I like Thankful Thursday

I like it when solutions are easier than you thought. I like discovering sensible things when you thought it would be hard.
I liked the proportions of amount of fabric choices I had laid out on the table. How to translate that to larger on the design wall?
Oh, the Thoughtful Man says times it by 1 1/2. ok I can do that with my calculator.

and then tweak from there to get this.

But something is not quite right...and...after thinking about it, I think it wants the sea on top. Oh dear. a lot of unpinning and possible loss of the proportion...wait!
I have the image in my view screen on the camera. Turn the camera upside down. and there we are!

Ta Da!
Still dreading the unpinning thing in real life.
And duh, it is pinned to a sheet hanging from skirt hangers...just flip the sheet over!
Ok it just looks like fabric to you, but I am now confident for the next step.

I like discovering the wonderful sunsets. We have had quite a few lately.
over the houses in front of ours

including reflection on solar panels

walk down past the houses for a wider view

I like that swirl bit towards the middle.
and turning around towards the east a bit

My Grandfather's favourite colour was skybluepink.

Then, walking back to the house in the dusk, I see the roses in the same colour as the main part.

cool!

Today's colour is brought to you by orangeyellowpink.

Also liking that my cataract surgery date is in about a month rather than January as they had implied.

Looking forward to losing the one-eyed pirate view of life - especially my work!

Ramshackle ideas 3

So - Fabric.
I want to have forest, mountain, desert and sea. As I say, these fabrics are darker than I am used to working with.
I have had a bit of back and forth deliberation about the sea.

The one to the right was chosen along with the others because it worked colourwise. It is meant to be waves. Yes...up close. Further away it looks like rocks.
So, turn it over...middle in the photo. Not as bad, I could work into it to make it more wave-like. But still. It shouts too much compared with the others which are muted.
Look through cupboard...oh! This really does say waves and in a more subtle way.

So, here it is with the others.
However, there was not enough of it to work when I scaled up. I wanted this whole thing to be large, and that piece wasn't large enough.
Eventually, I realise it wanted a darker fabric...perhaps blue? But it had to be a blue that worked with the sepia mountains, desert and the forest.
Then I looked for darks and found this.

a close up. From a distance you can't really see the swirl colour. So, it works with the others and can be suggestive of the sea.

The fancy name for this kind of thing is 'auditioning' the fabric. So, the cast is chosen!
I am trying to ignore all those 'make it complicated' ideas. Simple, my friends, is not simple.

Ramshackle Ideas 2

Next was finding a fabric which worked for the background. (meaning what shows up as lines.)
I tried the idea of a different colour to add to the mood of the story. But it would have been quite complicated. The reason the pieces work is because the look is simple.

Then I tried this one and it looked good for both. Besides the fact that there is enough to work with and not need fiddly pieces behind individual houses. So it will keep the simple look and yet be seen even with dark fabric.
The viewers can then discover the story from their thoughts and experiences.

Ramshackle ideas

The new Ramshackle I am sampling for development is coming along.
I am working on the idea of showing emotion through house 'characters'.

Here are a couple of samples (not fused, just the cutting so I can try backgrounds.)

Because the other fabrics I want to use are darker, I used the brown print for the sampling.

Now I am trying out different fabrics to see which would work for the background that shows through the line. I don't want to make it too complicated, but I do want to tell a story.

Ramshackle Variations

a few more in a different colourway

before

and now stitched

click on the photo to enlarge

priming the pump

so to speak...

4 of the Ramshackle House variations are now layered and stitched.

They just need trimmed and bound.
I have worked on these pieces that had been set aside when at the top stage - house drawn and cut and fused - to help me get my eye in for starting a different theme using the houses.