4TH BONUS WALL HANGING - "AIRE LEAPS THROUGH THE SEASONS"

Fiber Artist:  Candy Kramlich

Finished Wall Hanging measures approx. 24.5 - 25 inches

Finally it is done!! My procrastination this year knew no bounds! All because I dreaded the turning under edges and pinning process. My most challenging aspect this year was "ears". The pieces were so small and my fingers had a hard time turning under the edges! In keeping with the "leaping" theme for this year, I decided to use two different Airedale leaping poses taken from an Airedale placemat and made the backgrounds representative of each of the four seasons of the year. I learned 2 new things this year too: if you use 4 fabrics for your sashing, sew two together at a time before attaching to the blocks rather than one at a time; and don't reinforce the stitching at the beginning and end because if you have to rip it out, it's a pain in the neck! Many thanks to Rebecca Eash for making my label.

Label on back

We start off in the top left block with SUMMER on a light green/blue background and the Airedale is leaping to catch a brown toad after a summer rainstorm. I reoriented the Airedale in a downward leap when I realized brown toads don't leap up to high.  I know in central Maryland, the brown toads come out in the yard after a summer rainfall, and my Airedale, Pinky, is in high hunting mode!  So much so, that even a brown leaf blowing in the wind or lying by the back door, brings out the toad huntress in her summer, fall, winter and spring!  It doesn't matter that they taste vile and disgusting when caught and leave her gagging and foaming at the mouth.  The prey drive is just too strong in her. The pink collar is homage to my Pinky.

FALL is the upper right block and the background is a muted green with a leaf pattern.  The leaping Airedale is trying to catch several falling leaves in the blowing wind.

WINTER is on a faint gray/blue background with hints of pine needles in white and brown.  The leaping Airedale in this block is trying to catch a snowball or two.  What Airedale doesn't relish leaping to catch a snowball and then, if they miss, wonder where it has disappeared to in the snow-covered ground!

SPRING's background fabric is a brighter shade of green with a floral pattern.  The leaping Airedale in this block is chasing butterflies and dragonflies.






The idea for this wall hanging was a riff on my first wall hanging, "Bitches in Season" by Christie Williams.  My first challenge for this wall hanging was deciding on the background fabric for each block.  I was trying to use fabric that I had on hand in my "stash". With several years experience under my belt, this year the hand applique work was fairly easy.  It was just a matter of getting started and psyching myself up to do it.  Since it is hard on the eyes and fingers, I usually only work about an hour or two  morning and night on the hand applique, but because I was so behind in my schedule, I did the hand applique on the 4 blocks in 4 days, a new personal record.  My quilting is minimal (just stitch in the ditch in center seams) as I still don't trust myself to get innovative as I have a hard time controlling my sewing machine.  Maybe some day, I'll get adventuresome and get crazy, but for the time being I'm playing it safe so I don't screw up the blocks.

Auditioning fabric

This was a year for recycling what I had on hand from fabric to ideas to drawings.  I had initially planned to have sashing between the blocks alternating the 4 background fabrics.  But I had a huge mis-step and had to carefully rip it out.  I opted to not put any sashing between the blocks.

Freezer paper pattern pieces ironed onto fabric and cut out
positioned on the blocks

Fall Block still waiting to be pinned
auditioning embellishments

Winter Block waiting to be pinned and playing
around with embellishments

I use the self-binding method, so here is a photo of the top, batting and backing fabric pinned together and ready to be sewn. Now just needed to add the embellishment buttons!

I ended up using a rich brown fabric for the backing rather than trying to piece together the 4 background fabrics.  After my sashing disaster, a rookie mistake, I opted not to use sashing.  I tried sewing each sashing piece to one side of each block and then join them.  Well, I ended up with a big "hole" in the middle.  Panic!! I decided after reading an article on sashing that is isn't required, so didn't attempt a 2nd try since I was under the gun and could not afford any more mishaps! Now I can get a good night's sleep. 

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