I wish I could say the most notable thing that happened this past week with this project was something I did. But it’s not.
The client emailed me and as soon as I saw it pop up in my inbox, I knew she wanted to see more progress shots. Which is fine of course, but I was a little nervous because I didn’t get any response from her when I sent the first round of progress shots.
(I’m sure she’s very busy and I know she’s managing multiple artists on this and she’s probably managing multiple projects as well. So no news should be good news, right? But that’s not how my mind works. No news meant she that didn’t like what she saw and I could not convince myself otherwise.)
I was right, she did email me because she wanted new shots of the progress I’d made.
Ooooookay.
But she also emailed me for another reason.
She said that the quilt installation, which had been scheduled for mid-December, was pushed back to early January, and would that schedule work for me, she wanted to know.
Would that schedule work for me, I thought to myself? Hell, if I can stop doing the happy dance long enough to reply to this email, YES that schedule will work for me!
So obviously that was the highlight of my week.
But in replying to her about the revised installation date, I had to include some new pictures of my progress.
Gulp.
By this point I’d moved onto the white panels that will ultimately be cut up and sewn into the stripes of the flag. I really really really love the way they’re coming out - I think the range of shades and prints I selected work together very nicely to give a lot of richness and depth to the panels.
Again, these are tricky to photograph accurately, though I think the white panels look better that the red ones do in photos. But it’s still frustrating to see them in photos and not feel like it’s an accurate representation of my work. But short of getting in the car with my stack of pieced fabrics and driving into DC and showing the client in person (which she has not asked me to do), I’m doing what I can by taking the best photos possible, within reason, when the client requests them.
However, what I’m really falling madly, deeply, truly in love with now is how the red and the white panels are working together.
I think they stand on their own based on the piecing and the way the different shades in the fabrics play off of each other. But I think they really shine when they’re placed next to each other - it’s as if your eye bounces back and forth between the red and the white panels but the different shades and shapes and patterns in the fabrics cause you to question and visually investigate what you’re seeing.
I love that.
And as it turns out, the client loved it too.
So I’m pressing on with getting the white panels done next. I’m about halfway done with them, each panel is 23” x 8” and I need 15 of them (and I’ve already finished 17 red panels).
Needless to say, the red haze that covered my art room has been replaced by a snowstorm of white scraps and thread.
And with this extra three weeks in the schedule, I’ll be fitting in Christmas gift sewing as well.
If only I can find my Christmas fabric under these mountains of red and white, and soon to be blue!
In case you missed the previous installments of this series: