When will I ever learn?

When will I ever learn to make my free pieced work to scale?  Keeping in scale is easy for me if I start out with a project and complete the piecing in one go.  But, if I decide to make additions and don't bother to look at my original piecing, my work is all over the map.  It usually comes out way bigger than what I started.  This happened just the other day when I returned to the House and Trees project of the last post.  I had taken my original house and trees off the wall to do some other work and they were buried somewhere.

I want to make four more autumn trees. This past week, I struggled to piece two of them. Part of my problem is visualizing and I usually don't make sketches.  (Yes, I can be lazy.  I'm not an artist by training - I'm a biologist). Consequently, I come up with some weird stuff.  I know that making different trees would be easier for me if I were to choose to applique or fuse.  I gotta do things the hard way.  (Lazy and stubborn? Maybe, but I prefer to call it a challenge.)

One result is a blob that is almost bigger than the house! The blob is supposed to represent a cut-leaf Japanese maple, one of the smallest trees in my yard.  The cut-leaf  Japanese maple tree does have branches that drape all the way to the ground, and its leaves hide the trunk completely during the summer or fall.  The green swirly fabric represents the pachysandra bed beneath the tree.  Well, I got the color right. I got the shape right. I just need to scale it down.  Sigh.  Back to the design wall with that one.

Hey!  The blob is a whole lot more realistic than my first effort at this tree.  Have you ever seen a jelly-fish tree?  Take a look. Crazy, huh? I told you I have a hard time visualizing:-)

Now, the other tree I "made" is supposed to be a native flowering dogwood.  It has the right autumn color.  The shape is iffy - most dogwoods have an irregular shape.  But, it is way too big.  Another re-do will happen before I am happy. Plus, I need to conquer those pesky curves.  I kind of wish I could put these in the wash and shrink them!

To put it all in perspective here's the whole thing as of now.... definitely needs work!