Ok I know I said this entry was about my new Tree of Life Commission but I couldn’t resist this adorable photo of my two (out of three) dogs. My daughter said I look like Pebbles in this picture. I dare say, she is right!!
Now, on to business….
My client asked me to design a Tree of Life for his client using a nautical theme. I thought about it for a while and ventured out of my normal method of working. This typically means using exclusively my own handdyed/painted fabrics. I visited my local fabric store
and found a lovely fabric with handsome boats and lighthouses (www.pinsandneedlesny.com) Originally I thought I would just use the fabric and create large outer borders with it. However, the pattern bothered me. It went all over the place. The images go in all directions and that was definitely not what I had in mind. I decided to create the Tree of Life first. However, I selected my fabrics from my stash matching them to the colors in the commerical boat fabric. The only other commercial fabric I used was the center background piece which I cut into a 20″ x 20″ square.
Using my own Tree of Life Pattern, I created all the leaves using my rotary blade and after designing the entire layout with all the leaves, I fused everything in place.
From there, I ironed fusible web to my boat fabric and began to cut out the images that I liked. With that all done, I added them to the outer boarder. That is where I am at now. I will begin the quilting tomorrow.
