I haven't even sewn but a few seams and already this project has taught me more than I've learned in several years of quilting. Oh my goodness. I knew I was setting a challenge for myself, but I thought parts would be simple. I assumed the only thing I needed to do for the sky was find the "perfect" fabric. Well, first the "perfect" sky (actually hand painted and supposed to be a sunset sky) looked horrid with my red fabrics. Then I painted a sky/background and when I set my little buildings against it, they looked like construction paper houses against a crayon background. Not the effect I wanted. Soooooooooooo, I am almost worshipful of Ruth McDowell. Her scenes look so real but so unique. I went to the library and checked out "Piecing" by McDowell. Holy Cow. I could never learn and carry out her method. Fifty-some templates for one little grouping of flowers! But there is a lot I can learn from ehr methods and adapt to my needs. I'm working from a new perspective. I have no idea if it will "turn out", but now I'm not going to stop and start over again. I have "created" sky out of a number of unusual fabrics. And the buildings are different than I planned. There are still gaps, but I'm ok with that right now. I don't know how it will look, but I'm going to be happy with it. Even if it can't be part of the guild show. This is for me now. I'm copying a technique from a piece of African fabric I got my hands on. And, I've confirmed something about myself that I first realized when making the crazy quilt for my friend Sylvia: I am ruthless with my stash when I'm in the middle of making something. I have cut corners here and strips there and ripped out whole motifs. It's fun. And It makes me realize that my oversized stash isn't just big pieces waiting for the perfect quilt where the yardage will become 10" blocks. My stash is sort of like a paint pot waiting for me to dip my fingers in and pull out a bit to smash into another bit from another place. Fun, fun, fun.
I'll post some WIP pics as soon as I have something vaguely recognizable, LOL.
Happy Quilting, Sunny