Why small quilts take so much time

     Five years ago, I participated in a fiber arts show in my area. Finally, another one is coming. The pieces are due tomorrow. I made them small because I had two to make. For the past couple of years, I have been stalled making art quilts. I want to make landscape quilts, but I hate raw edge and I hate fusible. I tried to use freezer paper to piece, but it is very rigid looking at my ability.
    Water lilies, sunflowers and tulips are my favorite flowers. I photo them, paint them and draw them all the time. When we were in Old Forge, NY this summer, I took photos on our canoe trip on the Moose River. There were not lots of water lilies this year, but as we slid by some plants, this one water lily was caught in the current of our canoe and the resulting water ripples and sky distortion were breathtaking. I printed the photo and cropped it with paper to get what I wanted. Then I made a bunch of sketches for value and composition and to get it in my head.

      I drew out a full size line drawing and colored it with color pencils to create a map. Then, I traced it backwards on freezer paper so I could have a master drawing to trace and cut freezer  paper parts.

    The size was about 12" because I was going to mount the artquilt on a dimension canvas. Soon, I realized that cutting these tiny bits out of freezer paper, ironing them on the fabric and then cutting the fabric was a very daunting task. I only cut the water, 2 bottom green and a basic shape of the flower out of freezer paper. I tacked these down with washable Elmer's glue and ironed them down. I chose a solid green backing and used two layers of batting. 

Beginning stages of chaos- fabric shrapnel everywhere

     I looked through all my batik and hand dyes and did not find the greys I really wanted, so I had to make do and use a lot of stitching later. Every color was a decision and the whole process was quite exhausting which is why for everything else in the house, I have been a zombie. 
      More progress next tomorrow.