Fraught with frustration :-(

I am here to whine a little!! I have had this silly hollyhock together, apart, on the white background fabric, off the white background fabric, on several different coloured backgrounds, with and without the stalk, leaves and dead blooms ! My DDDH has had me all over southern Ontario today trying to do the impossible by looking for the nonexistent. The man deserves a medal!

I found a part of a fat quarter of Stonehenge fabric in very pastel greys, soft greens and a light wash here and there of a pinky lavender. It is the watercolour effect I was thinking of but NOBODY seems to carry it any more. I rarely , if ever, buy printed fabric any more but this would have been perfect.

I THINK I have pretty much decided that the stalk etc is not helping the design, so it is set aside. I MAY add another larger leaf near the bottom of the blooms- I say MAY??? I tried the flowers on a piece of my hand dyed fabric - only so-so to me. The blooms are NOT actually finished yet. There are a lot of little detail bits to add and I think that once I do the stitching and quilting, I will feel better- BUT there is NO suitable background for this yet. I believe I COULD dye something and DO intend to try tomorrow. To that end, I am going to mix some fresh dyes tonight and let them stew over night. I have not felt this frustrated for a LONG time! It is likely good for me. I always start out KNOWING I will finish what I start with a modicum of success. This has knocked me down a peg or two and , chastened, I will post a photo with the blooms on that old piece of my own hand dye ( which I do NOT like at all) and will then post the whole shebang to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com. Feel free to malign or encourage or both. My skin is tough!

May or may not leave the stalk. It was a LOT longer! Horizontal version here.

And square one here. I do NOT like the tie die look! Colour---eh :-/ and the stalk is DEFINITELY outta here!

OK, CAPS TO INDICATE THAT THIS IS A LATE ADDITION! I have discovered a piece of the fabric I was looking for in Cambridge, ON at Sew Little Time! Yay for that!! I emailed Northcott and a woman called Arlene kindly returned my email with a list of the places that had ordered the fabric from them. Fortunately, SLT was on the list and is just an hour from our home :-)...so... later this afternoon, as arranged, off we go to get it. It is wide backing but it will serve as wide fronting, backing, facing and sleeving for this piece. The pics are not great but you MAY get the idea somewhat. This is the remains of a FQ I had bought ages ago - just because I LOVED the colours!!Sadly, Stonehenge has gone out of favour now. Not sure why it never caught on . I REALLY liked it.

Left side of the blooms

Right side of the blooms

MUCH better and I am toying with the idea of some bits of tulle overlay to emphasize some spots but we shall see once I get the piece of fabric. there are little bits of detail to add to the hollies and then the decision will be taken. BTW, for those of you who seem to be "stockers", I have decided that I SHALL use part of the stock. Wish me luck and good luck to All Y'All too! Thanks for your valued input. MUCH happier camper here today :-)