It’s been a while since I shared the turtle in the pond fiber object. As a reminder, it was inspired by a photo taken by Bill on a recent camping trip at Lake Montgomery.
I loved the light, the colors and the texture of this image. I knew right away that I want to create my own version in fabric.
Here is a recap of how I processed this inspiration. First of all, I used fabric paint and the Shibori technique to render the background on cotton fabric.
After the paint dried, I added another layer to render some shadows. Next I painted the two halves of the turtle onto white fabric…….
……………..… and appliqued them to the background using fusable interfacing.
This is how things stood while I pondered what other elements would enhance the image.
I decided on a few damselflies. More images by Bill were consulted. I picked three beauties, hand embroidered the bodies with floss and machine stitched the wings.
You can see the water plants I added in the foreground using applique and paint.
I sewed on a black border and then paused. This week I finally got around to quilting. My intent was to make the stitch lines look like pond ripples.
It took a lot of pondering and a dose of courage to add the turtle’s reflection. The only real option was to hand paint it using opaque Setacolor. So I did.
And here is the finished project.
This fiber object is now a wonderful reminder of a very special camping trip.
Daily Fiber 