seahorse progress

ok a work in progress - i'm thinking of using the seahorse embroidery as part of a journal quilt challenge i'm participating in this year - run by the ausnzartquilter yahoo group the aim is to make 5 a4 size art quilts over a year reflecting some art of your life.

after my trip to the quilt convention yesterday i was inspired to try some ruching/tucking and decided to use the result as a panel on the quilt - i used some silk charm squares i bought from a shop in auburn called ummmmm, will get back to you - silk something... the little panel was a demon to feed through the machine - the foot plate kept catching the folds. it looks a bit scrappy now but i plan to embroider and bead it




i'm quite keen to keep the central seahorse panel stark cream - i want it to look like a specimen rather than something lifelike so the graduated panel is suggestive of sea depths not realistic

i'm quite happy with the progress so far with this piece - i like things to evolve and can feel a bit claustrophobic if it's all mapped out too early - probably why i don't feel inspired by patterns or kits unless i change it quite radically. i use patterns and projects in magazines for inspiration or technique not copying.

this one on the other hand has been stopped at this point for a couple of years - i like the colours but am not happy with the way i pieced the blocks and until today have been at a loss for how to rescue it. now i think i might sew them into squares and then slash them to make a virtue of mismatching points - a bit like stack and whack.