Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Getting Started - Nature, The Endeavourers

Hello everybody, new friends and old!

Thank you for your sweet and encouraging comments on my introductory post for "The Endeavourers", I really appreciate them. I am trying to reply but please forgive me if I take a little while replying to all of you ..... most of my waking hours have been taken up with working out how to paint my "Nature" quilt. .... or maybe I should say quiltlet!


When I saw the title "Nature" I thought "Oh, that will be quite easy" ..... Nah!

I found my inspiration photo:

The Flashing Scissors

then thought a bit about what I should do, which led to this:

The Flashing Scissors

I started out with ideas of drawing the branch with leaves and berries, but soon realised that including leaves would be too complicated in the time I have left!

Then, it just so happened that, around the time I was deciding what to do I received an email from the Surrey Wildlife Trust with an article about Dormice .... problem solved, I thought! But I'm not very good at drawing, so this is my attempt ..... now to work out what colours to use.

The Flashing Scissors

First job was to sketch out my pattern:

The Flashing Scissors

Then I cut out a 16 1/2" square of muslin ..... but didn't realise that I hadn't pre-washed it, (I normally wash all my fabric as soon as I get it home!) hence after rinsing the fabric it is no longer a square! Oh, and then, I'm sure you know the process ..... after ironing, I traced my pattern onto the fabric.

I found some lovely fabric for a border too ..... sorry no photo yet.

The Flashing Scissors

Then, next morning, in a rush to get started I wet the fabric again and started painting! Duuh!!!!! Of course it started seeping!!!!

So last night I did what I should have done in the first place, and made a test piece ..... which turned out perfectly!

The Flashing Scissors

But by now I had to abandon my first piece of fabric and start sketching again! 

The Flashing Scissors

The next job is to paint a tester of the dormouse.

After my problems with the paint I don't think I have any hope of finishing in time for the 1st February, but I'll carry on trying!

I hope you will pop over to visit "The Endeavourers" and see what everyone else is making.

Wish me luck!




Hugs,
Barbara xxx

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Barbara you are going to have so much fun with this xx

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Oh my goodness - I'm glad I'm not you! Definitely wishing you all the luck in the world and hopefully the fabric & paint will behave!

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

I tore apart my entire 1st idea. Don't get discouraged.
xx, Carol

allthingzsewn said...

Hang in there, I'm not finished either and my quilter in down. I have decided not to sweat it and show what I have done.

KimM said...

This looks so cool!! I'll be looking forward to seeing your progress. Good luck!!
xxx

Clare-Aimetu said...

This is such fun to see and I'm guessing great fun to do - good luck

Catherine said...

Love those berries. I'm fascinated to see the end result! :-)

Raewyn said...

It's a really great start - and even if you don't make the deadline, you'll still have a very special piece :-)

Christine B said...

Hi Barbara! This sounds such a wonderful idea and I love the progress you have made so far! Christine x

Queeniepatch said...

That test piece looks perfect. I hope you managed all the work by the deadline.

Nancy said...

I look forward to seeing your quiltlet when finished. Painting ot intrigues me. Carry on!

Textile Ranger said...

I love the colors and the streamlined composition of what you have so far. It's been fun seeing all the ideas that have come out of this group!

Janine @ Rainbow Hare said...

It's very annoying when things go wrong at the last minute. Your test piece is really pretty, though and I'm looking forward to seeing more :)

Deepa said...

I love how you created a pattern out of simple photograph.
P.s It's 2nd Feb today :)

Kaisievic said...

This is going to be stunning and well done for overcoming all the obstacles in your way!

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Your dormouse is adorable!

Brigitte said...

... and it's started. What project. And in spite of the issues you ran into I bet you have a lot of fun with your wonderful piece.

Ruth said...

I love your drawing - so cute. I ran into a hiccup on time too so you are not alone. would love to see more so I hope you keep going with it!

Sheryl said...

Your photo is lovely and this will be a lot of fun experimenting as you go - I hate doing test pieces. It will be interesting to see the results of the quilt.

France Nadeau ❅ inspiration imagination creation said...

This will be adorable!

vaiybora said...

wow !!! it really beautiful so much.i like your good idea Thanks for the inspiration!

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FlashinScissors said...

Thank you for visiting, and for your kind comment.
Barbara