Finished!

Finished, indeed!  Good grief, I started this piece way back in October.  

Last fall my art quilt group challenged me to make a quilt using complimentary colors.  To get started I used a store bought stencil to put a design of blue Shiva oil stick on a bright orange fabric. 

Since I was into free form curved piecing, I added curved strips above and below the block.  I had so much fun doing that it was hard to stop, but it was getting pretty long so I finally had to! 

 Over several months I gradually added stitching of various kinds. 

 First I machine stitched down fat yarns like the gray line you see in this photo with the tuffs hanging off the stitching.  

Then I added decorative stitches that were built into my sewing machine, like the blue zig zag you see on the gold fabric.  

And finally I added hand stitching, like the orange and yellow marks on the dark blue fabric.

Doing the stitching was soothing and seeing the results was fun, but it did take a while, not only to do the work but to make all the decisions about what to add to the piece.  I also stitched around all the blue Shiva oil paint stenciling.

Finally it was time to stop so I finished it off with this multicolored binding

I always have to have cool backs on my quilts, even though no one sees them.  

It seemed like the piece wanted to be a table runner but Fetcher insists on sitting on any quilt that he finds handy and I couldn't bare the thought of all his cat hair on all that stitching so I hung it up as a scroll.  I like how it livens up the corner of the dining room.

Seeing that I was writing about this piece my sweet husband just got out "the good camera" and took an excellent photo of the quilt; isn't he nice?

He always likes to have me in his photos, so here I am next to my art work.  

Did you notice my new haircut?  And that I lost the pounds I had gained over the holidays?  Yes, those holidays, the ones that happened five months ago.  Well, better late than never!   For both losing extra pounds and for finishing quilts!