Sew Crazy For You!

 

Happy July 4th to the United States of America!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful celebration this past weekend...we did!! Since it was a milestone of being a year and a half past diagnosis, it was special to us...and in our town, they shoot the fireworks over the river, giving awesome reflections!!!

A couple months ago, Sandy, my husband, asked if I would make something for his wall in his office. He wanted something Southwestern to reflect our trips to Arizona. So I said sure, I had already been collecting such ideas.

This picture from the internet was my "inspiration"...

I love the orange sky, with the purple mountains. So I was ready to start.

First I collected fabrics together, surprisingly, I seem to gravitate to mostly batiks!

I couldn't resist the sunset fabric, then I cut the mountain fabrics, and then crazy quilted the foreground.

Then I had to collect the doodads needed!!!

Then I found real Cholla wood, cactus skeletons...you can find almost anything on Etsy!!!

Once I got my "picture" in place, I felt it needed a frame of sorts...

So I made strips of foundation to crazy quilt in a simple pattern...choosing the same color palette and matching up oranges with the sunset colors, and the ground with darker colors. 

So now it has a basic frame. I added the second upper cacti because my depth of perception was off without them...always pays to go back and look at your original inspiration idea!!

The Blue Shibori Silk ribbon represents a river flowing out of the mountains, Sandy's idea!

My friend Nicki Seavey sent me the little scraps of lace that look like small cacti...so perfect!!! Thanks Nicki, they really added a special touch to the whole piece!!!

So now the wrap up!!! I will post the final picture and then some close-ups! We still need to frame it, may go to Michaels and have it put on a stretch canvas....don't know yet...

This above, is the upper left, I did stitches on all the seams in the border, and then added charms for each one.

I just love the little cactus skeleton, maybe there will be more on the final frame!

Last month was a milestone birthday for me...just turned 70!!! Sandy surprised me with a River Boat Cruise on the Snake river! It was a great day!!!

Thanks for visiting...now that my sewing table is empty, it's time to start thinking of a new project!!!

Stay tuned!!!

Happy Stitching...check out my Flickr site also!

BJ Sandusky