Monday, July 26, 2010

Quilt - Days 2 & 3

Day - 2... Making the patterns.  Running a bookstore in the summer can be a bit boring. Just about everyone is away on vacation (except me)... so business is extremely s-l-o-w.  Not to mention that we are in a heat wave here on the east coast and if customers are not at their shore home, then they are holed up in their air-conditioned house. I can't blame them... if I didn't have to come out to work I would have stayed home and sewed. So... I brought my project along to keep me from falling asleep at the front counter. Wouldn't THAT be embarrassing?

In true stashbuster fashion I grabbed whatever paper I had on hand and began to draw my major elements like the fish, lilly pads and flowers. BTW stashbuster's yahoo group is really cool. For those of you that don't know about them... check it out. Their main theme is to NOT PURCHASE ANY MORE FABRIC! Since I don't have any funds for this project this is a rule I strictly adhere to!!



Day - 3... cutting the fabric and positioning the major elements.  I have to admit, I didn't give ANY thought at all to the size and proportion of things. My paper was 8 1/2 x 11, so that was the fish size I drew.  I drew the lilly pads and flowers using the same size paper. That didn't really work out when it came time to position the items on the background fabric. A lot of trimming was needed to make things look more in proportion. The whole piece turned out much larger than I imagined it would be... but all in all I like it.


Here is the piece with the major pieces ironed on in place using Heat and Bond Lite. The blue gap above the fish to the right is for a turtle. Two lilly pads get frogs on them.  I will still have to trim the background fabric once the appliques and quilting are finished which will cut off some of the flower edges and lilly pads... by design.

Originally I thought about adding more interest to the water by using 5 different colors and creating a patchwork... but I thought that would take away from the original picture that I so loved. Maybe I'll do that to a small piece or two and make little hanging in the future. Hmmm... I'll see. In the meantime... remember that I am kind of new to this whole process. If anyone has any comments or suggestions please let me know!!

My plan of attack is to machine applique around all of the pieces. Then add the turtle. Trim to size and add border/s. Layer and quilt... add the frogs... embellish... make a label... and hang. If I am doing things out of order, or you see a flaw in my plan don't wait to tell me. Please tell me NOW!

And now... to bed!

2 comments:

  1. Hi! What a fun idea for a quilt! I suggest you take a peek at this site http://tinyurl.com/36uqq6h
    I haven't done it yet, but I still think this this "No Sew Until you Quilt It" method would be great for your project.
    Happy thoughts to you!
    : )
    Juhe

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  2. Thanks for the link June. I was going to applique by machine FIRST and then quilt it... but maybe I'll rethink that and head right for the quilting. Hmmm... very interesting. That link also has many other free lessons that will help.

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