Asilomar Robins Continue

We left off with the water in the bird bath. I made two versions and liked the second one with improvisationally pieced strips better.

Over the last week (I work VERY slowly) I've gone on to add the front edge of the bird bath and am now working on the background.The background is essentially all green with light coming from the top and left. Choosing what goes where is very intimidating for a novice like me, especially since the background is supposed to be sort of natural looking. I think this might be easier if the robins and bird bath in the foreground were pulled out and the background was completely different. That is what I did with my previous effort at this type of work (see eggplant).

I don't have the world's largest stash to work with, so I started by pinning little scraps up in places where I thought they might go.

Swatches pinned up to develop the shading.

Although this method is not perfect, it was a good way to get a feel for the shading without cutting entire pieces. In some cases I only have small scraps to work with and a mistake (i.e. cutting a piece and then deciding that the fabric would be better used for a different piece) would be bad. This was also good because I only get to work in short spurts (maybe an hour before bed). Pinning up the scraps was pretty quick and now I have a guide for what to do next.

I also realized that some of the pieces in my original drawing needed to be subdivided. In some cases, I've done that somewhat improvisationally by just folding the template back and sewing on another piece.

Background units made, but not fully assembled

Almost every piece has been 'fussy cut' to try to put light next to light and dark next to dark in order to reduce the appearance of the seams. I've made most of the units, but I haven't sewn them together. I'm still cogitating on some of the choices and can still make some changes pretty easily.

Now that I'm getting close to finishing I'm anxious to see how it comes out and to quilt it. 

All the Best,
Sue