Designed And Ready For Stitch

Yesterday I designed this quilt - there's no sewing done yet but just putting the elements together visually is an exacting and engrossing process. I tried over 50 possibilities not counting fabrics just held up to guage their fit. I know this because I took photos along the way. I wonder if the longer I make art quilts whether design choices will come to me more easily or whether I'll spend even more time trying to get a good design. There is so much to stay aware of and for each new piece added, all the design elements must be considered - how does the new piece relate to the whole? I imagine that down the road I will look back at this quilt and see how I might have improved it. For now, it works for me. I've added one more little blue piece to the lower left corner after I took this shot and decided it needed something of a darker value to keep the viewer's eye moving around the piece. I will add more roving as well - what I've placed is just on loosely to give me an idea of how it might look. I plan to construct the quilt a little unconventionally. I want some of the edges to be fringed so I won't bind them, yet I don't want the inner batting to show. I have backing that is also fringed and have cut the batting to be just inside the fringed edging and I will top stitch it closed. Also, my fringed backing piece is not long enough for the quilt so I will add fabric to make it fit. I want to keep rough edges on the surface so I will raw edge applique everything down.

I also tried a photo transfer experiment I'd heard about - print a photo onto a transparency sheet and then place on fabric and burnish with a spoon. I didn't use any medium on the untreated piece of my hand dyed fabric and it worked fairly well. I heat set it later but I don't know if it's really permanent. I'd like to try this using some digital ground matte I have, too.