More Iris

The design wall in my studio is in danger of looking like a florist's shop window as the Iris quilts are beginning to take over.

You might remember seeing version 1 of the Iris quilts I'm making for 'Orientation', our exhibition at the Needle Museum next September. This is version 2 - definitely a work in progress right now but I'm at the fun bit where I start to draw into the applique with Derwent Inktense pencils to add shadows and depth.

I'm quite pleased with how the pencil drawing makes the flower look more real. The narrow pencil lines you can see in the image above will be painted in to form the stems and leaves. I'm going to use fabric paint in really dark blues and aubergines so it won't be naturalistic - I'm aiming for drama!

I've also been working with some of the digital prints Laura's making on her new machine. These are two of the cushions I've made this week. The crow is one of my acrylic paintings photographed and printed to cotton and the long cushion is a print of one of Laura's sketchbook pages. They are on a heavier weight of fabric than I normally use so they didn't need any quilting and were very quick to make. I'm hoping Laura will have time to print me something really special in the next few days. It's a quilt I am planning to exhibit in Leamington next autumn. There's nothing to show just yet but I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for stopping by - I appreciate it.  Linda