Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Auditioning!

Yesterday I auditioned fabrics for the bottom border of Yoko Saito's Mystery Quilt block no 2; block no 2 in this picture is in the bottom right. It looks brown in this photo but in the closer pattern image, it definitely appears green.


Since my pieces are different from the original fabrics, I thought I'd play around with them to see which one I fancied. I tried so many versions that looked great so the decision was a hard one. Then I decided to photograph the block with the choices to see if seeing the block on the computer screen would help me out.

What do you think? Excuse the crooked photos!

This was my first choice... the rest are not in order of preference.










 And the winner...


To me, the dark grey allowed the other colors to shine rather than detract from them. The house on the left needs applique around the windows, the cat needs to be stitched down then the embroidery will begin. White around the windows this time! YEAH! I need not tell you how I dislike black outlining; there's still too much of it on this quilt! 

Here's a look at block no 3 ready for applique! I don't use pins; instead I use the starch and freezer paper method. I also add a few tiny dots of glue along the inside of the turned edge to apply to the backgound then I heat set the glue with a dry iron. Nothing will move during the stitching. The fabric stays somewhat supple with some firmness where there is glue.

                                     

I have ordered glue sticks from France demonstrated by Beatrice Airaud in the Quiltmania video tutorials (in French) as she says the glue will not harden! This puzzles me since I thought all glues would stiffen fabric. I'm anxious to try it. Stay tuned for a report on this subject. Previous orders from France have taken 2 weeks to reach me. Patience!

Next week, I'll work on getting block no 4 ready for handwork. 

Toodles,

Lorette

2 comments:

  1. I think the patience you display in the creation of these blocks has been good practice for the patience you need as you wait for your glue sticks! This is going to be one amazing quilt!

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    1. AW!!! Thank you Jennifer. Long ago, I thought I wasn't patient enough to be a quilter but it's actually quilting that gave me that patience. It calms the restlessness in me. I LOVE every aspect of quilting, from designing, to adding the binding by hand. I even love ironing the fabrics! hahaha! Weird?

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