Last Steps

I wanted to do some free motion quilting in large sweeping arcs over the main composition of the quilt. Here I've marked some general guides.
I used a tiny brush to paint over some of the white edges that were peeking out from the pre-quilted map section. Tedious, but I think it was worthwhile.
I hate squaring up and measuring and remeasuring quilts. Sometimes I use this laser level to try to get a good 90 degree angle at the corner.
Then I added a fused binding. Ug. I hated this dark blue, so I ripped it off.
And replaced it with this light blue.
You can see a piece of parchment paper sitting under the quilt in the shot above. I lay the pre-fused 1 inch binding over the edge of the quilt and let the other half rest on the parchment, then press. Then I flip the quilt over, fold the binding to the back and press the back side. I sew a straight stitch over this binding 1/8 of an inch from the edge of the quilt to secure everything.

Here you can see I added some red embroidery floss over the binding in the red section at the top. I love this effect. Then cleaning with a lint brush in prep for photography.

Ta da! It's called Orion Odyssey.

Landing sites in North and South America.
Europe, Middle East and Asia.

One last detail with a pocket from one of Jeff's old flight suits.

Thanks so much for all your enthusiasm, support, suggestions and wonderful comments. Documenting the process of creating this quilt was almost as instructive for me as creating the quilt itself.

Next Steps:
Clean up the huge mess in the studio.

Climb!

We had a wonderful trip into DC on Saturday. In my email blast from the Washington National Cathedral, I saw they were doing the twice-yearly tower climb, so we bought tickets! It was awesome. Here is one of the staircases we climbed. Apparently we did 333 steps total.
Near the top, we got to hear a demo of the bells. There are ten bells that are pulled with those ropes hanging from the ceiling. The people in the purple shirts are the Washington Ringers.

At the next level, we saw the carillon. There are 23 bells played from a keyboard with clappers inside the bells. The musician played two songs including "Now Praise We All Our God." (One of the Anglican Top 40.)
This is the largest bell which weighs 24,000 pounds. It can also be struck with a hammer from the outside of the bell for funerals and other major events.

The National Cathedral is the 6th largest cathedral in the world. It's extraordinary in so many ways. We love it.
We each got cool "I climbed the tower" stickers.
That's the tower we climbed. The picture of the four of us is taken from inside that tower looking toward the front of the building which has the twin towers.

Then we walked down the street to have lunch at 2 Amy's Neapolitan pizza.They had homemade donuts.

Yum!It was a good day!

Nearing the finish...

This seems to be taking forever, doesn't it?

I wanted to do some hand stitching, but I really wasn't sure where to put it. In this particular quilt, I'm having trouble choosing techniques and elements that are appropriate both thematically and artistically. (blah blah blah artist struggle)

I wanted to include a house shape. I use houses in my work quite often and it is an important part of the experience of being in the Navy. There is the struggle between being home and being away, the idea of missing family, the foundation and roots of home. After trying some fused fabric shapes (which I did not take pictures of), I ended up just stitching a house outline. It's subtle.
Then I added just a bit of seed stitch in variegated embroidery floss around the bottom. It looks a bit like a wave or water. I like it. Avert your eyes from that tiny tuck at the bottom. Ahem.

I added a bit more seed stitching to the top for balance.
Then I added some machine stitched details to the plane.
The last thing I did to the "top" of the quilt was add little gold beads to each of the places on the map where Jeff has actually landed a P-3.
I really enjoyed that part. I love maps. I had to use Google Maps on my iPhone to try to get the beads located in the right spots. In the foreground of the picture above, you'll see Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco and Abilene. Key West and Miami off to the right.

Now the top is done. Next I'll be fusing the backing in place and adding more quilting through all three layers.

Sliced!

So, I played around with the striped border for a bit. You can see I was trying to salvage the wings and measuring and thinking about proportion and size.
Here the striped is actually pieced and separated into a thick border for the bottom and a thin accent for the top.


And then I got an email from my friend Joanne who is an excellent critic. She was gentle and firm and encouraging. Then I sliced off Australia. Sorry, mates.

Then I started pulling new fabrics including sections from an old flight suit (the dark green). I crawled around on the floor, trying various configurations and came up with this.
Aren't these pictures with the feet ridiculous? You get the idea. I was liking this new design very much. It's similar to many other pieces I've done. I usually call it a shrine or altar composition. Check out my dandelion, water and blue/white/black 12x12 works.

I had to address some construction issues since the blue section with the map is already quilted to batting and the rest is not. I pieced batting together using both felt and warm and natural. (This could be risky.) Then I just began placing the fabric on top of the batting, pinning and sewing. I love to construct in this method because I like the true sense of layering that is provides and I like the raw edges.
Maybe I should have fused these new sections.

Then I re-fused my giant map stencil. I was hoping to add a bit of definition by using a slightly lighter green and I put Australia back in her place (and South America and all the other areas that were victims of the rotary cutter).
Now they are painted over the layered section at the bottom.

So, here's where it is at the moment.
The plane is not yet attached and we've got an issue with engine #3.

Are you surprised? Of course, I didn't do all this to surprise you. I did it because I had to.

Diversion

My high school best friend, Lucy, and I enjoyed a lovely lunch yesterday at Grace's Mandarin at the National Harbor.


This dessert is called The Magic Cube. It was delicious, but I'm not sure it was "magic."

He seems pretty anxious.

She seems pretty content.

Distraction

After staring at the aviation quilt with complete dissatisfaction yesterday morning, I decided to take a break and create something fresh. I really enjoyed putting together this little abstract composition. I used some of the scraps from the aviation quilt. I did some hand stitching later in the afternoon and took some deep breaths.

Then I peeled the plane off the background.
Is that just about the saddest sight you've ever seen? A wilted P-3.

Then I sliced up the quilt so the map and the wings are separate.
Then I gathered some additional fabrics and thought about reconstruction.
The green pieces are from an old flight suit. They have lots of zippers and pockets. I even pulled out a piece with the label. I also gathered some patches and rank insignia.

Yesterday evening I pieced a stripey border that will go under the map section. I should be able to re-fuse the P-3 over the map in a slightly different location. I'll be able to do some embroidery in this border section and add some collage elements. I may or may not find a way to incorporate the organza wings. I may use the same technique and re-do them in a different section. (Ug. More paper peeling and thread burying.)

I did consider several of your suggestions. I appreciated all the "don't be so hard on yourself" comments. But ultimately, if I'm feeling cranky and irritated by a piece of work no matter what everyone else thinks, I need to make adjustments. I feel better about it. At least for the moment.

Where Did I Last Leave You?

Oh yes, the propellers. Thank you for all your suggestions, interest, support and enthusiasm. Really, I truly appreciate it and I'm amazed that so many of you seem to be enjoying this process so much.

Ultimately, I ignored most of you and didn't think about perspective. I decided to trace general patterns from my giant print out, cut pieces out of fused fabric, add some muted painted details and slap them together.Benjamin took both of these shots. I thought this long shot was kind of fun. It gives you an idea of the space I work in.It's incredibly messy at the moment. Everything is "unpacked" but not yet in its place and organized. This is the front half of our basement. Benjamin was standing on the stairs. The bar in the foreground is the railing.

The basement also might explain the awful lighting and color correct-ness of my photos. I've been taking photos without the flash, because it seems to give a slightly more true image. But, you see lots of shadows. The lighting in the basement isn't the greatest anyway. Daytime lighting is different from nighttime since we do have a couple of small windows just above ground level.
Anyway, I apologize. It is what it is.

So, here are the propellers. I may add some sense of movement with quilting later.
The other element I knew I really wanted to include were the "wings of gold." These are the insignia pilots wear on their uniforms. They are very hard earned and Jeff and I have fond memories of his winging ceremony. It's a big deal.

I wanted to use a technique I used before, most successfully with the chair in the self portrait I did in Sue Benner's workshop.

I start by placing a piece of gold organza over the quilt where I want the wings. Then I pin a printout of the wings over that. I used several pins and tried to get everything tight and flat. Then I free motion stitched right through the paper following the lines of the pattern.
I left the thread tails long because I knew I'd need to bury them after.

Then I peeled off all the paper. It comes off pretty easily since it's perforated by the needle.
Then I buried the threads with this great self-threading needle.

Then I cut away all the excess organza. Ta da!
I think they look pretty great. But...

At this point, I mostly dissatisfied with the quilt. I like the wings. I like the map a lot, though I wish it was more distinct. I like the plane. I love the navy blue background with the stamped circles and the red quilting. But, I think the composition is awful. The different elements are related to each other, but they lack a visual relationship on the 40x40 inch square.

I was chatting with my best friend Lucy on the phone and I told her I thought it was a lost cause. I told her I didn't intend to start over and that I would probably just finish it as it is, enter the show and hope for the best.

Of course, I'm my own worst critic. (Aren't we all?) If I only entered work that I felt completely satisfied with, I'd never enter anything. It's a process and I'm learning as I go along.

Tune in tomorrow...