So bright, so challenging, so loving

This is a big week of love for me -- Feb. 14 is Valentine's Day; the hubby's birthday is the 17th and our wedding anniversary is the 20th. I am still with my  granddaughter and her parents  but my husband was coming for a four-day visit.

The latest Project Quilting challenge is brightness and I know who is my sunshine. So I played with the idea of sunshine -- a yellow portrait of my husband. But none of my sketches followed my brain's eye. 

I thought about making a card with a mirrored surface so he could see himself. I even found at least five ways to attach shisha mirrors at Needle and Thread http://www.needlenthread.com/videos#stitchesS Alas, no mirrors in the stash I brought with me.

Playing and reading The Seed with my granddaughter led me back to the sunshine idea. The simplicity of the book's illustration inspired me to try a fused collage technique. 

I ended up nixing the sunshine and collaged sky but kept the foreground. I added 7 flowers to help focus the eye and framed the work in some checked fabric I forgot I had.

I learned it's smarter to fuse the fabric, then cut it. First though I cut a foreground from the fusible sheet, released the sticky side and randomly cut green shape. That left tiny gaps of stickiness peeking out. Plus, by fusing to the material and then cutting I could place the fabric to better use its lines. 

I can see myself using this technique again. My fingers were itching to turn the foreground into an English cottage garden with threads and ribbons. But I can see other possibilities -- especially a Michigan autumn scene.

The finished piece is 15 inches by 12 inches. A Bright Day was created near Knoxville, Tennessee. It was finished moments before my husband and I left for a night alone to celebrate the first 34 years of marriage.

You can see what others did for this Project Quilting Challenge at http://persimondreams.blogspot.com/2017/02/brighter-betterchallenge-4-of-project.html  You can even vote for your favourites.

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