Finding the Muse in tiny pieces of fabric #10

I am not myself these days.
I am however trying to find my way through the days, and trying to return to a love of art.
This little abstract was quilted before I said goodbye to Cole. I needed to be around people so when I went to my sewing group on Monday, I took it to bead.

This piece finishes at 9" square.I was inspired by the smallest of little batik scraps. It shows why I like odd shapes. Some people like to cut all scraps into squares and strips. Not me. I love the serendipity of the odd shape, the line created with a gentle curve. The surprise as colors are repeated at random, then create a scene... to me this is the forest floor, with flowers.

There is a LOT of free motion quilting in a tiny piece. Repeated lines echoing a shape, an organic feather surround what I see as a stem in purple. It is a process, random piecing with a mood in mind. It becomes what I want without making a plan.

You can see my favorite machine stitch, placed just so on sections of border with variegated rayon thread.

Also notice the lovely leaves given me by a bee mate. I originally wanted two words on metal bits, "wander" and "peace" but while moving beads around on the finished quilt, allowed myself to change my mind. They did not add to it, so I changed direction.

The flowers have a variety of seed bead centers to keep them on. There are also little groupings of seed beads scattered around like french knots. Iridescent sequins create a subtle sparkle of a vine.

Inspiration: tiny fabrics, nature, and a need to sew again. I do not feel like sewing but I need to take steps out of this depression. For the pictures I pinned it to the design wall, and noticed the tiny button that lives on the fleece wall that says "grow"