Autumn leaves…

You know, we are in the middle of a an arctic blast unlike any we have seen in years. Wind chills at -45…icy roads, more snow than we’ve seen in 20 years. BUT, I’ve been able to stay inside, for the most part, cozy and warm, working on a project that’s all about autumn leaves. Hooray!

My project sprang full-blown into my head, based on a picture I took this fall. I’m sure that ideas really just percolate in your subconscious until they are ready, but it feels like it was just a full-blown project in one swoop! I even had all the fabrics on hand…things I don’t usually buy. Must have been part of the percolation in the brain!

Perhaps you’ve made leaves in a similar fashion, but this is the first time I’ve made them out of sheers. I fused two layers of each color together and traced my leaves on them.

All I did to make them was to follow the lines with stitching. I used metallics, rayons and bright colors. Some of the tension was off and the leaves got a little scrunched up and that was just great! Exactly the look I wanted, and I got it without deliberately playing around with that tension dial!

 

Since the layers are fused all I needed to do for finishing was to cut them out!

I have a photo and fabric on the top part of the project, but the bottom half is going to be sheer. I made a collage of scraps for the base and the leaves will be attached to it.

Most of this will not be seen, but it needs to be there…I think. I’m not quite at the assembly point as yet, and may just be able to connect the leaves to each other instead of to this base. That’s the next decision to be made and where I stopped for today.

When I looked around as I was shutting things off, I couldn’t believe the mess I had made. I usually cut and throw things all through a project and clean up afterwards, but I needed a mid-project pick up today.

This is AFTER…I can almost see the top of my cutting table. You don’t even want to see what my floor looks like!

Hopefully, one more day will get me through this project. I’ll show it to you and tell you all about the group that it’s intended for.