Whew....Lions Marching On but Almost Didn't

This is my most recent incarnation of the lions! Our lioness now has her legs pieced (although still not sewn altogether) and the top part of her head is in place. On the male lion, you can begin to see the mane below his mouth. Below you will see the progress through the day.

Here is a little less done.

Now I'm not the world's worst housekeeper but my sewing room could give the title a run for the money, especially when I am madly working on a large project that requires boxes of different fabrics! I have been going back and forth to Marcia's with my two bags and a box of fabric as well as the master pattern. I was getting ready to go to her house yesterday and I realized I was missing two of the pattern envelopes I had been working on!

I then came to the realization that I was missing all the gradated fabrics that I had dyed and was using for the lioness (I had not kept records of the gradations either)!!! I tore the car and sewing room apart and no luck. I figured I must have left them at Marcia's and unfortunately, that was not the case!!! Luckily I had some projects I could still do so went forward with that an determined that I would move everything out of my sewing room when I got home. I was hoping that I hadn't stupidly left it on the top of the car or something equally as "seniorish" (I can say that).

Finally when I got home and was ready to tear the sewing room apart, I tripped on something and looked down with a glance into my hallway. There covered by two boxes of fat quarters (part of the sale last week) was the offending missing box with the paper patterns in them!!! What a relief!!

I am modifying my process almost daily and really need to take some serious notes so I won't forget for the next time! My newest improvementwas to only cut out the freezer paper templates as I identify the fabric. This is determined from the master pattern which I have labelled using my transparency over the colored picture. Because I am working on something so large, I have a duplicate master pattern for each section so I can put the sections together at my sewing machine rather than getting up and walking across the room to places pieces so small I can't see them up on the wall!!.

There is no way I could audition all the fabrics the way Ruth McDowell does, as I am working with smaller pieces in many instances. I don't use as much pattern fabric as she does and like to piece my backgrounds separately for the most part (although not always). However, piecing in sections does have its pitfalls and I do have to undo some pieces when I put them together and occasionally have to applique a piece to adjust the color. You will notice on the above piece that I have some pinned pieces on the ears and one down under the mane of the lion as I got the color wrong and it was important. I am sure there are others that I will have to adjust once I get it all together and I find something that really annoys me!

Here, just the legs are done. The one at the top of the page has three more sections completed! I made a lot of progress and it is beginning to feel more manageable!
Priscilla has finished machine quilting the bright side of her leaves piece -- I think you can see the quilting if you double click. It is looking just wonderful and she plans on entering it into some shows in the fall. She will have to take a brief hiatus as a knee is being replaced this week and despite what she says, I am sure this will require some rest!

I got a kick out of Marcia up on a ladder starting another Jet Trails piece. Her pieces are large enough that a ladder is a necessary tool to their placement and completion!!