"Voyage" pieces "Treasured Memories" so far!

To stay in the group I need to produce four A2 pieces each year on a specific theme. The theme for 2016 is "Treasured Memories" and I've been meaning to get stuck into them for ages! Had the research done, the prep work and a selection of fabrics stacked in a corner of my studio but it's only been this past week that I've had a chance to get any work done on them.  And I'm really enjoying playing with them, watching the pieces appear.

As of today, one is finished, the second is ready for final quilting, the third is ready for initial appliqué and most of the parts for the fourth are cut and ready to go, on a roll and having fun!

"Momento Mori- She sells Sea Shells....."

Momento Mori (we all must die) is a medieval christian practice of keeping a reminder of death near, not as a morbid act but to remember that we all must die and so should live life to the full.

I spend a lot of time by the sea as a child and so have lots of memories or searching for shells and bits on the beach.

First I assemble all my pieces on black fabric until I"m happy with them, then they get stitched down and then appliquéd onto the background fabric.

Then I quilted it with a variegated thread which matched the background quiet well. I wanted the quilting to blend into the background but still appear strong! Going to add some colour on the background to anchor the skull, maybe!

This is the second one ready for background quilting

These are some of my stamp collection from when I was a kid,spent a few years collecting stamps, learned lots of geography doing it, finding all the places I'd acquired straps from. 

The stamps ready to be sewn onto the background, reminds me of the Mexican wrestling masks art the moment!

These are the pieces ready for the fourth piece, hopefully will be posting images of the finished piece next week.