That's the top.

 This post should have gone up yesterday but blogger could tell I was using the browser on my phone and wouldn't let me long on to the site it wanted me to email or text in the post, but that often puts the pictures out of order so I decided it was better to wait till today and do it properly. I did enjoy celebrating the World Quilt Show win with sushi last night sorry :) So just pretend it's yesterday. Don't forget you can click on the images for a bigger picture. I just make the thumbnails a bit smaller when there are this many images in a post. The darker of the fist two images is the closest to the right colour, but the brighter one is easier to see so you got both.

I got some time to work on the art quilt today. The first job was to finish the leg, it was only a couple of pieces but I think they make quite a difference. Then I needed to get on with her shoes. Maybe having a few days break had it's advantages, I've had time  to think about the colour of them. I've ended up going much more subtle than I had been planning. I finally went with blue, see quite restrained.

 After putting on the first piece I did wonder if I had made the right choice. I started with the darkest shade again. This made sure that any of the purple would be covered and hopefully the blue would be as intense as possible. I don't know that the photos really show how loud it was, but it really did make me wonder.

I decided to press on. The colours looked good off the quilt so I thought it was worth getting a good look at the effect. If I had to redo this section it wouldn't be too bad. Just adding one shade lighter started to give me hope. I wonder if part of the problem was just seeing such a large block of colour on a fairly complete image.

As each layer comes into place the shoes come to life. I love this part, where you can actually see the image appearing. After closing up the sewing room I realised that I had missed at least one piece on her shoes, but that can wait for another day. I will do another check over the whole image. I will look for any pieces that aren't quite the right shade and any details I have missed, then it will be time to quilt it. Yes that's right. My applique is not bonded or stitched until it is quilted. If the frame had been free I would have built to top in situ and quilted as soon as an area was laid in place. I find this method gives me the softest thinnest quilt, which for these is what matters to me.