Counting down...exhausted!

Work has become more challenging and demanding than ever...just as the count down nears 1 week until exhibit opening!

I've been working intensely and quickly to finish 'Incadoodle' which I consider the show centerpiece. This piece has been done using the Sassaman technique which has added such weight and bulk to the piece that it has been difficult to machine quilt...and I'm only doing stitching in the ditch for the most part. I've got stippling to do in one area of the design plus around the edges of the background fabric. What I've noticed, however, is that some of the raw-edge appliqued fabric pieces are beginning to fray due to being scrunched, twisted and turned under the machine arm. Some of these fabrics just can't take much more especially those pieces appliqued on with metallic thread. So, there will be some tacking down of frayed edges with glue. I'm not sure whether to sew over them or let them be as is.

It would have been nice to have a long-arm machine to quilt this piece in that I would have had more stitch control and better maneuverability over the surface. In any case, it is still an exciting and fresh piece...full of energy that will immediately draw people's attention from across a room...calling out my style rather loudly!