It's Official

I have a cold. Which is sort of ironic seeing as how I wear a mask over my nose and mouth everytime I go out in public and otherwise live in virtual isolation. I suspect my darling little petrie dishes (otherwise known as granddaughters) passed it to me on the sly. Them, I can forgive. However, that household is now coping with a 3 day stomach virus. They can just keep that to themselves, thank you very much!

I have done a bit more beading on my journal quilt from last October. This is what it used to look like:

What you may not be able to see are the lime green glass seed beeds surrounding the patch of large skulls to the right of center. Those same seed beads line the perimeter of the small dark patch of skulls in the upper left corner. I have three rats sewn to the piece, another skull, and a full skeleton. Between the skull and the skeleton is a heart, secured with another lime green bead. And that's how this piece has sat for the last five months.

This is how it looks now:

I have lined more of the focal patches with the seed beads and removed the heart charm. It has been replaced by the pirate skull. I have some more skull beads I'm thinking of incorporating into this piece. It remains to be seen whether my plan for them will work or not.

I think one of the reasons I've had such a hard time moving this piece forward is that I did not have a driving vision for it when I started it. There's no story behind it, or in it, and I've never had a title for it that felt right. At the moment I'm thinking of it as my Rogue's Gallery. That may help me to get it done.

I wanted to also share with you some intuitive piecing I've been doing. I see a house and a tree and a butterfly in this bit. All from piecing scraps and crumbs together!