Sorry Guy's - I've removed the picture of the finished quilt till after the AQC exhibition. (I've put the rest of the post back on though.)
Warning- this is a long one guys, enjoy.
Well its been a busy week, with a few ups and downs.
I was so excited last friday, seeing how the background for my quilt was looking, that I was eager to get to work Sat morning....
Life always seems to have other plans. Somehow it was after luch before I got out to get the materials I needed. A couple hours later, and it was not going so well.
Awear of the time constraints, the amount of work needed to get this finished in one week and my other commitments in the week ahead, I decided to try using a different material than usual (tulle) to "trap" my background so I could stich it down. I was sure this would be quicker and easier. (why do we always try new things when we're uder preassure?)
The tulle didn't work quite the way, or blend in quite as much as I'd hoped. By late arvo and many re-threadings of the machine I was convinced it was all a horrible mess and I'd ruined the whole thing.
I took a break!
View while I was thread painting, as you can seethe colours of the tulle have obliterated all the lovely fabrics, or so I felt at the time.
After a cup of tea and some encoragement from the family I decided to perservere and got back to work. (Note to self : do not sit and sulk when things aren't working out - it accomplishes nothing other than speeding up the time when there is a deadline looming...)
By sunday night things were looking better. The thread painting was starting to tke shape, I was getting a lot done & when I stood on a stool to look down on it, it wasn't too bad.
Of course I always seem to think I can get three times as much done, unfortunatly that jolly clock seems to have kept all the red bull for itself. I could swear that for every half hour I spent sewing the clock had zipped ahead 1.5 hours.
I had about 2/3's of the thread painting done.
Monday - Classes in the morning
I flew home after class and had a little over an hour which I thought perfect to dye the muslin I needed for another part of the project.
Turned up to my appointment an hour & a half later with purple fingers 'cause I'd once again forgotten to wear gloves.
The deying went well though, and after a mad rush to get the place ready for the cleaner the next day I had everything ready for the next step.
Tuesday - Classes all day
Came home too tired to do anything more than prepare the next 'trapped fiber' section for sewing.
Wednesday - Weekly Quilting group
Thought I could spend an hour or so, sewing together the trapped fibers before taking it to the quilting group. I always underestimate father time, dont I! Ah hour in and I knew I'd have to skip group this week.
5 hours later...
The sewing is done, birds are being cut out and preparing to have an early tea before heading off for my evening class. Ever tried wrapping your head around algebra after a long day? It was actually fun though & left me in a good mood so I finished cutting out the birds when I got home.
Thursday - Time's running out, so much left to do but I have a whole day and a night and even another day if I can last that long! ( lucky I'm not working this week.)
Back to the thread painting. I need to get the backgroung finished, and then quilt so I can attach the focal pieces.
A successfull day's work, though frustrating as I think I spent nearly as much time re-threding the machine as I did sewing. Not sure whether it was a wrong needle, course tulle or simply impatience that kept striping the thread and breaking it.
We got there in the end though & I was quite happy with the results, Talmai (my cuddly litte boy) seemed to agree.
6am Background quilted & trimed - I think I can grab a couple hours sleep.
D-Day!
All I have to do is make quilt Rocks for the forground, Bind everything and attach cloak, birds and figure, Photograph and email application. Easy peasy??
Rocks ironed down - Tick
Machine playing up worse than ever as I try to quilt.
Take machine apart, clean out mountains of dust & fluff.
Finish quilting rocks, machine's working better.
Bind edges raw with decorative stiching. Sooo slow! but less fiddly annd still quicker than trditional binding. Also complements trapped fiber work very nicley.
Attach all elements together, photograph and Voila!
Pic removed till After AQC exhibition.
Title - Dancing Free
...and 15min to spare. I'm thrilled with the result. Amazing what you can achieve with a little perserverance and a lot of support. Thankyou wonderfull family, and thankyou the readers who've stuck with me to see the results.
Now back to reality and the washing which somehow got behind this week. :)
