Where did 2017 go?

I didn't make many quilts in 2017, but I would like to think that for the ones I produced I made up for that in the quality of the art I produced. This is one of the them...

You probably can't appreciate it from the picture, but this this project took me several months due the work that went in.

After I drew out the design I did a dummy run with some of the techniques that I was planning to use, producing two mini quilts. I wasn't sure which background was going to work best a plain or a pieced one. It also provided the opportunity to practice my thread painting.  My previous quilts had featured thread painting, but not to the degree that I intend to use in this quilt. I was inspired by the amazing work animal embroidery of Sophie Standing and really wanted to take my work to the next level.

I decided on a pieced background, so the first step of the final quilt was to paper piece a range of green fabrics together...

Then I prepare the hare on some muslin, more attaching it to the fabric.

Then on to the grass and buttercup before assembling the pieces and holding them in place with glue.

Then it was time to start stitching and this stage took a long time. Lots of changes of thread colour and moving the embroidery hoop. Every time I wanted to work on a different area I had to unscrew the machine foot in order to get the hoop out from underneath.

With the thread painting complete it was time to combine the layers to turn it in to a quilt.  My furry friend insisted on helping.

Then there was more sewing to do as I added the quilting.

That's just a brief summary to give a taste of the process.