Newest Piece

It's time ... past time in fact ... that I get my quilt entries going for this year's Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild show. This is one of two hanging on my design wall.
The center panel was done in 2002. It is one of three studies I made trying to get the effect of what the impressionist painters achieved ... specifically Monet. I blogged about those studies here. This was the last and most successful one ... and my favorite.
For years I thought that it could stand alone and if I'd just give it a finished edge it would be DONE. Several weeks ago I dug it out and pinned it to my design board to remind me to do just that. However something was niggling around in my head urging me to try to expand on this smallish piece (20"x 17"). I remembered that a number of years ago a friend had given me the leftovers from custom-made drapes which featured beautifully "painted" flowers. It took a half day of sorting through my stash to locate, but it was worth it. It co-ordinates with and expands that piece beautifully.

Because the center piece is already quilted, the four floral borders are each machine-quilted separately. The hanging piece of yarn is being auditioned as the one to be couched over the seams that join the borders to this "ortwork" center piece.