Work in Progress

I have a friend who is in the last week(s) of pregnancy, and she's at that point where she's feeling physically and emotionally at the breaking point. I remember from my own pregnancies how she feels, and I also know that sometimes, when you're at that point, it feels as though you're in a downward spiral. I've been working on a large fiber art piece this week that, for some reason, reminds me of my friend. However, instead of it being a downward spiral into despair, the piece feels like it's leading up and out of the darkness--an upward spiral, if you will. In fact, that's what I think I'm going to call it: The Upward Spiral.

Here are a couple of pictures of this work in progress. This first picture is of the entire thing. In person, it's probably about 34" wide by 40" long. I primarily created this by piecing (sewing) the fabrics, then cutting and repiecing them. The circles, though, are fused on and have an extra layer of batting in them, so they are raised up a little. I added some fiber embellishments, and did free motion quilting using a beautiful variegated thread that picked up the colors in the quilt (red, yellow, purple).

This next picture is a close up of the spiral in the center. I spent a solid 2-1/2 hours last night hand beading it, and I really like the way it came out. I still think this piece needs something else other than just binding, but I'm not sure what at this point.