Reconstruction

While on retreat with the girls in my sewing group, I had casually pieced together another quilt top to continue a series of art quilts I was attempting. It all began this Spring, when it was time to plant a vegetable garden.
This is the first year that we finished the framework for the garden space. As the plants began to emerge, oh! what lovely colors they reflected back - especially after a little rain.

The series is titled, 'Grown Wild ' capturing the notion of what happens as time passes, and there is more than enough food, water and other nourishment for plants to grow. Unattended for a few days can result in a beautiful chaos of form and color!

When I got home from the retreat, I still wasn't completely satisfied with the piece I ended up with.

Some deconstruction - of what looked like 'panels' was in order.

I don't know about you, but I can piece randomly for hours while chatting it up with others, yet when it comes down to the actual construction of the final project, I have found that I need to do that alone, by myself and in silence. This is so I can 'listen' to the quilt and let it tell me what it wants to do.

After a bit of rearranging, I stitched things back up and flipped it over to get ready for quilting.

For these type of pieces, I like to use what my friend Jere calls; the pillowcase method.

You begin by layering the batting, bottom or backing, and then the quilt top.

Jere's simple reminder, "They face each other". . .has kept me focused when I'm trying to remember what 

order will produce the result I am after.

I trim it up and turn it outside in. Then, I complete the quilting.

I tried to create a bit of a jog at the bottom and I had left the area open. This required some creative binding in a direction that I wasn't really comfortable with. I'm still reviewing the final result. Yesterday, by the end of the day, I was ready to cut it all off, level the bottom and start over with the finishing.

I thought I would just sleep on it and give it a fresh look in the morning.