Meeting with the Cre-8’s again….

I love the group of 8 women that I call the “Cre8’s” and I love and look so forward to  our get-together times!!!   Our meetings are all the same….when we first arrive, everyone is a bit uncomfortable as if we are not sure where we stand with each other.  But, once we haul out our Show and Tell and start talking about our ideas and plans, we lose ALL semblance of discomfort and thoroughly enjoy each other!!

The basic format of our group is to select a challenge project early in the year….meet in the middle of the year to talk about what we have done or are thinking and then reveal a couple of months later.

Last night was our “thinking about it” meeting and I loved seeing what everyone was thinking…..

The idea for the challenge is that we are all going to take one applique pattern and use it as the basis for our project.  We can do ANYTHING to the original pattern that we want!!  This is the design….

Deb was the first to share her idea and she brought out this wonderful piece….

She is using the basic outlines of the design, but is using fussy cut pieces from other fabrics to fill in the details.   She plans to add embroidery and embellishments and MAYBE even to do 3 more and make it into a larger wall hanging!!!

Cleo hasn’t started yet but cant get the idea of hand applique out of her mind so is planning to applique and embellish her piece.  These are her luscious colors….

Brenda has a pile of wools that she hasn’t used yet and is thinking about doing hers as a wool applique.   Don’t these fabrics look yummy…..

Linda is also going the route of fused applique and embellishments….

She said that she is planning to add some darker colors to the leaves at the bottom to give it a feeling of weight.   I love the stripe fabric that she used for the “basket”.

Two others have had the pattern enlarged and have ideas….. Fay is thinking about using crayons to color the design and then add embroidery, beading and handwork, and Denise is thinking about doing some sort of cut out applique. 

Our last member, Ruhanna wasn’t able to be there but I am sure that her piece will be magnificent.

So you may be asking….what about you Frances!!!   Well, here is my story…..

I had originally thought about doing the applique before we left for India and then doing the embellishment work while we were there.  Since plans have changed and we will also be packing for Nepal at the same time, luggage space will be at a premium so I couldn’t see adding beads, threads, etc to the bag.

On to the next thought…..

I was reading in one recent quilt magazine and it talked about doing a piece with machine quilting and then adding depth by using Prismacolor pencils.  Well, this looked interesting so I went upstairs and did a test piece……

This looked good so I read the article some more and it suggested using a silk thread, which I didn’t own.  So, I sent for two spools of silk thread and went happily up to start on the piece.  

I decided to first do a test piece and see how my machine would handle the thinner silk thread.  I found that my machine worked great, but I really didn’t like the fineness of the line that it formed.

Then I put a heavier thread in the top and left the silk in the bobbin.  I liked that better because it left a heavier stitch on the top, but didn’t add so much thread bulk to the back……

The top left designs are with the silk thread and the bottom right are with heavier thread.

As I was drawing out the design, I started thinking about using a mixture of the heavier and thinner lines to add some dimension to the quilting. 

My first thought was to do the “basket” with heavy thread stays and silk thread weaving….

so far so good…

UPDATE……

This morning we are packed and ready to leave for our jaunt to Colombia, and I actually had a few minutes to add some to the piece.   Here is where it stands now…..

I am happy with the contrast in values so far…..more to come…..