To begin with, I transferred the line drawing shown in my previous post to a piece of unbleached muslin by laying the fabric over the line drawingt and tracing over the lines with permanent marker. Then I traced each section onto the rough side of a piece of wonder under fusible interfacing. I should mention that I had already pulled fabrics from my stash for the different sections, all but the piece on the bottom. I hand dyed that piece today... all other pieces are hand-dyed as well.
Starting from the top of the design, I fused the interfacing to the back of each piece, then cut out the design using the lines drawn on the interfacing. Then I scored across the paper backing of the interfacing and peeled off the paper. Then I placed the fabric in the proper section and used a damp pressing cloth to press over the fabric to fuse it to the muslin. In cases where I had pieces that were going to be placed on another piece, such as the tree or shrub pieces, I went ahead and cut out all the pieces for an area first before fusing any of the larger pieces that would cover my lines, then I made sure the pieces would cover the muslin completely. Once I had verified that, I removed all but the next layer to be fused, and continued to fuse in the proper order. That sounds confusing, but I go by the design I'm using as a reference to determine which piece goes down before the other pieces. For instance, sky comes first, then mountain, then background trees, then foreground trees, shrubs, grass, etc.
My next step will be to do some free-motion decorative stitching to create tree branches, grass, shadows, etc. Then I will make my 'quilt sandwich' which is the quilt top, batting, and backing, and then I will quilt through the three layers. I may need to go back and add some more decorative stitching after that, but if not, the final step will be to add the quilt sleeve and binding. I would love to have this piece done by the end of the month so I can include it in my exhibit at the Artists' Coalition Gallery, but I don't want to rush it. I'll post again when I have made more progress.
