Pages

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Feeding the Fire and WIPping It Good!

I know that Leah Day called this week's design, "Snake Paisley", but it really looked like flames to me. Especially since I stitched it on bright orange.



This is the second week I decided to stitch out the design with matching color thread and I like it. It is gives amazing texture to the piece.  This little table runner I whipped up on Monday night was just perfect for this design. Now to figure out what to stitch on the borders and finish up this little project.
Wrinkled batting
I have kind of an odd question for Leah this week. How do you handle really wrinkled batting? The picture above, isn't really badly wrinkled. But sometimes I have pieces of batting that are much worse, especially a curl on the edge of the batting. Do you press it before basting it or do you just try to smooth it out the best you can as you baste?

I did work on some other projects this week. I started quilting my Library quilt.



I stitched in the ditch around the borders, and echo quilted the kids' applique. Should I continue to echo quilt and fill in the background or leave it as I have it? I find it a bit distracting to have some of the puffing areas, but I don't want my quilting to take away from the kids' designs.

I also finished up my bird pillow. I'm quite happy with how it turned out. And the best part is that it takes one off of the WIP list and into the finished list! Yippee, Skippee!

Front and Back of the Bird Pillow!
My stats for the week:
In-process: (5)
Purple heart wall hanging ( needs borders, backing, quilting and binding)
Expanding Possibilities quilt (Continue to quilt)
Storybook quilt # 2 - All embroidery is done
Geneva Public Library quilt - join and quilt (maybe make a block or two to even it out)
Sew Cal Gal June FMQ Challenge - Need to bind.

New projects: (1)
Flip and sew orange table runner.

Finished (1)
Sew Cal Gal's April FMQ Challenge - finished the pillow.

I'm linking up with  Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday and The Free Motion Quilting Project for QAL Wednesday




WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced
Free Motion Quilt Along

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

14 comments:

  1. Love your flame quitling - it looks amazing :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think the snake paisley looks like flames too. Very nice job on the table runner! I just throw my batting in the dryer (dry) right before I baste it. That is how I "iron" a lot of things! Ha! As for the Library quilt, I would do something like stippling or zippling in the background space. But I don't think any design you choose will detract from the children's designs as long as you use white thread since most of the background is white. They are so bright, they really pop! You are making great progress!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. the snakes are so nice...the pillow turned out really beautiful...the library quilt is coming along nicely and i agree with danielle about the quilting of the library quilt

    ReplyDelete
  4. So Love that design. What a great idea for a practice piece, a runner. I find small squares fill up to fast. Happy WIPping!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I second Danielle's suggestion. I think the background white of the children's blocks is begging for a gentle stippling - say mid sized. This will cause the background to recede and the elements like hearts and snowflakes to "stand tall."

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love your pillow pat it's very effective. The fmq is ver effective and pops right out well done x

    ReplyDelete
  7. That stitch works great on the orange fabric!

    I'm a beginner quilter, so take my experience with a large pinch of salt, but I give my (cotton) batting a light press before I baste. I hardly touch the batting with the iron, but I use lots of steam and the wrinkles fall right out.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love your snake paisley. Your actually looks more like leaf paisley, but wonderful! matching thread color looks awesome.
    For the borders try some boxy FMQ,I feel that might work well. Just my 2cents ;).

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love your paisley, especially with the orange thread!It sure does look like flames! I usually throw my batting in the dryer with a damp towel, on low, for about 15- 20 minutes. It seems to work for me.

    ReplyDelete
  10. SO pretty - how fun on the orange! It's the perfect color for it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love the foamy fmq and the library quilt -- it looks a bit similar to a kindergarten quilt I made with my sons class last year - it's so much fun to make things with kids!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Your quilting is stunning on the runner. But I have a special place in my heart for your pillow! And your finishing is amazing. Very well done hip hip hooray!
    Tina in San Diego

    ReplyDelete
  13. Love your quilting. As for the wrinkles in the batting, for polyester I would toss it in. The dryer with a wet wash rag for about five mins. Not sure if that would be good for cotton or ba,moo, tho, and definitely not for wool. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your fmq is awesome, but that bird pillow...well, it's a definitely wow! Congratulations on a great finish!

    ReplyDelete