Work in Progress – The Longest Day, update 2

I wanted to add more beadwork to the center panel of this work in progress, The Longest Day. I had done a lot of hand embroidery on the needlefelted portion, and stitched in rows of seed beads along the path of the river, so I had a large investment of time in the work already.  But I felt the borders would benefit from the addition of chunkier beads to represent the islands and rocky outcroppings prevalent in the river. I used a combination of larger glass beads and semi-precious stones to evoke that aspect. It was slow work, but very satisfying. (Pictures enlarge when clicked.)
In the meantime I was thinking about the my options for the background/supporting quilt.  I made a large strip pieced panel using my stash of silks from Mysore, India.  It will be sliced up and reconfigured. I did some digital alteration on a photo of the Veterans Memorial Bridge, in Columbia, taken at sunset.  I had it commercially printed as yardage.  It will also be sliced up and reconfigured.

I am additionally considering adding some cyanotype images.  It’s all starting to come together; now I need to block out some time without distractions to do the final design and construction of the quilt top.

Thanks for following along!