Let's talk about leaves....

This picture is actually my favorite macro one so far. It is the shade of a very feminine lampshade at the house. Frosted glass. But yet this photo is kind of dark and moody and you can almost detect the lace in the window to the right. Repurposed lace tablecloths used as curtains.

But this post is not about that. It's about these damn leaves.

Backtrack : We - me, Molly, and Abby - have decided that MaggieGraceCreates is a predominantly positive place. I try to hang onto that objective at all times. Sure I sidetrack every now and then, but I like to think I have kept this positive. As I am formulating the artistic identity of me, I have used the words recycle, repurpose, reuse, generous, giving and etc. One symbol I have determined to use is a heart reflecting the image of positive energy in my pieces. Separating art and craft right now, the craft may not have the symbol attached but the words will still have meaning to the items. Every art piece will have a heart - sometimes tiny - sometimes hidden - sometimes disguised - in it.

Here we are back in the present. The art quilt. Take a look at the leaves. Hearts. Punched out using a hand held hole punch. About 1/4 inch in size - maybe a little less. Seemed like a good idea at the time. I punched them, then ran them through a xyron sticker maker. Permanent adhesive.

Then I tried to attach them to the copper vine. The plan was to put two of them around the vine ends. Well - in theory this would work. Those fiddly little pieces stuck to everything but the copper vine. The stuck to my clothes. The rocks. Each other without copper between them. The arm of the chairs. Hell, they even stuck to the wood floor quite well. Everything except where they were supposed to.

I cussed. I drank. I tried to come up with some other way to do leaves. I put it down. I tried again. Over and over. The few that I finally attached had me convinced that this was the right look for the project. Rethink. Regroup.

Now -the man at my address is in the midst of a cluster headache bout. This means he is up and down at night. He is not at all courteous when he comes back to bed. Flips the cover up and falls into the bed. This has been true for years. The side effect is that everytime he comes back to bed, he wakes me up. On being awakened one of those nights, I had a thought. Instead of trying to put the leaves on the end, I'll leave the end a little long, put the leaf down from the end and trim the extra copper off. You know I had to get up right then and try it too. (yes - I know all of us have had those moments - got to do this right NOW)

Worked like a charm. Still fiddley, but the extra copper going all the way through the leaf held them in place SOOOOO much better.

Still only giving sneak peeks. Maybe - fingers crossed - you will see it published in September - October - issue of Quilting Arts.

Now questions - Have you ever had to regroup to make something work out? A crafting diaster you want to share? A tip you want to give us to make life easier? Sympathy for the nightmare I just described? Is there a symbol you can identify to put in each art piece you complete? Do you have an artist statement of your own? Leave in the comments and be sure to leave your blog link. I want everyone to be able to visit each other.

I'll be gone tomorrow. Back on Monday.

Have a wonderful day and a great weekend.