As I worked yesterday it became apparent that the upper rock ledge was actually distracting,

drawing attention away from the babies, so I lopped off three and a half inches. Good! Now there is even less to work on! I thought the right upper brush border was too dark but I liked the idea of it so I re cut another from a lighter section of fabric and sewed it in.

By the end of the day, I had completed the units and sewn together the sections of the upper portion as well as the lower ledge.

This required some un sewing which is time consuming but necessary. Since I had to take apart the rock area below the back kid’s face I took the opportunity to add a smidgen of white to define his chin. Unfortunately while I was in there I forgot that I also wanted to enlarge his eye. I pinned up a bit of fabric to his eye and I really do think it is worth doing. I could go in with a Pigma pen and make it a little bigger but then there would be a seam line right across his eye. Not good. I will most likely take it apart again and fix it.

For the lower right border that was questionable – dark foliage, fern?- I ended up with neither, using instead some of the flower fabric that is in the hillside, with a bit more on the right edge of the rock ledge.

I sketched noses on vellum and pinned those in place on the two closest goats for an idea of how they might look.

At this point the piece measures about 40 x 46″. Quilting will take it up probably a couple of inches. I had intended for it to finish at least 40″ so I’m not sure what happened. I think I had planned to cut the edge pieces bigger and forgot!

Tomorrow I will start to address all the little bits I have pinned up and do my tweaks. It is nearly done! But I know from experience it will take longer than I think.

I replaced the “borrowed” piece back to the lowers section and cut some pieces of the new fabric for the upper portion. Completing the section at the upper left required subdividing some of the units in order to use those small bits of fabric that I have to left work with.

I cut the two right border strips, making the fern one shorter and recutting the ledge rock to extend out to the edge. I pinned a bit of the fern fabric over some light rock fabric behind the front goats back leg that has been bothering me. That whole section of ledge should probably be darker.

Now that I am not distracted by the recorded Olympics Figure Skating, I feel like I made pretty good progress yesterday!

More cliff base pieces. I’m really liking how this dark accent seems to compliment the goats and puts them in perspective within the scene. While still the focal point, they seem to look smaller, more like the babies they are, against the vastness of the mountain.

I need to work into lighter areas and you can see my problem:

I love this old fabric and have it in three colorways. It has served me well over the years, but now I am down to the dregs! I have too much fabric to fit on my shelves so it is nice to use some up, but also sad, when it is such a favorite!

By the end of the day I have placed some of the lights and pulled a light piece from the lower rocks to try up at the top. It is a piece of the Stonehenge fabric that is still available, so I got another yard of it. I think I will be able to finish, now.

I’m getting some of the shadowy areas in at the base of the cliff and here I am working in the style that I am most comfortable with. Laying in color across the board, not being locked into doing sections. This is how I usually work, often laying in background color early as it does influence the focus colors. For the purpose of this blog I have been trying to complete sections, but it is resulting in the need to make changes as I go, slowing the process down and becoming rather frustrating. I keep seeing things that need changing. Here I have pinned a more interesting fabric to the piece in front of the front kid’s chest and I think when I take that apart I will add a lighter bit to his chest as well. I’ve decided to just pin the changes for now and attack sewing them later when hopefully they will be the finishing touches.

Not a whole lot of progress to report as I spent the WHOLE morning doing business stuff. Computer work, filling orders, packaging and billing; packing and shipping “Spring Burning” to Houston, which involves paperwork and dealing with UPS online. It all takes way longer than you think it should!  At least my husband took it all to town for me so I got to sew in the afternoon between watching the previously recorded Olympics figure skating. Today I hope to go to town myself and look for some more fabric.

I did get a little more background foliage cut and pinned up.

I’m starting to get a little worried, finishing up the lower rock ledges, because these fabrics I pulled from stash don’t look like there will be sufficient amounts to complete the rock above the foliage line. I’m not even sure how tall this piece will be but it may be dependent on the fabrics available. I laid in a bit of darker rock fabric on those too light foreground rocks on the left and I think that helps. The brush fabric that I cut for the upper border on the right is not working for me

so I folded some fern to try there. I’m not sure I will use either one and they are not sewn at this point.

I’m thinking it might be nice to have that rock ledge extend out to the edge, but that brings me back to the shortage of rock fabric. It’s not so easy as painting, where you can just mix up a bit more color!

The storm didn’t leave us with much snow, but there was ice and lots of accidents so it turned out to be a great day to sew! The dog looked as comfy as if he had good sense, sleeping in the ground cover, but I disturbed him with my
interruption to snap his photo.

The Stonehenge fabric that I had anticipated being perfect for the rock ledges is proving to be rather boring actually, so I have pulled some old fabrics from the stash to mix in. I removed a fern piece and replaced it with one that extends into the border, cut a piece of foliage to complete that corner and added a border to the opposite side.

Don’t really like that lower corner, so I laid the removed piece of fern in on top just to see the effect. I think it lightens that corner – time will tell!

As I worked yesterday, I added some more of the ferns to the right side and sewed that lower piece to the left side.

Comparing to the original photograph, I see that those light rocks on the left are as they should be but are not pleasing to my eye so at some point will probably need to be changed. I say “probably” because some of the things that bothered me earlier seem more OK now with surrounding fabrics in place.

The work yesterday involved some changes in the chosen fabrics and the sewing of some seams. It’s always an iffy decision- when to sew the seams. Everything tightens up and looks better with the seams sewn, but then there is the un-sewing later when it proves to be not the best choice of some fabric. I see places that will need to be changed later.

I like the ferny fabric for the texture and light that it brings even though there are no actual ferns in the original photo. When I started the next section, I laid in a piece of the fern in the border and I think I like the effect. I hope the dark shadows will look better when there are more on the other side and the shadow line above the foliage line is added.

Sorry, I have nothing to show for yesterday.  I had an appointment in the morning to get a perm, stocked up on groceries in case we get snowed in this weekend,  and had company when I got home.  Sometimes it’s good to be forced to take a break!

Today right on schedule we are getting rain, with temps in the mid 30′s. so the snow is not unlikely, and I will be happy to stay inside and sew!  Check back tomorrow and I should have something to show you!!