Bursting out of the Gate

The starting gate, that is.  The starting of new quilted projects based on sketchbook notes and photos and ideas brewing and stewing as recently as this fall and as far back as a couple of years ago.

I've been eager to get going on this new stuff following my Christmas break, but yesterday -- whoa!

Does this happen to you?  You get going on a new design, and while you might fall into The Zone (or get into a state of Flow) you find yourself exhausted in a remarkably short time -- just a few hours and your head feels like it's about to explode, you barely remember your name and address, and your heart's just racing (figuratively, if not literally).  I had to work in stages -- break it up with a walk to the Post Office, or lunch, or installing the new baking element in my oven, or a 30-minute jog...just to get where I wanted to go.  It meant I worked into the evening, of course, but maybe that's not a bad thing.  And by 8 p.m. I was in bed with my book and a cuppa and some knitting.  By 9 p.m. it was evening prayers and lights out.  Looks like this will be my routine for the next while!  :-)

Oh?  You want to hear about the project?  Well then...

Yesterday I began work on "This is My Father's World" -- a door quilt for our priest's drafty office.  Her work space is the Vestry (also known as the robing room).  The building was built in 1894, and that corner faces east.  Old, very drafy windows have been replaced, and that has helped, but within the room is an old door leading to a wee landing from which one can either exit the building (another old door) or continue down rickety stairs to the unfinished depths below.  Br-r-r-r!  

I've been mulling over this piece for several months now, wanting to include all of the liturgical colours: green (Trinity, Ordinary Time), blue (contemporary - Advent), purple/violet (traditional Advent, Lent), red (Pentecost), white (Christmas, Easter, Epiphany, the sacraments), plus a touch of grey/black for Good Friday, and a glimmer of gold for glory.  :-)  Eventually it came to me: a landscape.  Specifically, a mountainscape, with a flowery field, and water, etc.

The piece, in the end, will have to measure 38" by 83" to cover the door frame and keep out that draft.  I'm beginning, however, with a sample about 1/3 the size.

You see, the invitation to enter the competition for a booth at the Annual Lacombe Art Show and Sale arrived in the mail yesterday, and on the agenda for the next few months (the Show is in mid-April) is the creation of several new pieces since I last had a booth (2011).  Ever practical, this 'sample' will also be the first of those new pieces, bearing the less spiritual title of "Mountainscape I".

I started with these fabrics.  Notice I'm including both a night and a day-time sky:

Then I narrowed it down and put 'em on the design wall:

Decided that though I loved the cloud effects, I didn't want a sky that looked more mountainous than the mountains. I also got rid of the over-sized trees in favour of tree-like quilting and perhaps some paint (later):

Next I fused the layers to a muslin foundation, and trimmed the piece up a bit, and sandwiched it with batting and an innocuous cotton backing.  I've put snow-caps on the mountain tops but I'm a bit undecided.  Perhaps I'll go for the subtlety of paint sticks there too:

Today the machine quilting begins to secure the fabrics and add texture. Then we shall see.  I have in mind a moon-sun combination in the upper right corner, to be done with quilting and paint...

And yes, Easy Street continues.  I've now completed 11 of 16 "A" blocks, and will likely do one more before I get into free-motion mode for "Mountainscape I".

Now to link up with WIP Wednesday on The Needle and Thread Network.  :-)