Absolutely the Last Forest Quilt!

I am one of those people who finishes almost everything I ever start. I am not sure why, it's just one of those things. I can count the unfinished quilts i have made in 20 years of my quilting life on one hand. So the unfinished forest quilt that i found in my suitcase of quilts left in Paye Bas bothered me, despite the fact that i had said i would not make another forest quilt- the piece of cloth was too nice to discard in the corner of a cupboard somewhere. I actually pinned the cloth for a photograph shoot that Editions de Saxe did back in 2007 or 2008 for an article about my whole cloth forest quilts. I had done some small sections of  stitching, so I have been working on finishing the stitching. These pieces take ages as they are heavily stitched and I am blogging about the process of this quilt on the Bernina Blog. I also started out making the red circles orange, and after completing a section decided that the orange was too yellow- so rather than unpick all the stitching I had done I decided to stitch over the  circles in red- the result  of this overstitching is rather nice even if I do say so myself.

It's been so hot- it's just hot and sunny here everyday. I get up early to take the dog for a walk- they say for humans you have to do something for 6 months before it becomes a habit- well i can tell you that for a dog it's nowhere near that time- in fact if I don't take the dog for an early morning walk, she pushes open the door in my room and then if I am not ready I am in serious danger of  having my feet bitten off at the ankles. The up side of this is  I am walking  at least an hour every day through the vineyards- we usually take the same route as I love to see little shifts in what is flowering in the wild flower department, the growing grapes in the vineyard, shifts of light on Pic St Loup, which is starting to acquire a bit of a Mont  St-Victoire sort of  feeling inside my head  though I am certain I cannot emulate Cezanne- the grand master.

I am also thinking about a vineyard quilt- how to get the effect of those stunning shade of green and those gnarley branches.

I am also becoming the queen of gazpacho- we have been trying out different versions and  we take turns  trying to out do each other ( my friend Liwanag is a great cook as well as wonderful quilter)- but the last gazpacho I made was very yummy- it is the best soup in hot weather!

Oh and I tried to respond to the question a reader asked about the painted fabrics- it is a scratch back technique I am using.