Slowly I Sew, Inch By Inch

Here’s the latest versions of a few projects I showed in earlier incarnations.  Unfortunately, the quilting brownies didn’t visit my sewing room and finish these up in the night, so I had to do the work myself.

First up, my beaded curtain top is pieced.  I found that the extra robin’s egg blue Kona fabric I ordered didn’t quite match.  Well, it’s pieced now and I’m not looking back (or ripping it out.)  Besides, there’s no guarantee I’d find the exact match.  Lesson learned – different dye lots are indeed just that, different.  My hope is that extensive quilting with the right thread will cover up blend the different blues in the background.

And my Gloria Loughman piece is finally ready to be sewn together.  I’ve been sewing down all the fusible applique for a week now, finicky bit by finicky bit.  Were there lessons learned? And how! Here’s just a few: don’t ever, EVER use the tear away embroidery stabilizer with the little holes (it doesn’t meet my definition of tear away and it melts under an iron set at nylon;) and don’t use thread that requires a size 14 sewing machine needle to sew around little fabric pieces.  That large needle will shred the edges.

Aside from that, I’m pleased with the way the piece is looking.  If you want to try this technique from “Quilted Symphony,” I suggest you use lightweight fusible interfacing on the back of your pieces so your stitching doesn’t pucker up, and just leave it in.  Ripping out the tear away stuff was about as tedious as removing paper from paper piecing.  And I think the tearing can weaken your stitches.  I just left the stabilizer alone in some heavily appliqued areas.

I think it’s time for me to stop sewing and start quilting.