Working in black and white

This is the black and white Microsoft picture I posted about a few days ago. I know it looks pink but honest it is black and white. It's a picture I use as the background on my desktop. I've always loved this picture and thought it would be fun to try and replicate it in fabric.
So after doing some laundry and making a humbug bag for a gift today (I'll post pics after I give it away) I started playing with my own black and white!
First I drew the branch by painting it with Liquitex (soft body) and a little textile medium mixed in.I did layer batting and backing to the piece above then I continued on. I wanted to use some type of sheer material and I found a sheer bag (actually I found two of these!) that appears to be some type of organza. I removed all the stitching and ribbon, then ironed the fabric and traced out some leaves. Kinda hard to see but I think you'll get the drift! Just look hard!

Next I cut out the leaf but I kept a good 1/2 or more around the edge of the leaf then stitched it down. Once stitched I used some sharp scissors and cut carefully! around the stitching line. I did try cutting the leaf shape out on another one and just stitching it but I'd prefer to have the excess fabric and then cut away.

After I stitched a leaf, I then free motion quilted the veins then stitched on another leaf and FMQ'd and yada, yada...

And my leaves all stitched down and my piece is black and white (not pink!). Now to do some free motion quilting to finish the piece. It's only a small piece around 11" x 13" but I wanted to play with the technique before I made a bigger one.

If anything, I can donate to Ami Simms AAQI. In fact, so could you!! Ami is looking for more quilts that will be sold on the AAQI web site and be taken to Houston to sell. Do check out the blog post here and read about the request for more quilts. They are small in size but huge in return for this initiative!

Friday is our local quilt guild meeting and I'm one of four putting on a workshop in the afternoon. I'll be showing the ladies how to use Shiva paintstiks. We're going to be playing with rubbings, stamps, masking tape and anything else I find in my stash! I love using the paintstiks because you have instant results! Hopefully, I'll get pics from the workshop and post this weekend.