Waiting for Parade, Ready to Quilt

The little girls waiting for the parade, is ready to quilt. I have spent the last three days on it, working on the background and finishing the details. It was a lot more work then I thought it would be. Working in shades of gray for the sidewalk, asphalt and bridge railing, was a challenge. One good point was I did have the many shades of gray that it took, and also a variety of textures. The benefits of having a large stash of fabric. Choosing the sky fabric was difficult, I spent several hours trying to decide. I had two different hand dyed blues, one lighter and brighter, one more blue and darker. After taking digital photos, comparing them side by side in Photoshop, then converting the pic to black and white to check the value, I finally decided on the darker one. My main reasoning was that it was supposed to be raining, not too bright, I wanted the sky to recede, not jump out at you. I don't usually have such trouble picking a fabric, but they were both very nice choices. My husband couldn't even decide for me, ha ha. In the end I covered most of the blue anyway with foliage. The polka dots on the umbrella are kind of over whelming, but that was what drew me to take the photo of the girls in the first place. I used some extra colored pencil after the photo was taken to darken the underside of the umbrella with more orange, hoping it would tone down some of the dots. I think it did help.

Compare the original sketch with the finished quilt top. I'll post the original photo again when I get it all quilted, tho you can find it in older posts. Next step, lots of thread painting! It will add a lot of texture to the sidewalk, asphalt, foliage, and architectural detail to the bridge. The thread really makes it all come alive, and blends the different elements together. Since I am off work for the next week too, (I drive school bus - Christmas Break) I am hoping to get it all done, before I go back to work.

I am going to link this with Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click on the badge in the right hand column to see some other wonderful quilt artists.