wall Hanging Quilt.

Using the paneled wall at the Michigan house as a drawing board.  The master sketch has been outlined with sharpie so I can do tracings from it.

What you can see is the next step of making a tracing of this side, flipping it over for the left wing, and getting it drawn on the master sketch. Lots of up and down, crawling on the floor and using the screen door of the house as a light box.  Thankfully, the only one here to see me was Drake. And he's not laughing.  He was, however, very grateful when I stopped for the night.  It's exhausting following me around the house and watching over me all day.  

Yes - he is snuggled on his own flannel quilt.

Tomorrow - more drawing and fabric choices.

Day One - The New Project

I have exactly one month to complete this new project. 

Nothing like a tight deadline to light a fire under me.   Hopefully it will also help me get back on track in the studio and with having something interesting to blog about.  

October 1 - the large sketch that will become the pattern base has been mostly drawn...in pencil.

Once I get it up on a vertical surface, I'll use a Sharpie to define the final lines of the pattern and then trace from there. 

And I'm off and running - hang on because this is going to be a bumpy ride!!

First Sketch of the New Quilt

This is just the first sketch.

It's not the complete or final drawing, though that's not far behind.  Then I'll need to blow it up to life size to make the pattern.

Then will come lots and lots of color decisions. This is getting exciting!