…..and an arm for that matter!!

Today, I had a few hours in the studio and was able to get the other arm, hand and henna tattoo on my girl…….

I had mentioned in the last post that I was uncertain whether I was going to use real beads or applique them in fabric and several people told me that I should use real beads. So, today I pulled out a box of beads and found this beaded trim that I had bought somewhere…..

I clipped off a few of these bead sets and strung them together to give myself a idea of what it might look like……

Right now I am thinking that this is the way I will go, but I am not completely sold on it. Part of me thinks that they need to be a bit bigger…..we will see!!

Unfortunately, I may not have a lot of time over the next week to work on her, but am looking forward to the next steps. The things that I still have to decide are….

• What color to make her pants and socks
• What background do I want to use (I am leaning toward the vegies that were around her)
• How big do I want it to be (I hope to enter it in some shows and want to make sure that it meets the minimum size).
• And the real biggie…..how am I going to quilt it!!!!

On Friday, I was able to spend a good portion of the day in my studio and accomplished quite a lot on my Henna Girl.

First, I wanted to finish her shirt and am finally happy with it. I think that the quilting will add the texture needed to make it look better…..

Next, I finished up the arm and then it was time to tackle the hands!!! The technique that have been using on this quilt is to draw each section out onto freezer paper………

I then pick the fabric that is most prominent in the piece and iron the freezer paper pattern to the back. Once cut out, I start adding the details. If it is a bigger piece, I am gluing it on but if it is a smaller piece, I am using wonder under to hold it in place…..

The plan is to put a layer of tulle over the top of the finished picture and then quilt in the lines of the piece. That way I don’t have to worry about smaller pieces being raw edged.

So, once I got the hand and arm connected, it was time to figure out how to do the Henna Tattoo. The designs on the girl’s arms were not majorly visible and I knew that I wanted them to show up a bit more in the quilt. I also could tell that they were not done by a professional but probably by someone just learning the technique. Instead of trying to replicate her designs, I decided to find my own!! After playing with several designs, I came up with this idea…..

With much trepidation, I pulled out a Fabrico Marker and started drawing the designs. They are a bit shaky, but that actually fits in with the idea of someone just learning how to do this!!

At the end of the day, I had finished the right arm, including the tattoo…..

I know that her wrist looks weird but remember that there is a bead bracelet that needs to go there. I am now debating about whether to do the beads in fabric or with actual beads.

Hopefully I can keep working this next week and get the other arm finished and MAYBE work some on her pants!!

Thanks for following along and for all of the encouragement!!!

Yesterday I spent several hours working on the current quilt and was happy to finish her headscarf and one sleeve……

The string of beads will be sewn on after the quilting is done but I really like them. It seems to add a bit of spark to her face!!

Next, I started working on her right side shirt, and after a couple of hours, I thought that it looked like rubbish…..

So I set it aside and began working on her right arm.

But, when I finished last night and put all of the pieces on the design wall, I was excited that it DID actually look like a shirt with folds in it……

Today, the plan is to finish the shirt and her right hand sleeve and then work on the arm if there is time left.

The next hurdle that I have to figure out is how to get the Henna Tattoo onto her skin. I am currently thinking thru that problem!!!

THIS IS FUN!!!!