Well, obviously I am doing a whole lot more sewing than blogging about this commission for
Camp Newaygo in Newaygo, Michigan.
I've
come very far on this project since my last post, so I thought I would
just post a long sequence of process photos so you can see what's been
happening.
Here we go....
The cabins in place over the full sized pattern.
Now on the muslin foundation fabric.
I started roughing in the woods behind the cabins, the yard area in front, and the trees of course.
I leaded the trees first, and the background woods were mostly in place, but I ended up taking out some of the blue sky in the background as it didn't "read" very well.
When the background woods were finished, I began to add all the foreground leaves.
Here is the central scene all laid out up on my design wall. The chair gives a sense of scale.
Sewing all that leading down took some time. It's a good thing I've learned how to zig zag backwards!
(This technique is covered in my book,
Allie Aller's Stained Glass Quilts Reimagined.)
It was certainly slow and careful going, sewing down all that detail on the cabins' porches.
Once everything was sewn down, I used my full scale drawing to add my trim to the perimeter of the scene, cleaning it up nicely.
Next it was time for the lettering, above and below.
On a gorgeous spring day, I cut out my letters while sitting in the garden.
The letters got double leading!
The upper banner is in place, against a beautiful sky hand dyed by Stacy Mitchell of Shades Textiles.
http://www.shadestextiles.co/
I set up some tables so I could lay the entire piece out while I worked. This was invaluable. Then I'd pin it up on the design wall to have a look.
The ground area came next.
It has a banner too. It took a lot of measuring and careful pinning to get those curves smooth and even.
And here is where I am now. This picture distorts the view a little--the letters are the same size top and bottom.
There are some flowers now to add along the bottom....
And now you are caught up!
This has been a challenging project and incredibly rewarding. I've loved every moment of it.
