Gelli print wildflower collage

I've been floundering a bit this summer as far as my fiber art goes. Ive mamaged to finish some things, but I'v also had a few starts and stops, a couple that i wasnt happy with -- i couldn't seem to work through it.  Finally, i gave myself permission to pull out my box of Gelli prints. I have lots because of my recent workshop, so i gathered a few with similar flora and colors. These are sone of my fabourite things to work with. Generally, i would seam them together, sometimes adding sashing and borders.  There are two artists whose work I love--Cas Holmes and Jane Lafazio. Their fibre art pieces are often raw edge layered with personal symbols using different textures, fabrics, and with both machine and hand stitching.

 Here is a piece by Jane LaFazio.

Inspired by these artists, yesterday, I started cutting pieces up with the rotary cutter and no ruler! I put a piece of fleece up on the design wall and started laying them out.

I couldn't wait to get back to it this morning. Finally, after moving a few around i decided to commit and start stitching. After taking a picture, i did a light spray baste and put everything back in place.

The next picture shows a detail of the machine stitching over the raw edges.

I think I'll continue to stitch everything down in this way, maybe varying colors and pattern. I also plan some overlays with textures and sheers using free motion sketching and some handwork. Finally, I'm excited! It is summer though and i have to start packing for a long weekend at the family cottage in PEI. There will be a barbecue attended by any of my 3 brothers plus spouses, a sister, and some nieces and nephews. My son and wife are coming from Lunenburg and of course we'll see my daughter with her partner and our grandson. A real family gathering that we do every summer. Ollie started crawling last week and is really enjoying exploring his parameters. One day, after coming back from putting cloths away, my daughter found him sitting in the corner with his book.

He is very active. I'm hoping this means he'll enjoy the quiet times too.