Rambling River, Part 9

I've been working with a group of quilters on both sides of the Missouri and the Mississippi River.  Seven of us are on the west side of Missouri and the Missouri River, and the other 8 quilters are around the Mississippi River near and around the St. Louis area.

Back in March, we were all given a fat quarter of a piece of fabric that was all the same, and it was designated for the "river".  The idea was modeled after The Ever Changing River Exhibit (with their permission), that hung at the NQA in June of last year.  So with our guidelines in hand, the journey began.

RAMBLING RIVER GUIDELINES:

• Create an 18" X 22" finished piece using the fabric provided
• Based on your specific directions, the river MUST come out on the right and left edges EXACTLY the width directed. (Mine comes in at 4" and leaves on the right side at 5")
• It can meander anywhere else, including the bottom, but must come out the sides because they are meeting up with other sides that will be hanging next to it.
• When hung, the pieces will show a Rambling River but probably will not have a straight edge on top or bottom.  Sides must be straight so they will go easily up next to the piece on either side.
• Pieced must be completed (3 layers), but any technique with fabric is allowed.
• Edges should be faced (not bound) so the river and all the design come to the edge of the piece.

I've been steadily working on mine, and I even took it to Michigan with me.  Yesterday, after taking off what I actually started with as my inspiration, I worked about 13 hours on it.  Today was the last part of surface design, and the facing.  

It's completed now, and ready to go to the meet-up with the rest of the river pieces on Saturday.  Unfortunately, I won't be able to meet the other quilters from the east side because I have a "guest" trunk show to do at a local quilt show.  They promise me I'll have pictures, though, so that will be good. They will hang for the first time together at the Lee's Summit Quilters' Guild Show on November 5 and 6, 2010.  For directions you can check our blog.  Hope to see you there!

Here's my process of getting there from beginning to end:

Just the beginning that actually changed a lot over time
(I accidentally burned the avocado bag, so that HAD to change!)

Partial work shared  in June.  Mine is the fourth from the left (not completed).
After seeing this picture, I didn't like the look of my fields at all, so it went back to the drawing board.

Adding clover to the field requires professional help, right?

13 hours before completion, I still didn't like the top half that I started with.
Taking off the big green hill did wonders!  It's never to late to change!

17.5" X 22" edge to edge, completed

The sky is seed embroidery stitches by hand on hand dyed fabric with variegated blue thread.  The sun is Thai silk beaded with various sizes and color of beads.  The fields are batik couched with yarn, scorched avocado bag, silk tie and flannel.  The river is filled with 3 colors of rayon threads that are hand couched.  The tree is made of "ort" roving and threads.  The field is full of rosette embroidery stitched clover.  The coyote has some fur outlines in taupe beading thread, and the houses and the furthest trees are machine broderie perse.  I've done both machine applique and hand applique, hand quilting and machine quilting.  I've given some close-ups, but you can also double click on any picture for an extreme detail close up of any of them, too.

Close up of coyote, river, clover

Close up of the sun, the village and the river

A beautiful way to the end the day at Quiltgranny's house