Do Overs?

Do I have any "do-overs" in my life?  Yes, yes, and yes.....many times I have wished for a chance to do over something.  Big decisions and little ones pop up in my memory and I go off in the direction of do-over land.  This was part of the discussion at Bible study this week and the revelation was  to learn from your past and when confronted with similar situations you have the chance for a "do-over".  

This past week I had a do-over time in my sewing closet, and this morning I had another do-over for this month's art quilt project.  This month is creating a project using inspiration from a photo, and I began with a cropped photo of Knaresborough Bridge ( see photo on the left).  I even got the project sewn, but I have not been happy with it.  Why?  It is not me, and does not express anything about me....it is  just a project.   My whole reason for doing the exercises in the Art Quilt Workbook is not only to learn the various techniques and improve the ones I have, but also to find my inner expression and direction.  So, I reviewed my list of insights and realized I was trying to copy the style of projects that other people had done, instead of creating one that expresses me.

Ta-da.....here's my do-over.  So much better and so much more me.    The photo is a shot of the heath meadow through the trees in Sussex, England.  I love the misty, hazy effect in the distance---my sensitive side revealed.  It just called to me to create a blended effect around the photo.   I extended a couple of the tree trunks off the top and added one tree outside the photo on the right to give greater perspective.  Then lots of leaf shapes were cut, and fused to bring it all together.  At the bottom you can see that I used the right side and the wrong side of the same fabric for part of the blended areas.  To stitch everything down, I stitched/quilted through  the top, batt and backing.  It's a great, fast one step method that I had never done before.  The stitches aren't beautiful, but I like the effect. 
Insight:  Trust my instincts.  That's why I have them.

And one final note.  It only took about 3 minutes to clean up and return the fabrics used to their rightful places.  A project completed and the sewing room is still neat!