Sedona mandala

While I'm in Sedona, I decided to make a mandala with colors and shapes I see around me ... fiery orange rocks, golden orange sun, purple sunsets, green cacti and junipers.

First, I fused the shapes from some of my painted fabric and then satin-stitched around each.
 

This is just the base for what I hope will be a lot of hand embroidery and beading: 
 

Before I left home, I stuffed this little cosmetics bag with hand-dyed embroidery threads from Artfabrik and beads in many colors. I added scissors, pins, needles, beeswax -- I remembered everything except beading thread! (There are even more beads in the bag.) So I was forced to make a trip to the local beading store, darn : )

While I was laying out my colors, I noticed that the beaded coasters in the house where we're staying go along nicely with my project. I love synchonicities like that. So tomorrow evening I'll switch to hand-work mode and report back when I've made progress.

Have a colorful day