Dreams, TIF and Midsummer

Ah, well... best laid plans and all that. If, during the past week or so, I haven't visited your blog or, if I did, left a weird comment, I must apologize. I was sick with what I can only assume was the flu and my thinking processes were practically non-existent. I hurt all over and was soooo sick to my stomach... gah. And the nightmares! I pretty much didn't sleep for 3 or 4 days. I would toss and turn and finally doze off, only to have some serious dreams, nearly nightmares. It was awful. But, I'm better now... thinking is once again on track and sleep is once again my friend.

There was one bright point in the dreams though... it was the most beautiful scene and is still vivid in my mind. It was like I was in a huge room with soft flowing, varigated green and yellow curtains hung in sinuous lines across the room. The floor and ceiling matched the curtains and interspersed throughout the room were round, flat topped stands (that also matched), each with a single yellow apple centered on the top. The name "Yellow Pippin" floated through my mind. Yellow Pippins are a very old species of apple but I had only heard of plain old pippins. I think I'll make a something quiltish called Yellow Pippin. Sometimes ya' just gotta wonder, huh? Hmmm... maybe Sharon will have a dream concept sometime this year... that would be cool!

OK, moving on... believe it or not, I have started my TIF piece. If you'll remember, I'm making a luna moth that I will later use on my Midsummer quilt. Here is the inspiration picture:

As always, click to embiggen.

So, first I cut up two copies of the photo to make a pattern out of clear plastic:

I decided to leave the bottom wings as a single piece since I'm not a complete idiot. ;0)

Then I cut out fabric for the top of the wings:

This is a soft polyester with a matte top and bright shiny underneath... it will be great for adding to my inner blocks on the Midsummer quilt.

Here are the backs of the wings:

This is a quilting cotton. Since the polyester was rather slippery, I decided I needed a cotton for the back, to help stabilize it.

Then I sat down in my comfy old chair and hand stitched the first wing together, using beading thread. I turned it inside out and blind stitched the opening:

This is the original picture of the upper right wing, the clear pattern and the finished right wing. Well, the finished wing that will now be embroidered and embellished. It's about 3 inches across. It came out pretty well, I think.

I've also been working a bit on Block 6 of the Midsummer quilt:

It's coming along nicely, I should finish it this weekend.

OK... I have had a beastly week at work and it's time for early to bed for me. Thanks for the comments on the last post... it is interesting what old-timey is to different people.

Oh, also, I've had someone else ask me how I got the picture on the background of my blog. I'm going to try and figure out how I did it and let ya'll know. ;0)