Journal Quilt Progress Report

My energies of the last couple of days have been focused on my journal quilt for this month. After I got those appliques sewn on I spent quite a bit of time trying to get a feel for what to do next. I auditioned several colors of beads, some other trims, tried a few "theme" ideas on for size...





Eventually I came across some white rice beads. I don't know what else to call them. They're just plastic, they're not bugle beads, they look like large grains of white rice. It occurred to me that they would make a good outline for a tree trunk. So I stitched the outline of a tree trunk. I wanted to get a picture for you when I had only the rice beads sewn onto my ground but DH had absconded with the camera. He and DS went up into the mountains yesterday. They had a lovely time, and so did I - at home! They took pictures of mountains and trees; I created a tree.


Then I remembered a pretty iridescent glass heart bead I've had for awhile. I sewed it on in the center of the trunk. It may be a knot hole, it may be one of those hearts where lovers carve their initials. Who knows?!


Today I have been sewing on sequins to fill in the trunk of my tree. They're not the sequins I bought last week, but they are sequins nevertheless and I have been wanting to do this technique for a while now. I first practiced it in a workshop with Rebecca Rousch. She does some fabulous work! You can sample it here.





I still have no idea what else is going to go on this journal 'page.' I have no idea what significance a tree - or a white tree - may have. I figure I have the rest of the sequining to do on the tree before I'm really forced to make the next decision anyway.