Fan Seam Treatments

Happy Easter, Everyone!
My husband is off flying (he's a pilot, for those of you who don't know). He has missed almost each and every holiday for the last 15 years. And of course he is missing this one too. But hopefully this will be the last year of all that, and he can retire soon. Gosh it will be such a blessing to have him home on Easter, and the 4th of July, and Labor Day, and Thanksgiving, and Christmas....
I tell him it is a good thing I love my needlework so much; it really has gotten me through sometimes!

So, to the fans.
Or more accurately, to that new camera. I have studied the manual but I think the best way to get a feel for it is the way my son Max, computer genius that he is, began learning all those Microsoft programs at age 9. Just start clicking everything and see what happens. That kid was so incredibly fluent in Word, Excel, all of it....way before he could compose a cogent sentence. I would watch his fingers fly across his keyboard in a blur and say, "I sure wish you could play the piano keyboard like you can play this one!" But I digress..
I plan on just using all the different settings and options on this strange new beast, firing away, until I can start to get a feel for my new camera.
I will say, with it set on Fine image/10 megapixel, the image (when I can get it in focus) is downright scary it is so detailed.

Putting that Knotted Cretan stitch to work in evil rayon...thank you, Take A Stitch Tuesday!

Sometimes I just have to keep adding stuff until it works....!

"H"...Sewn On

Thank you so much for your sweet comments about the slide show....!!!

Well, as carefully as I could with respect to keeping everything straight, square, and properly centered, I finished attaching the center block with my "H" in it to the Fan Quilt. I am so happy with the results...it looks to me like it was truly meant to be there all along.

H himself would love this!

Black Fan Seam Treatments

Using some more of the goodies that Freda sent me, I created a couple of black fan-like seam treatments on the Fan Quilt. I am starting to think that the more fans there are the better!

Those little black beads are pretty old...they would make such great ant bodies....

The black chain stitches look a little like eyelashes here!

Gilding the Lily and Frosting the Cake

My friend Kathy from Out of the Basement used that phrase to describe what I am doing at this point on the Fan Quilt, and I'd say that is quite apt!
Another analogy is that the quilt is just getting more finely focused as it gets filled in...but I like the frosting better........


The chenille and ribbon trim which I augmented a little bit on the right is not supposed to stand out...but, oh look who showed up below it, more little fan like creatures! ...I tried to tie in their colors to that veiney fabric below them...helps move the eye and integrate these very disparate color schemes I have going in this quilt.



More fans! Oh boy, I love 'em...and that stitching below them is Detail #1 from the 100 Details in 100 Days, way last June. Ah, fond memories....weren't those Details the greatest?

Fan Quilt Progress

It may be a little hard to see the additions with an overall view like this.
I'm adding my initial seam treatments in batches...I've realized that I need to repeat the embellishments by using them around this center section. So I have squiggles and fans etc that will balance each other out as the eye moves around the quilt.
As I go along I expect things to get progressively more complex, and that this is just early days still. But I have gotten a feel for how the work should flow....finally!

So here are some primary squiggles and a little lace...



That fan thing again...sort of...



And sometimes I find I don't want to emphasize the line, so I use colors that blend in rather than stand out...

I am trying so hard not to go too heavy on the beads. I really want the stitching to predominate. I wonder how long I'll be able to hold out!