Another 3D Flower Quilt

I had a few starts with this one.  I couldn't figure out which side I wanted to show up for the front.   The large petals and the small petals were all from the same fabric line, by Riley Blake Fabrics, but they were really different in colour and pattern.  
These are the small petals, I originally thought this side would be showing.

This was the start of my large petals.   

And you can see this is where I ended up, clearly I had no idea when I started=)

This will be a new pattern for my 3D Flower workshops.  
My favourite is taking side shots of my 3D quilts so you have an idea of just how much they protrude off the quilt!

Here is a little sneak peek of what I just started working on.  

Having a Little Fun

I decided to just have fun today in my studio.   Sometimes I find that really hard to do.  I usually feel that I need to be creating a big quilt or designing my next one to enter into a show.   I don't very often just take some fabric and 'play'.   Today I decided to do just that.  

I figured it was my present to me.   Yesterday was my birthday and I got spoiled with flowers, homemade buttertarts, funny jokes, fabric, jewellery, books and homemade cards from my kids.   All was much appreciated and loved.   But I had a deadline to meet so never got to have some fun time quilting.

First I had an idea about a block and played with that for a bit.   I even figured out a way to make a pattern out of it.  Of course it had to do with circles=)  Once I get the pattern done I will share that.

Then I decided to pursue my map work a bit more.  I used some hand dyed fabrics, a print of a map, and alot of slashing with my ruler....

I decided it was too boring and wanted to make it more busy and road-like.

And that was my day having fun.

I am back next with a few giveaways from a very generous sponsor.   

Map It Out Challenge

Here is my finished art quilt for the 'Quilting Arts' challenge.

Here is the write up that goes along with it:  

I took an old out of circulation map and copied it onto fabric, then cut it up and stitched it back together a few times.  Added some colourful 'roads of life' to map my journey through life and quilted it with lines marking the roads I didn’t take.

I have linked up at Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting blog.

2 WIP's

I am working on 2 new art quilts.   That makes me sound really ambitious and organized doesn't it?  Truth is I have a mental block on this one.

See that bright pink outer border?  Do I leave it blank and fill it with quilting or do I put something in it?   I have pinned some leaves up to try and help me decide.

In the meantime I decided this would be a good opportunity to sew up the background for another art quilt.

If that looks like a map to you, then you are right.   I have printed a map onto fabric and have a very wild 3D embellishment to put on.   I usually quilt my art quilts first before adding the embellishments as they are often too bulky to try and quilt around.   I enjoy that process, as when the embellishments are added, the quilt is already bound and quilted!   Makes me feel like I have skipped a step.   

Opinions?