and the stitch goes on

lots and lots of stitches actually

I stitched rows and rows of color into the texture of the fabric, and it did two things -- it gives a subtle hint of color to the fabric and it makes the fabric feel a lot more substantial

I have these critter blocks pinned down to the fabric now -- the plan is to stitch around each critter on the machine with one of the colors I used for the stripe stitching

making fabric takes time!
I have decided that this has as much stuff on it as it needs

(although I am considering doing some thread painting to make some of those gold "plumes" look more feather-like)

I had originally thought about putting a pin cushion of hat pins on the far right hand side at the bottom, and using floral wire for the shafts of the pins, but I have decided not to do that

for one thing, if this actually makes the cut for at least being in the traveling show, that wire might well be an issue for someone else packing and unpacking at numerous venues

I'm concerned too that the wires might somehow come loose from their assigned places and do damage to the rest of the quilt

and the bottom line is that I just don't think it needs that extra item taking attention away from the real point -- the hats!

all of which means that now I have to decide how I'm going to quilt this thing (at least I've already decided what I'll be using for the back, sleeve and label, I just haven't purchased it yet)
no, it's not paint by number

not exactly

this is the fabric backing for the Hawaii piece I've been working on -- its a sort of fabric map that shows me where each piece is supposed to go

I have a piece of freezer paper that is a mirror image of this all ready to be cut up and ironed on to the back of the fabrics that will be each of these pieces

for now this is the piece I'll be working on while I'm thinking about the quilting pattern for the hats

progress is being made on the bead work piece I'm doing -- only 6 more bezels to go -- and they're the smaller ones -- looking good

projects are humming along