Quilt Shops, Quilting Challenges and Challenging Quilts

Last Friday some quilting friends and I went on a road trip to a great quilt shop on the Akwasasne reserve.  I was able to find some background material for my 'Kuan Yin' quilt (which had been at a standstill while I tried a zillion fabrics for background).   I found other great fabric too - all on sale.   We also purchased some fabric for our quilting challenge.   All the way there, my friend and I sat in the back seat looking at photos, trying to come up with one on which to base our challenge.   We narrowed it down to 9 photos and later on that evening, as we waited for the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics to begin on TV, we managed to choose one.   It is an underwater scene with stones, shells, minnows, seaweeds etc.   Should be interesting to see what we come up with.   She is working with black and white and I am using blue-green, blue, and blue violet (I think I have the easier task).   Our friend Iris has decided to join us as well.  She will design a monochromatic quilt.   I'll post the results when we are finished.

When I tried my new background on Kuan Yin, I found that her figure dressed in the palest hues, looked washed out - "too pale" was my son's comment.   So now I need to strengthen her colours.....back to the drawing board.....more cutting and piecing.   I was so worried when I started cutting the piece for the background.  I needed to cut out the figure in the middle because the fabric for her dress was so flimsy and thin that any darker colour behind it would show through and I didn't want to back the dress with another layer of fabric because I have to hand sew through the layers....I also painted the moon that surrounds her with liquid acrylics in a pale gold but the fabric ended up bumpy and no amount of ironing seems to help.   This project is becoming more complicated than I would like it to be.......and my next class is Saturday with not much progress made....Yikes!!   Guess how I'll be spending my week.  Ah well, unlike you folks in the USA and east coast, we have little snow here in Ontario.  Skiing and snow shoeing is difficult -- so I might as well stay in and sew.   I walked out in the woods today but it's getting very slippery.  Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining.   I saw the pictures on CNN.  Here in Ontario, we have had a holiday from winter extremes this year.....so far.