Wovles in progress

Started working on the leaves for my Wolf piece. I cut out some leaf shapes on fused back fabric for background but wanted some leaves for dimension. I sandwiched backing, batting and some hand dyed fabric then started some free motion quilting outlining the leaves. After the small piece is totally filled with stitching, I cut out each leaf then used Setacolor paint to cover any of the batting that showed through on the sides. I may still insert some wire in the middle to allow the leaf to 'bend' more. Here's my leaves being stitched.
These are the fused leaves that will be ironed down once I decide the placement.

Here are lots of leaves...the pale green 'straight' pieces are just some yarn I used to get the feel of how the leaves should be placed. This isn't the layout I've ended up with but just some pics I took in the process.

Here's a closeup of some of the different leaves. The unstitched leaves are backed with fusible and will have veins stitched in them once they are ironed down. You can see my 'yarn' stems better there! Ha...gotta use what you have!

It was hard to sit for any long period of time yesterday so the process took longer then I wanted. Today (so FAR!) my hips and legs are moving better. Knees, shoulders and wrists are still painful but more tolerable then yesterday! Let's hope this keeps up. Sure don't like this 'getting' old feeling.