Spring has broken out at the Tree of Life.
There are leaves sprouting all over the place… I finished the last two branches, and debated calling it a day for a couple of days, to let my head clear from the sheer grind of the trunk and branches. But then I looked at the leaf fabrics, and decided I had just enough fusible web left to do the leaves. Probably. So I got stuck in, and this is the result. I’m making the leaves a little smaller than on the design. I like seeing the air through them, and my larger test leaves looked sort of heavy and bodgy. I’m going to apply leaves to all the positions shown on the design, then do the fruit, flowers and birds, and then see if there are any gaps that need to be filled with another leaf or two.
Tree and first leaves
Branch detail
Suddenly, I’m enjoying working on this quilt again. Maybe it’s because the appliqué of the leaves is easier, broken down into lots of small chunks (60 small chunks, to be exact). Maybe it’s because I can finally see the thing coming to life, and visualise how it might look when it’s done, and maybe it’s because I know I’m going to make the deadline of end of March. If anything goes wrong, or I can’t work on it for some reason, it won’t be an utter disaster, since the milestone birthday isn’t till the end of June, and by virtue of taking out another mortgage for airmail postage to the UK, I can still get this quilt to my brother in time. But I’d like to be done by end of March, so I can carry it with me and give it to him in person when we make a flying stop in London on our way home.
Back to work tomorrow for two days, so work on this will slow down somewhat. Just in time for the weather to heat up again, some rain to be forecast, and the humidity to go through the roof. Happy days…
More when I can.
talltalesfromchiconia 
Sure is coming to life! Looks great! I know nothing about quilting but this looks very detailed and difficult! Nice work!
Thanks! One quilt where gardening and quilting come together, I feel. The grass is looking particularly luxuriant, for example. The tree, however, is a brand new specimen which bears bunches of grapes and sunflowers at the same time!
It’s like watching the tree through the seasons… spring must be in the air with all those leaves!
OH, Kate! How I love this quilt! Glad I picked today to go browsing. Still limping… Lynda
That’s taking its time to heal. Look after yourself. And I’m so glad you like it. I’ve gone from hating it but gritting my teeth to get it finished, to loving it again and wanting to see what happens next!
Reblogueó esto en Fabián.
THIS is a quilt of unparalleled beauty. Wow.
Gosh, thank you! I’m looking forward to seeing the top finished. Then the big question is how to quilt it. Just something to hold the layers together without distracting too much from the design. It’s beginning to preoccupy me a little.
Nice progress!
Thank you! I’ve rediscovered my enthusiasm for this quilt now that I’m making progress again.
I think you made the leaves just the right size.
I think so too. The larger ones were really clunky and looked sort of childish. I made the templates for the birds this evening, so they’re next once the leaves are done.