Busy Road

I'm working on a big quilt for an invitational juried exhibit. The theme is "the space between."

When the theme was first introduced, we were just moving into our new home. We have a lovely back yard full of animals and trees. Behind the trees and the fence is a busy road. It's a "take the good with the bad" situation. I love the yard, but the noise from the traffic is a bit disturbing.

I actually had a dream about working on this quilt. In my dream, I was focusing on "the space between" our house and busy road. Isn't that a surprising and interesting interpretation?! The subconscious dream state is full of potential, I guess. I couldn't ignore the dream, so I started taking some pictures.

Here's a bit of my inspiration. This is the gate in our side yard.

Here is a detail of my in-progress quilt.
I made tons of sketches.
Page after page. Looking at these pictures, it seems like I just kept drawing the same thing over and over, but I think I really was working out some composition challenges.
I think it's really important that the base composition is balanced. Then I can add all kinds of detail and frippery on top.
I'm at the point where I'm adding lots of hand embroidery. I did tons of stitching while watching the Oscars last night. I'm so thankful I had that as a distraction from the incredibly dull broadcast. Also very thankful for the fast forward button on the dvr.