The Next Project....the Jacket

Well, lots of drama around here with cameras.  I tried to destroy my camera by taking a ton of pictures in the rain on my last big bird trip.  After a week of trying it every day, I decided I needed a new camera as I couldn't change the settings on the camera anymore.  I ordered an upgraded model -- Canon 70D which came with a bunch of accessories and I was really happy with it.  I have been playing around getting used to the differences.  Well, of course the day the camera arrived, my old camera mysteriously started working again, ten days after the trip!!  The above sunset picture was taken at a different place down at Ft. Fisher which I discovered thanks to my roommate from the bird trip, Sandra.  She knows tons about Kure Beach as she lived here for many years before moving into Wilmington proper.

This past weekend I attempted to go on a field trip around Greenfield Lake with an Audobon group.  They walked very fast and there was quite a large group and my ankle gave up after about a mile and a quarter.  I did use the new camera to get this nice picture of an osprey though!  

Unfortunately, I went out today to take some pictures and the camera wouldn't work!!  So much for the new camera.  Thank goodness I bought it from Amazon and can easily return.  Then I will get another one although now I am a little leary.  I never  had an error code on my old Canon!

Anyway, the next order of business was to take this big bag of silk scraps I have had for years and make a jacket from them.  For a long time, I have thought I would just create strips about four inches wide and separate those strips with black and that would be it.  So I have started just taking these leftover 1 1/2 inch wide strips and sewing them down on a flannel foundation.  These are cut up silk (only silk) ties that I bought back in the 80s for twenty five cents each.  I deconstructed them and then washed them and made a quilt called "Thrift Shop Stained Glass" many years ago -- a pineapple quilt.

This was an attempt to see how it would look together with thicker black strips as it just looks far too busy for my tastes.  I decided I had better play a little bit in EQ7 to see if some of the variations I have thought about would work.

This is just a try at a better composition.  I decided that I would try to vary a great deal the width of the strips and would add something a little calmer - the checkered red and black strips.  There is quite a bit of red in the long strips and I thought I would try to bring this out by adding some more.  These are obviously not the actual strips and I would not have the regular rhythm that there is here but would vary it a bit more.  I am thinking I would just have one main strip on each sleeve with the red/black checkered pieces on either side and a lot more black.  I want this to be a pretty dressy jacket that I can wear with black dress pants.  I don't have all my nice silk fabric down here but luckily found some black silk and red silk  at a local store so I could make progress down here!