Crows and feathers (for a change)

Today was the first day I've had in a couple of weeks to see the inside of my workroom for more than a few minutes. We've all been laid low with a nasty virus and have had to take turns to see who would keep the ship afloat. Whoever was less ill was it! We're all still coughing and sneezing but over the worst we hope. Why do these things have to happen at one of the busiest times of the year?

Feeling almost human this morning, it was very satisfying to make some progress with my quilt. I'm at the stage where I'm adding the motifs above and between the printed gold text. It will come as no surprise to anyone who's familiar with my work that there are crows involved. To me they are symbols of freedom, escape, aspiration and rising above difficult situations.

And for much the same reason there are feathers.

Some of the shapes are bonded and some stencilled using Markal Paintstiks. These motifs will all provide lovely shapes for the quilting which will completely ignore the grid based piecing. I want the stitch to define the appliqué and print rather than draw attention to the patchwork which, in this quilt, is simply a background. I'm concentrating all the interest at the edge of the quilt as the title "To the Brim" suggests.

I collect feathers whenever I see them so I have plenty of suspects to work from. There are probably rules about carrying such things through customs so I won't mention that the biggest ones were picked up on a beach in California! 

I'm only showing you a small area of the quilt today, not because I'm being secretive about it, the truth is I don't have a wall big enough to display it in full. It's making it difficult for me to get a true impression of how it's coming along so I think I shall have to resort to the floor as soon as I have the energy to clean it first.

Thanks for dropping by today. Talk to you again soon -  Linda x