Basics finished- almost

I worked all day yesterday and all day today and my back is killing me . The dining room table really is too low but it is all I have. I have the basic red iris project completed except for the fuzzy yellow beard. That will stay unfinished until everything else is done as it will be the final step. As you can see from the pictures, I have made a lot of progress and am fairly pleased so far. I will be happier when more detail gets added but I AM pretty happy with the big purpley petal in the foreground. I really was just lucky with the fabrics I had. I am especially pleased with the look of the highlighting on the blue bloom on that petal.

Here is my original photo divided up into components and numbered to keep them straight

And here is my pattern drawn and enlarged by the printer

Here I have taped my muslin base in place and I will sketch my main sections. Sadly, I forgot to use a pencil instead of a dead marker so some of my guidelines show through , especially on lighter coloured areas. Pretty sure I can detract from that with stitching and some other little tricks!

There we are! Some of my guidelines sketched in 

Some of my base pieces added

Auditioning fabrics for the top right hand corner

Top right hand corner added and some detail in place

This picture is a funny colour because I stopped the camera down to use a flash. The flash washed the colours out but I hope the foreground petal shows up well enough. I am smiling about it :-) It will not change much from now till the piece is finished but the rest will morph quite a bit over the next few days.

Well, folks, it is a start but there is a LONG way to go yet. I am fired up now! Christmas, birthday all shaken out of my head and now it is full of fabrics and batting and machine quilting. There is a big spot in there for my darling kids who came home last weekend and a little spot where nasty cold weather is lurking too. Hope you are all warm, dry and being creative!

She is gone but not forgotten

Isn't she gorgeous!! She is called Patty's Plum but it seems her true colours do not want to show here. Imagine her with a sort of dull blueish plum bloom over the bright pink and you may be closer . I am sad that Patty has all but disappeared from our garden but hope to see her again next spring. In the meantime , I pulled this photo out to make a sample of how to make a pattern for a quilt from your own photo( or someone else's - WITH permission!) . We did this in my class last week but I took the drawings to my lovely printer. This week, I want to show people what to do if you live too far from a real print shop. Meantime , we can all enjoy Patty's Plum.Think spring.Mind you, today is exhilarating , cool, clear and brilliant sun. My walk was really invigorating today.