Finishing a UFO

At the end of last week I picked up a piece that I had worked on more than a year ago and never was able to get it to come together.  I wasn't sure if I could even salvage it or at the very least would have to do a major re-work, and I just wasn't at a point where I was ready to do that.  So, now when I picked it up again and looked at what I had done I thought it had great potential.  Gorgeous color, bold and textural fabrics, interesting lines.  It was actually ready for quilting so I tackled it and spent three days quilting my head off (father and son were off hiking the hills and left me home with my passion!).  I had made some dimensional attachments for the piece and I reworked some and created more and pinned them on.

Then I hung the piece on my design wall.  I left the room and came back----voila! It works.  I really like it and every time I turn around and see it hanging there I like it more.  I just love it when a plan comes together!  Now I have a great piece for my August show at River's Mist Gallery and if I can figure out how to attach the dimensional pieces and finish off the edges of the quilt it will be ready to hang. I think it will be a show-stopper! 

Lesson learned:  Sometimes a piece that isn't working just needs to be put away for a while until you are ready to see where it is supposed to go and what it is to become.  What I thought wasn't working about this piece turns out to be the best feature of it.   Areas of hot clear color and of soft romantic pastel become the hotspots and the eye relief for the piece.  The juxtaposition of the different styles/colorways turns out to be interesting and intriguing to the eye.  I guess I should have trusted my instincts in putting these together.  We'll see if others agree with my feelings about this piece when they see it in August.

Now that the piece is almost done I wish I had documented the progress with some images, but alas I did not.  I will share some images of the piece in the near future but I want to keep it a bit under wraps until my show.  

I'm kind of hoping this piece does not sell right away as it has some potential for getting into some shows (but my gallery owner doesn't want to hear that!).  I guess I'll just have to wait and see.