Susie Monday . El Cielo Studio

I promised myself a day of work on a new quilt, even though the iggly piggly little nits and bits that plague the self-employed are heaped high on the desk. But My Artist Self is just a little kid, and if she doesn't get to play, she gets very ornery.

 So today, rather than great words of wisdom, we all get play time with color.

Not that the play is completely fret-free. This large Sirena has been hidden in a stack of dyed fabrics, scraps of embroidered dresses and a batt of cotton already top-coated with a layer of WonderUnder and she is a little cranky about showing up. I spent most of the day trying one shape, one pattern and then another, rescuing, undoing trying to balance the rather tricky orange and aqua. Being fearful that this was a big giant waste of good cloth -- boy. where does that come from?

This is one intermediate stage (note feet of The Artist standing on the cutting table):

And here's the next one --

I sure hope I don't decide I liked the larger pieces of Guatemalan belt better -- as you can see, what was a nice bold set of stripes is now a mosaic of little squares. This mermaid  is boating through a coral sunset, juggling the rising moon, and I wanted to get the sense and movement of reflection on water when the ocean turns pink and aqua, silver and gold.

So, I'm still not sure, but with the larger pieces ironed down, I'll leave the little bits and textures to settle overnight, and hope that I'll either like it all in the morning -- or, as can happen, tear it apart and start  again. But one thing is sure, we had our swim.