Here we are in Margot's sunny Ohio kitchen with the piece, in December 2019. So, I thought I was done with this whole concept.
Then I received an email from Lisa Ellis, the coordinator of the Backyard exhibit. Turns out a cancer center in Virginia chose a number of pieces from the exhibit for their facility, including mine. But they wanted the same pieces, made larger, 36" x 36". And they were willing to pay for them, and have them framed. OK, very exciting! And I still had some rusted linen damask and the greenish hand-dyed fabric I had used for the leaves and embellishments. So I dove right into designing a rectangle into a larger square and so on. Within a a week the piece was well underway.
Next, another email from Lisa. Framing for the larger pieces was going to be very costly, so the desired size was reduced to 30" x 30". If I hadn't been such an eager beaver, this would be no problem--but the design couldn't just be slashed by three inches on each side. I finished it, and will include it in a local show, probably next year.
This afternoon, I opened the black plastic and found perfectly beautiful rusting on the cloth. Even better than I had hoped. It has been washed and rinsed and is drying now in the laundry room. I had crocheted a bunch of yarn cords for the trunk, branches, and probably a border (instead of binding), and I have cut out all the leaves and green bottom pieces I will need. It's pretty much the end of the gauzy tablecloth I dyed with bois d'arc and indigo last summer. Oh, and I have a few printed butterflies already on fusible. So as soon as the thing dries, I'm ready to go.