Monday, January 24, 2011
Hearts and Flowers - a bit of progress
I've finally made a little progress on the centre panel of the Hearts and Flowers quilt. I was so excited when I began this last year but I got a bit intimidated with those squiggles. I had decided to try the back basting method and everything was going wonderfully until I came to actually do some sewing. I unpicked a few stitches and couldn't see where I should have been turning the fabric under - maybe the thread I used wasn't thick enough (I used quilting thread) or perhaps my stitches were too big, I'm not sure. Anyway, I struggled through one squiggle and then put it away for 'later' on! I've managed to overcome the problem by using my white Sewline to draw along the stitched line and over the weekend I've managed to stitch quite a bit - I enjoyed it enormously once I settled down with the white pencil method :) I thought I would post a picture of my progress so far and wanted to say how much I enjoy looking at all the beautiful and inspiring work on this blog.
I'm glads you're enjoying it Theresa. Even though you've just started, it looks great to me. I don't do back basting so can't help you there.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE it, Theresa! Those polka dots and the squiggles make me smile. ; ) Glad you felt so...sew inspired. Your work looks great!!! Keep it up!!!
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried back basting, so I don't know about stitch length, etc..but the fabric you're using is one that's a bit "beefier" than some of the others, so maybe that enters into the issue as well?
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to see that you've found another way to do those curves. Your work looks wonderful! :)
Looks great! I tried back basting on one of my blocks (the last one that I had so much trouble on), and had the same problem you had (I couldn't see it). I used my sewline to mark too. I'll try it again, but probably not with so many little pieces. I loved the transportability of the project with it all basted. I was wondering if maybe my thread tension wasn't tight enough...the ones I did at the end were more visible than the ones when I first basted them too. Also I wonder if they were steam ironed first if it would help. Hopefully you'll hear from some with more backbasting experience!
ReplyDeleteIt looks great to me, I haven't done anything with backbasting yet, but it seems to me those curves look great.
ReplyDeleteIt looks wonderful. I think you did a great job with all those curves. I think quilters are pretty brave sometimes with the expectations they have of their work and this is one of those times.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for the compliments and the encouragement. Donna - I too like how the back basting makes a project so portable. If I can just overcome the problem of getting the holes visible then I think I would use this technique more often. I hadn't thought about thread tension, that's definitely something to try next time, thanks :)
ReplyDeleteWell done Theresa, it is looking good & not too much more to go on those curves. the rest will be real easy! Kim McL
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