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Sunday, October 28, 2007

Beginning the Quilting of French Rose Quilt Top: Hearts and Flowers




Let the Quilting begin:I have decided on a theme for my free style sewing around the Rose Squares of haphazardly sewing hearts and flowers, leaves, a hummingbird, and other squiggles so far. I have completed eight of the 40 squares! You do the math. It will be a while longer to complete this massive quilt. Although the process is slow it's fun. With lots of rest stops along the way. And once again I am counting my sewing as drawing on fabric...doodling if you must, but my fabric sketching for sure! ;-)

11 comments:

  1. Wow.. that is going to be A LOT of work for sure.. but it's looking good. I guess that class you said got cancled was on how to do the top stitching? What is going to hold the flowers down. the ones with the pins in them? Do you top stitch over them too?
    Happy sewing.

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  2. Cris, if you look closely at the photos of the roses (enlarge them) you can see pink stitches going around each section of the rose. These stitches hold the rose to the square/batting/backing. Actually they are already secured to the square with the outer white stitches on the last round of the roses.

    No, the class that got canceled was to learn Trapunto. That is stuffing fabric to give a raised appearance on a quilt or quilted object (vest, pillow, etc.) I will take the intermediate top stitching class next week, but I am doing it okay now.

    The pins are there to hold the three layers of the quilt together while sewing: again, the top/the inner layer of batting/and the back layer of flannel in this case.

    What I am doing now, the top stitching around the white areas of the squares is definitely securing it all together. This is considered the quilting process.

    I also "stitched in the ditch" on the seams between all the squares. I did this first. So I stitched down six seams top to bottom and then across nine seams, sewing between and around each of the 40 squares. This also holds it all in place. Later I will stitch in the ditch/seams of all the borders.

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  3. Ok I think I've got it now. I had to go back to see the quilt in its whole. The flowers are going to be loose looking to look like real flowers right? Some of the terms are a bit foreign to me but I get the jest of it.

    Thanks for explaining it.

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  4. You've gone from green to grey/blue on your blog! It looks very nice - easier on the eye than the green for some reason.

    Your stitching is amazing, it compliments the roses well and adds an interesting dimension to the quilt. I am in awe of your speed and skill! Whoooooosh! :-)

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  5. Lynn this quilt has been beautiful all along the way. Love the stitching, This is a quilt to hand down to children and grandchildren and great grandchildren. So rich and warm. Made by Grandma's hands.

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  6. Thanks for the comments on my quilt. I was trepidacious about doing this free style stitching at first. It really is like drawing free hand, but on something very permenant. You can't go back and erase. But I truly love how it is coming out. There is a lot to be said for staying loose and allowing your unconsicous to just flow without too much thinking or critiquing along the way. I no longer worry that I am "messing it up". Ah contraire!

    Lizzi, glad you like my new "layout" on the blog. I do too!
    ;-)

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  7. Lynn, I had to look at this again this morning. I just love it...Pink seems to be my favorite color. It is something I would make for myself if I were making it.. all my colors I love. We ought to call you the wizz kid. you are so speedy and so good. I love the freehand sewing. This is really truely beautiful. I bet you have it almost done before your top stitching class even starts. or done for that matter.

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  8. Cris: I am thinking about perhaps taking it to the class on Friday to show. I go back and forth because I know it does not meet standards (stitches not even, some puckers on the back, and an occasional rose orleaf edge caught up in a stitch...etc.) but on the arty side I think it is grand if I do say so myself. The teacher for this particular class seems to make very precise perfect things.
    We'll see. I am trying to amp up my courage. One Brave Thing! ;-)

    Thank YOU for all your continued Kudos for my work/play.

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  9. Oh, wow! This quilt is the cat's pyjamas. I LOVE the stitching you are adding now. You are so darned talented and committed to this huge project.

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  10. Sometimes Arty is more fun then Precise. It is YOUR comforter & if it pleases you then that is what counts.. If people didn't break rules where would the new creative things come from?? Someones got to break them. ;-)

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  11. Thanks Kelly and Cris. Each day I sew more flowers, hearts, leaves, butterflies, etc. on this quilt I am falling deeper and deeper in love with it! The stitching makes it a bit stiff on the back side, but it's still soft enough. I love the way it looks.

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Thanks for leaving your comments as I love hearing from you. Your words of encouragement are why I continue to draw!