I love this!

Might I suggest for the border, an offset (one side larger) for the writing such as in some of the antique middle eastern manuscripts. But I do think that a border will bring you into the piece. On the quilting, I would probably knock down the background while leaving the trees and branches just quilted around.

Wonderful.

Dinah

I love it just the way it is. wow. I think you are right about leaving the cardinal out, this is a perfectly still and quiet, beautiful scene. peaceful. quilting, perhaps along the trees to make the step out of the pix more. maybe very light swirls for fog, if I am seeing this right. (?)

it is beautiful.

carol k.

I did realize yesterday that part of my problem with this piece is fear..as in its too precious to mess it up...like that fabulous one piece of fabric thats too good to use!!  odd problem i dont usually have...glad i have the iris to work on till this one talks to me some more...its not talking right now...

I have not looked at this for a few days, but now that I have seen it again, I just want to walk into it again. It really calls out to me, like a memory. just lovely. I can honestly see why you need more time. 

to me the woods seem to go on and on, and how do you border it and leave that feeling? anyway, that is how I ''feel'' about it. not sure if you are in the same place. 

good luck to you and hope you get a suggestion that truly helps you find an answer. ;D

I love the piece as is but, I think I see an owl sitting in there.

What a beautiful piece!

I'd probably quilt the background with more of those branches in fading shades of grays.  This layering would give it greater depth without detracting too much.

Maggie...if you add a bird, s/he needs to be muted...a brown owl would work...something that blends into the woods.  I feel like it needs a ground, something to weight it a bit at the bottom.  How about the writing meandering in and out of the trees, as if it were the grasses?  Then use shades of blues and taupes and barely-pink-beiges and grays (faintly blue or purply ones) for the receeding woods or thicket behind the trees....cheers, Sarah

I really like it.  Could you continue the trees into the borders?  Or how about facing it and letting the trees and bleak wintery feeling stand out.

"Stopping by wood on a snowy evening"...Robert Frost.

I don't see a cardinal, but maybe a thread-created/quilted owl?

A few quilted swirls suggesting snow.

I wouldn't border it, just bind it with the same softened fabric you used in the body and that is where I might write in some words, right on the binding.

Good luck, and I would love to have it if you want to give it away!  ;-)

LOVE IT!  This is the perfect piece for the show!  

Wow - what to do next?  Something in the background to add more depth, thread sketch the trunks for texture, a hoot owl?  Heck I don't know - that's why I'm here on the computer.  But your UFO definitely is drawing me to it.  

I hope you get picked.  I'd love to see what the artists would do:)

Thanks for sharing.

jo

WOOOHOOO...i got picked...mailing it out today...bytw reason i was thinking cardinal is that a cardinal usually sits on that branch...this is the view out one of my front windows...I never tire of looking at the trees around where i live...such an amazing thing a tree is!! 

Thanks for all your input...lots of great ideas!!!

Very subtle, fading away tree shapes quilted into the background would be my suggestion. You don't want to detract from this beautiful piece.  I have used stretcher bars to mount small pieces before and the edges are finished and you don't need to worry about a border taking away from the piece. 

When I looked at this among all the other pieces, I thought it was done with jute string.... Now I'm thinking....hmm, what could one do with couching or somehow including jute in a piece of collaged quilt art?

I found the string when doing a massive clean-up, sorting and organizing of my studio. A quick look around, and now I can't find it again. Che sera!

I do like this piece.

Pat Shaer

nutmegnotions@yahoo.com 

I feel that it is a quiet blue forest.  If a bird is put in which might be very nice, then I see a little wren, in same colors you are using.  A folded resting strip in the blue grey and then a one and one half inch or two inch brownish border will keep it a work of art instead of a hanging quilt in which the border overwhelms the original design.  Lovely feeling, lovely!

I really really like this!  I think there are some realy good ideas here.  Thought I'd go ahead and add my 2 cents...

I was thinking that a particial border would help finish the piece while leaving it open.  Like a darker 2-3 inch border on 1 side and a 1-2 inch border on the top.  If you leave the other 2 sides 'open' then the woods can 'continue' into the distance.

As for a bird, I think that would be really great! but I would use a muted red for the cardinal. It sounds like he belongs in there.

I thought it looked snowy so how ever you would add the quilting to make it look more like snow or blowing snow with like an iradesent (spelling ?) thread would add just alittle snowy sparkle...just a little.

Just a few thoughts...

I look forward to seeing the finished piece.

Shelle

I love it just as it is. 

So beautifully atmospheric as it is so  no cardinal, no border, no writing could add to the feeling... it is lovely as it is. But to let it feel finished to you - some or all of the ideas below could work:

- Maybe a tad of silver foil on the moon? Just a wipe of silver here and there...That is because for me it recalls a poem (hope I have quoted correctly)

"Lovely now the Lady Moon

Walks the night in her silver shoon" (shoes)

- Maybe rough, ragged edges to the work

- A tad of gentle handstitching in pearly white and/or silver metallic - insilk or rayon along the sides of the trees in discreet patches or marks? And some silver metallic somewhere to suggest moonlit shadows?

Try some of the above combos on another fabric sandwich to see if you like the effects...make some marks with the sepia and the pastels as you did for your UFO -

Maybe UFO sometimes stands for "Underloved Fine Object

quilt the boarders of the trees  maybe applique slick , as a boarder around the quilt?