Awakening from Winter's Darkness

Spring is one of my favorite seasons because, in part, it means the end of the unusually long Chicago winters.  The sun, longer days, and being able to play again in the dirt, all of these things make me feel alive. I am like a bear coming out of hibernation hungry for all that spring has to offer.

Since Marie's Art in the Cards  Revisioned theme for  for this month was "A Prayer Flag for Spring," I wanted to honor the theme by having my piece have a spiritual feel. I also love the idea of revisiting past ATCs and recreating them in fabric, but I also love that Marie gives us the freedom to do what we want! Who could ask for anything more? The quilts are 8.5" by 11" which also makes them easy to complete.

Anyway, I chose to recreate my "opposites" challenge ATC which I painted with fluid acrylic paints (second photo). I used both commercial and printed fabrics. The fabric dividing night (winter) from day (spring) is actually a photograph of heavy rain (our ATC challenge for this month) turned sideways. I created this piece using hand appliqued, machine piecing  and machine quilting.

Now I really must stop procrastinating and get busy creating Judy's Fabric Challenge quilt especially since so many people are creating incredible pieces of art! Wow! If you don't want to wait until May 1 when they are all revealed, check out Diane Dunder's truly amazing piece. You can see Kathy Schmidt's progress (she is using one of my favorite batiks) and Sara Kelly is looking for input. I can't wait to see what she does next! Hopefully the others will check in soon.

Tonight I spent the evening getting my studio back into order. It was really out of control. It gets that way when I'm focused and working. I don't want to take the time to put things away. So are you messy or tidy when you work? I know that the older I get the more I seem to need order. How about you?