Yesterday went well and there should be an article in the paper in a couple of weeks. It was about the AQS show in PA and the two quilts that will be there, “Burlingame Fire” in the contest and “The Old Homestead” in the SAQA exhibit. I am looking forward to flying out to PA to attend the show next month – thank you Rose!

Between that and watching the men’s short program (Olympics Figure Skating) that I had recorded from the night before, I only put in a couple of hours on the kids.

Most of this is not yet sewn and subject to change.

Yesterday’s work:

Normally I can do a piece like this in a month, but this one is taking longer. Partly, I think because I  do not have a pressing deadline.  This is for an exhibit in the fall, and I probably should not even be doing it right now, but I just couldn’t wait.   What I SHOULD be doing is taxes, but that doesn’t excite me at all!

Today I am expecting a visit from a reporter doing a story about a quilt that is going to some show. Probably AQS, they send out press releases, but I’m not sure as I have three quilts going to three shows right now. Anyway, I had to stop work yesterday to straighten up my mess when all I really wanted to do was sew!!

When I started to sew the leg section, I was not pleased with the fabric choices which blended away into the rock too much.

So I took it apart and replaced it with lighter ones. That’s better, and I know the quilting will help too.  Nature likes camouflage – quilt judges, not so much!

The first thing I did yesterday was to replace the light rock fabric under the belly, and I do think that this batik stripe works a lot better. It allows your eye to see “rock” without any difficulty and is much more visually interesting. Since this rock is in the foreground it does need to have more detail than those further back, and this fabric had been used further back so is a good choice.

I already had some pieces cut for the back leg and I cut some more which are laid out for sewing, but we had visitors so they are still on the cutting table.

I am enjoying watching the Winter Olympics while I work, but it does slow me down somewhat!

Grocery shopping the other day, I couldn’t resist this cheery Cyclamen! They like it cold so don’t last too long in the house but for now it brightens my studio. I love the shape of the flowers and the leaves are beautiful too. My hostess in England had them in her garden but I don’t think they would do well in mine!

I replaced the large belly piece with something lighter and I think it is better.

I don’t like the light rock underneath though, as it it too close to the color of the goat. It’s a struggle to get the rocks right, to give good contrast and still read as stone.

This process requires concentration, and that was pretty hard to do yesterday with the men in and out cutting holes and installing things. But now they are done and we have a new furnace and heat pump, new duct work and more heat. I don’t quite understand how we are getting all this heat out of cold air, I guess it is magic!

This photo shows what little I got done yesterday, most of it not yet sewn and subject to change. Hopefully today will be more productive!

There’s not a lot to show for yesterday, with the men here replacing the furnace, I spent the afternoon in town seeing Avatar in 3-D. It was long, very beautiful to see, but based on the never ending theme of man’s greed. I won’t need to see the sequel.

With only a few hours to work, I did some of the chest and belly and changed the chin. That’s better!

When I got home, the men were gone but the furnace was not yet working so we spent a chilly night with just the fireplace. I am VERY thankful we have the fireplace! This morning they are back and finally we are getting heat.

I tried several different fabrics for the last neck section- here you can see the first two and then the one that is more blue right above them. I really like the fabric that is right below the chin for rock shadows. Much better than the stark dark ones on the right side of the piece. I’ll replace those. I only have a small piece of that good shadow fabric though, not enough to do what I need to.

Checked the shelves and there is no more. So I dumped the scrap basket. More often than not, I can find what I need in there and this time was no exception!. Only one more small piece, but at least I can spread it around and augment with something else. One of the good things about this technique is that it uses small pieces so I can often work from scraps and I don’t worry about waste because they are so small. I don’t plan to purchase any new fabric for this piece and will work with what I have.

I decided that the last neck piece was still not right so I divided it, using one of the rejects on top with a blue shadow at the bottom.

Much better, so I sewed the seams, softened the facial blues and added background above the neck. Now I think the chin is too white against the dark rock so I’ll have to do something about that. No wonder it takes so long!

Yesterday was a satisfying day’s work. First I made the last baby’s eye bigger and I may also make the first one’s eye bigger. I noticed that the last baby was missing his horn so I fixed that. I think the blue on his face and neck is too dark at this point. Getting more background in helps and will be even better with quilting, especially on the rocks.

I’m thinking that I will use a pigma pen to make their nostrils as I was not able to find a fabric to do that for me.

When seams get sewn it tightens up the design to look better. Here I have replaced some of the blues to a softer shade and will do more today.

Nothing is set in stone and I can still make changes.

Too many interruptions- I didn’t get a lot done yesterday. Sewed some seams from the day before and started the third face.

The eyes are bothering me – I will have to do something about that. I need to get more background in so I can tell if the kid colors are OK. It’s snowing like crazy today so maybe I can get some work done!