A Tribute and a Reveal

I can now show you what I have been working on for my MUSIC challenge.  It took some time to come up with the idea and after some researching on the web I decided a tribute to Frank Mills' melody Music Box Dancer was in order. 

Initially I printed the sheet music and was going to incorporate it in the piece.  After a few attempts to stitch the paper to a backing fabric and having it shred, I gave that up.  How was I going to portray music.  Ah yes, I was going to need considerable bias tape to create the image that the melody was producing in my head.  I printed some musical notes,

made plastic templates, appliqued a musical staff in place and overlaid the notes.

Buttons gave the notes dimension.  Next came boxes.  I had some jersey in my stash with music notes on it, but had to stabilise it.  It was far to "flimsy" to stitch to the heavier weight cotton.  I also wanted the boxes to look three dimensional.  Stitching together diamond and triangle shapes gave me the look I was going for.

One small box and one larger box were appliqued in place.  I hoped their placement would give depth to the piece.

Now I needed a dancer.  I found a ballerina silhouette, created another template and fused her into place.  She seemed a bit flat and really needed a tutu.  I had some blue organza and black tulle that would do the trick.  The organza was layered between two rectangles of tulle and gathered together to form the tutu.  Hopefully the picture shows you the effect.

With all the pieces in place, it just needed some free motion quilting, binding and it was done. 

Here is my tribute to Frank Mills, and my interpretation in fiber of his Music Box Dancer.

Why not hop over to the Tangled Textiles blog to see what the others in the group have created for this challenge.   It's reveal day.

A Fresh Start

By now most of us have shared holidays with family and friends, eaten enough to keep us going well into mid-January, and savored memories of Christmases past.  2014 gives us each an opportunity to reflect on what we have accomplished in 2013 and what the future may hold.  It's like a new beginning; a clean slate; a fresh start.

As you can see, I've made a design change to my blog.  Hope you like it.  I didn't realize it, but I reached 125 posts.  I figured it was time for a change.  They say it is as good as a rest.  (Hmmm, ever wonder who "they" is?)

Speaking of rest, I have not been idle.  I have finished off my Tangled Textiles piece for the MUSIC challenge.  Reveal day is January 12th.  Here is another sneak peak.

I've pieced together my "Coffee Borders" quilt.  I posted about it back in November.  This is what the finished top now looks like.  Just need to sandwich it and FMQ it.

So, I've made another fresh start of tackling my WIPs.  Some are long overdue and I will just need to delve deeper into the boxes to see what else may be lurking about for far too many years.  Each of them deserves to be completed and given a fresh start. 

Till the next time, happy creating.