Todays progress

I've got a lot of pictures for tonight so I've made the thumbnails a bit smaller than usual. You can always click on an image to get a better look, but I didn't want to have to write such a huge amount to fill in the space around them all.

There was no great plan today when I went back to this quilt I just grabbed the first piece I saw. Turned out to be the lower leg. As with some of the other pieces this one doesn't cover all the remaining space. There are areas left that don't need this fabric. The top of the foot did need a bit of fabric which is why there the more detail at the end not just a curve. Hopefully that will become clear later.

I carried on with this piece as I had it in my hand now. So I now needed a lighter fabric. As a rule I work away from the shade of the background so for most large areas I will be working from dark to light on this quilt.

After the next lightest fabric I had a problem. I just don't have a very pale lilac fabric. Moda don't do another lighter one but even when I extended my search to other fabrics I couldn't find what I wanted. I thought I might be able to just use white, quite often I can. As you can see from the picture in this case it's too bright. I had another idea though. I could use the back of the last fabric. Good plan except that when it's placed on itself, even face down it looks the same shade.

Never mind I already had the white in place and that wad bright enough to lighten the reverse of the pales lilac to the point where it worked. It does mean the applique is a little thicker than I would like but still it gets me the colour I need.  I guess I am going to have to stop saying you can't blend fabric like paint.

I think you will agree the effect is much softer than the white fabric. The question is, will it be light enough? Well in the flesh it does look lighter but if I am not happy with it when I come to the quilting I can use a lighter thread which will brighten it up just enough.

That was all the leg I was up for right now. I really need to decide what I am doing with the shoes before I can finish the legs. So back up to the chest. Time for a confession. I missed a bit when I was making the pattern. Notably I missed a layer of colour on her breast, which we could describe as not flattering. Fortunately I spotted it and I thought I had better fix that sooner rather than later. It's a simple fix, I just had to make a pattern for the missing layer and put it on. As I had noticed before I had done the piece that should have been on top of it there really wasn't a problem. However as I don't fuse my applique I can adjust things as I go along. It does mean the fabric frays a bit more but I really don't mind that. I do tidy things up as I quilt and I try to minimise how much they get roughed up but  at the end of the day I accept the fraying. I feel this method gives me the softest possible edge and allows the shading to be as gentle as possible. If you watch closely you may spot some other things that get edited as I go along.

Next stop was the arm to the right of the quilt. I have been quite keen to get the shadow in here as it defines the armpit, which to me is quite important for getting the overall shape of the body. It's hard to see but I've added three pieces of fabric there.

From there I went back to the front leg, and I think this is where the quilt really comes to life. It's now got enough data in it for me to be able to read it. It was one of the most awkward pieces to put on. Bear in mind I am working in a tight space, and at the moment I am spraying in quite a small box so I have to baste a piece that size in several stages. Then you have to persuade this large sticky floppy thing into place on the quilt. On the other hand it would be even harder to get it into place if I were trying to bond it so I guess I shouldn't complain.

The quilt to me now looks largely together, but it isn't there are a lot more pieces to go on, although most of them are fairly small. The lightest colours on the upper leg are still quite big, but they are the exception not the rule. Hopefully I will get some of it done tomorrow.  The whole cloth has also been coming along. Not as much today as others, I've spent longer than usual on the art quilt today.