Progress on the Great Egret

This is  one of my favorite pictures of a Great Egret taken at Carolina Beach Lake.

I have struggled with what to do about the rocks and finally just went with some random piecing and will try to suggest stones with the machine quilting.

This is the copy that sits next to me where I place each piece in a section before sewing together and pinning on the design wall.  I have noted colors and the numbers that appear on the freezer paper copy.

This is just the beginning of getting my feet wet!  One foot down.    As I finish a section, I pin it to the copy on the design wall.   It looks more complicated than it is.  It is a cinch to sew together after putting all the markings on the freezer paper templates -- a very necessary step in the process!  Getting the fabrics right is a little trickier, especially when you only have a limited selection down in this sewing room -- the bulk of my fabric is still in the north!  It has worked better than I thought it would thanks to some fabrics my sister gave me from her Hoffman stash (mostly black with some brown mixed in).

This was at the end of day 1 of piecing.  This is one of the outlines pinned on my design wall.  

This was at the end of day 2.  I am going to undo a little of this one as I don't like the emphasis of the grey strip going diagonally so will break it up.

My husband has left to go back north so no excuses for not getting it done (except for a guest this weekend) and my packing to get ready to head north as well in a couple of weeks.

Progress continues but I am removing the darkish piece on the left hand side as it sticks out too much.  Will replace it with something a little more subtle with just a touch of the darker color in a corner.