BLOG 199

 

Long light days, a blooming garden, lovely weather and …… frantic sewing … and I am supposed to be retired!! I often wonder why I feel so compelled to slam things under my sewing machine. I suppose the main reason is that I don’t like to waste anything and that attitude was ingrained in us as children in the 50s. We were also encouraged not to waste any time as it is very precious and so we were always busy. The chores were completed first before sitting down and then we usually had something in our hands so as to make good use of our TV watching time! Another reason for frantic sewing just now is that I am trying to finish off unfinished projects for the Gresford show. This is the only time now when I choose to exhibit new pieces and sell my ‘historic’ projects, of which there are many. Once this phase has passed, I will rethink where I am going with my creative endeavours.

That said, I was anxious this week to make progress on my calendar quilt, where I am enjoying the creative process without the pressure of deadlines. So, continuing from last week, the pattern was pinned onto the back of the panel.

 

                                          Pattern on WS

 

I placed sheers onto the RS, where I more or less wanted them to appear. From the WS (the pattern side) I sewed around the shape to trap the sheers in place.

                                          Sewn shape

 Then I used the soldering iron to remove the excess fabric from around the outside edges. I particularly like the way that the background fabric affects the look of the sheers.

                                  Soldered shape

 

I thought I would continue to do this, placing colour where I wanted it to be to build up the design. After placing a green sheer on the next part of the pattern, I realised straight away that I did not like it and that the design was in danger of becoming contrived; this is not what I was trying to achieve.

 

                             Building the design

 

After a bit of reverse sewing (which incidentally I hate to do because it smacks of failure!!) I started to layer and pin sheers more randomly on the RS.

 

                            Random placement

 

Then I began defining the pattern from the WS again, building up strength of colour in areas where I wanted it.

                        Stitching the design

More sheers and more stitching followed.

                                         Layers

 The finished corner looked pleasing … apart from the purple berries on the corner which seemed like a good idea at the time. The thing about this method is that if I don’t like something, I can just solder it away. I think I may have cracked the technique!

 

                        Completed corner

 

I have a water colour garden hanging which I am quilting for Gresford and here is Chivers trying to halt my progress by sitting on my quilt so I can’t move it freely under my machine. Must be his tea time!

 

                                           Chivers