Another start

  Day 56 and  yesterday, for the first time in 8 weeks, I was allowed to raise and move  my arm away from my body with assistance!  That is a huge for me.  After PT,   I have a whole new set of exercises  to do and a few to help with the back and leg problems.  I have been able to do some  stitching by keeping the arm supported and using fingers mainly.....but now I can actually allow the arm to stretch out, still with support.  But movement is wonderful, and I was so ready.  So I celebrated last night with a new start.

     Another braid.....I have been playing around with this in my mind for a while, so I listened to Dana's suggestion ( Thank you for encouraging me!) and played with fabric strips and scraps during the last couple of weeks.  Last night I sewed a run to see how it worked.    I used all floral fabrics---told you I had a big stash---to construct a simple braid beginning with a medium light fabric to a very dark fabric.  I plan on joining the runs without a separator strip, so that the individual runs merge and blend together.
    Next to questions  I get about making about water color quilts, questions about making a braid come in second.   The technique is simple, and  the sewing is easy.  There will be some waste when the edges are cut and joined, but I would rather have the small waste than work with bias edges on this.

  Once the strips/scraps are laid out to achieve the blending of dark to light, they are stacked up in the order to be sewn.   I begin with a 2" square and add 2" strips to each side.    To the first side I add a strip that is 4" long, and then the second strip  of 6 "  is added to the other side.    Just keep adding the strips in order---first to one side and then the other---to get the length you want.  

   The next most common question is about blending the fabrics.  It takes time and patience to figure this out.  And a lot of variety of fabrics with different values in them.   This close up photo shows the blending from light on the left to the darker fabrics.  In a close up you can see the different prints, and how the background value goes from light or white to a little darker tan to a dark black.  The prints tend to merge and blend where they are joined.  Squint at it and see what I mean.
     Some day I may try this technique with just scraps and  put everything in....I have seen some wonderful scrap quilts made this way.  But this one will be done as a color wash with blending.   Hard to give up what I love so much.  Happy stitching.