Fun in the sun

It is February, suicide prevention month. I live in Montreal. Need I say more? There a few things that work for my mental health during these winter months. One is exercise, gotta love those endorphins. Another is my full spectrum lamp I sit with for 20 minutes every morning. And a very important one is colour. This time of year here all colour ranges from white to black with all the shades of grey in between. No green grass, no orange leaves, no purple flowers, maybe a very pale blue sky but it is usually white. Desert for the soul.  February often evokes in me an urge to dye everything in sight. This year it is drawing with thread.
When I am working on a piece on the long arm machine, I have decided to add very large side leaders to test tension and practice designs. It also gives me a chance to doodle,sketch and generally mess around. I use muslin or in some cases the fabric I will be quilting. The piece I am working on now is the first one where I have used silk and silk thread so I put a piece of the same silk in the leader to test thread.

The Iris pattern I copied from a piece of antique lace that will be added to the finished work.
I sew the leaders on with dissolvable thread. Once the piece is off the frame, just squirt with water and rip them off.   Most of the muslin pieces I then cut up and make into coasters and place mats. I think these two will become small pieces on their own. This is inspired by a design on some antique French fabric I have.

My daughter who shares  the studio with me came in after her classes. "Am I allowed to have this much fun?" I asked. She assured me I am. Thank the goddess for daughters and colour.