Textured Treasures Day 2

Today was our second day of the workshop. It started with the  sounds of wattlebirds and magpies warbling. This juvenile was more than a little interested in Kathryn who got up early to pain over a commercial print she'd forgotten about yesterday - with a few small exceptions, today was 'clean' work - beading, cutting and piecing.

I was actually able to cut into my fabrics without too much hesitation. My sewing/design area early on:

My troubles came in determining a good layout.

Even with the extra darker fabric, I still didn't have enough contrast. It meant  I had to dig further into the fabrics I'd brought with me, and the resulting mix isn't quite what I'd intended, based on my inspiration photos. Below is my final planned layout, but as you sew, you find you need a bit more here and to trim some there, and it evolves.

While I like it, it's a bit rainbowy and lacks sophistication, and it's taking me a while to come to terms with that. Most of the added fabrics are Vicki Welsh's hand-dyed gradients. Lisa was adamant that I shouldn't include any of my commercial snowflake prints, but I have snuck one piece in to my satisfaction.

This is as far as I got before it was time to pack up; most of it is in one piece, but there's more to add at the edges, especially at the bottom:

Below are a few of us with our progress at the end of the day (Maria, Suzanne, Lisa, Angela and me):

Although I have some other projects to work on now I'm home, I can't wait to finish this. I'm planning to quilt it to death (I ahve some heavy fancy threads to try some bobbin work, too) and add a few crystals, and hope I fall in love with it at that stage.

Either way, I've plans to paint and embellish more of my own fabric. I had a great time, and am so pleased I went. If you ever get to chance to do a class wth Lisa Walton, I recommend you do it.