Challenge continues, green leaves

My challenge quilt, "Reaching" is still being quilted.
I thought I would share a couple pics today for the RSC2015 party. The color for May is green.

When I decided to interpret my original poem for this challenge, I sketched out my design

 I sit the sketch in front of me on the design table. The design changes as I work but this helps me focus.
I tried a couple faces til I got the one that had the right feel (see that post  CLICK HERE)

The background sky is a snow dye experiment. Small pieces that had to be sewn together. At the time I thought they were a failure because they were so washed out in intensity. Luckily I never throw anything away, as I now see the value in subtle color. I love how this has such organic color and goes background because of the faded feel of it.
As Michelangelo said "I am still learning"

As so often happens when I start a story quilt, I start with my scrap bin.

The browns formed the tree.( Shameless plug  I teach a class in using scraps in a free form way)
I found a few green scraps to become leaves, and love that the print is of leaves.

Small pieces that have such impact on the whole.
(click on images to see details)



The following picture shows green and brown scraps made into hexagons and hand pieced.
Originally I planned for this piece to go into the area between the sky and the border, next to the root.
I needed something to piece into the space so I could add the border. I used what I thought was just a scrap and not very pretty, but I planned to cover most of it up.

 

After it was pieced in, I LOVED it. The large scale, the reddish brown the olive green, the surprise of rose and pink added so much to the piece!
Surprise!
So I was no longer content to cover it all up. That's when I hit on the idea of moving the hexie section up.
This is exactly why one needs a design wall. When I put the partially quilted piece up last night, and tried the hexie section in different spots, becoming agitated as Mr Color got home and was enjoying the evening on the porch with "Picasso Poodle" without me.
Suddenly I saw the whole thing differently and was able to quilt this in before stopping for the night.