December days - 8 and "Framed Worlds" finished

I have finished 'Framed Worlds', the present for my brother. Hopefully will get it in the post today.

Rather than placing the original onto a background, increasing the surround. I decided to just get on with it as it is. The look was good as it was, as it wasn't going to be judged...being for my brother, after all.

So, I put the piece onto felt and then backed with a satiny blue lining which has glistenings of silver. It is what I used for the lining of the 'Midnight Dance...' coat.

inside back of the coat from the Fashion show ensemble

Then I quilted over some of the stitched curved orbit lines and added a few quilted rays on the sun to hold all the layers together.

The lining fabric worked so well for the back, I also used it for binding.
And then I decided
"as it wasn't going to be judged...being for my brother, after all." *
I would just get on with writing the Bible verse I knew he would like. But I had to write it right to left one letter at a time back to front. I am sure you can tell because the letters seem to start large and go small. So I wrote the reference up along the right side which helps a bit.

And actually, I am glad I put the verse because it visually balances the sun in a way.

*(This became a mantra at every bit I would normally fret over if doing it for a show. and you know what? I am quite pleased. I would actually be happy to hang it in a show! So, what does that tell me?)

Present idea

This year I have my brother to give gifts to. When you have 8 people in your family and not much money, your parents come up with different ways of restricting the number of gifts each one has to give. Because of course, they provide the money for each of those gifts till the children get old enough to make money of their own, or to make gifts themselves. I think for the most part we drew names from a hat or something.

Anyway...when we started having spouses and children one of the newer parents came up with the idea of restricting the giving again and we all breathed a sigh of relief! It was a bit more predictable as you rotated around the list, having a different person each year til you were back at the top and starting over again. It got a bit of an update when my sister died..(My youngest brother had died about 10 years before.) And so, I have my other brother this year.

...More than you wanted to know....

Back to the present idea. I am not sure I ever showed this piece on the blog. Or at least I can't find it.
I think it was made before I started the blog.

I had used flannel for the wadding and didn't like the way it flopped about. So, it went into one of my 'someday perhaps' piles. I kept moving it around, thinking it was not great. The other day I got it out again because I know my brother likes Scientific things. I am sure he would like this. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as bad as I remembered. Just needed a good press.

So, the aim now is to make a sort of backing quilt a bit larger to place this work onto. I will probably use felt for the wadding because the combination will make it hang better.

Originally I had placed the uneven rectangle onto the very dark grey and used it as it was - uneven. I felt this helped to add to the concept of space not being contained in a box. I am thinking I might place this onto the backing quilt in an uneven manner as well. But I haven't decided what backing colour would be best for it. There is a verse in the Bible about faith and the way the worlds were made. I know my brother would like that as well, so I am thinking about putting words around the outside edge.

So, those are some experiments for next week.
(Have you noticed how I am delaying the start of the Big Project?)

Well, I figure if this is done first, then I don't have to stop to make this and end up sending it to America the week before Christmas like I usually do. and yes the post office reminds me that it won't get there for Christmas! But I have usually been doing too many other things to get the presents sent. It is, however, easier to send to my brother because he isn't married and hasn't got children.

And then, there will be a nearly abandoned "work-in-progress" that is finished!

So, now I will stop running off at the fingers and may possibly go to bed at a reasonable time today.