the sun came out yesterday afternoon, i worked outside... with a little company during the photo shoot.
after adding some of the dot fillers i tried the drawing over the applique. it worked quite well. i was surprised to realize that this idea could be executed in a straight forward manner. even the velvet was ok. i left some of the dots empty to reveal the color from the print only to get a transparent element. i am using a fine brush tip pitt pen in a very dark brown for the drawn lines... i also went over the computer printed lines. very carefully and very slowly. not pressing too much to keep the lines fine and to make them permanent. the computer thing is handy but really my goal here is to get the feel of drawing freehand over a piece. i don't want to depend on technology for the drawing part. after this exercise i feel confident about the basic idea without computer aids.
quilting the background with a slightly darker tonal thread (one strand tan dmc) enhanced the texture and brought out the applique more.
now i am working on a border and looking for a backing fabric.
the rain has washed a lot of soil down the hill. thanks to some etsy business this month, i was able to have a pile of topsoil dumped near the garden. so i will spend a couple of days shoveling dirt.
