More FMQ on Batik pre-cut Kit

This quilt from a John Flynn pre-cut kit has been going on and on and on and on. It seems like I keep losing momentum. But I am determined to complete it this year so I can count it in my Year in Review post for 2018. This post continues chronicling my FMQ efforts. Past posts are:

January 10, 2018 where I discuss curved piecing
February 23, 2018 where I decide on a block arrangement
March 1, 2018 where I challenge myself to get a backing from too little fabric
October 24, 2018 where I began FMQ

I had paused when I was uninspired as to what pattern to use for the "viking helmet horn" shaped areas. Since other spaces looked like petals I decided to bisect the steer horns with a central vein so they would look more like leaves. The more I doodled, the more I liked the idea of quilting each side of the "leaf" differently. The viking helmet horns were definitely camouflaged. I use marker on paper printouts or white board marker on sheets inserted in vinyl page protectors.

These have the contours of hosta leaves per plantsgalore.com and I noted a similarity in shape. The ones in my quilt are not so symmetric and are slightly stylized but the general outlines are there. 

There is a quilt pattern by Judy Niemeyer called Fire Island Hosta where she treats each half of the leaf differently. I drew from both idea sources.

In my October 24, 2018 post I tried feathers, wishbone loops, and more flower petals, but none spoke "leaf" to me. I tried adding curved radiating veins on one side and swirls on the other and somehow it seemed to work. Veins on both sides would have resulted in larger areas of high density than I like. I figured out a continuous path and numbered it. 

1. Up the central vein from the base
2. Return down slightly offset from the central vein
3. Swirl waves out CW hugging perimeter, then inward CCW, up from base to tip (~3 waves)
4. Return in the ditch down along the opposite (vein) outside
5. Create curve baseline for veined half
6. Back and forth curves up the sub-veins to the leaf tip
7. Return in the ditch down the opposite (swirl) leaf side toward the base
8. At right angles stitch in the ditch to the center to begin next leaf of the set of four

I chanted:
Center up, tip down, CW swirl out, repeat, vein side down, curve base, back 'n forth up, swirl side down, return home.

Sometimes the swirls were on the convex side and sometimes on the concave side, but always on the left. When I experimented with mirror images to be consistently concave or convex, those steer horns reappeared, so I committed to asymmetry. Here is my practice piece of the stitching lines on fabric. The actual cloth version is larger than my drawing so I think it will take four swirls on the left side of the leaf. I would like to keep the "veins" on the right side more curved so I need to stay aware of that, also.

There are forty of these "leaves" on my quilt so, with practice, I may have it exactly as I want it by the final one. I've completed slightly fewer than half of them. But for now I am linking up to Let's Bee Social #251.