Pin basting several quilts at the same time has worked for me lately. So what the heck. I pinned the small medallion from last year (CCIV) that has been waiting to-be-quilted for several months - perhaps a year - at the same time as CCVII. And it sat again.
The continual problem? It looks unfinished. Of course, it is unquilted... but I mean the top itself. I've never been satisfied with this quilt. The center is chopped off. There's absolutely no more fabric so Sue Kelly's suggestion to broderie perse some elements from it wouldn't work. That's why it rested in the UFO pile for so long.
As soon as it was pinned though, inspiration struck because of that chopped-off white flower. {I would say, "Isn't that always the case?" but unfortunately, inspiration frequently strikes me after everything is done. A day late and a dollar short as it were.} What if I extended the flower with solid white fabric? And what if I scattered a few more flowers about?
I cut some mockups from paper. Looking good so far.
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| Potential flowers added to medallion Chinese Coin quilt |
After preparing solid fabrics and letting them dry overnight, I cut the shapes out and pinned them on the top. The next problem is that the quilt is pinned and trimmed fairly close. Two choices: machine stitch through all the layers or judiciously unpin a small portion. To be even safer, I stitched the flower closest to the edge of the quilt.
I took the table off the machine so I'm sewing by inserting machine arm between the top and the batting-and-backing. Not an ideal situation but it works. The small arm fits without removing too many pins.
Starting at the center, without the orange star portion, I outlined petals. With the needle down on the outside edge, I put the star in place before outline stitching over it. Then I went around that shape again, a bit inside the first and ended with some circles for the very center. Now the outside edge didn't look uniform so I traveled back and went around again... deliberately very casually. The hardest part actually was tying and burying the threads.
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| Machine appliqueing a flower onto a quilt |
I took the table off the machine so I'm sewing by inserting machine arm between the top and the batting-and-backing. Not an ideal situation but it works. The small arm fits without removing too many pins.
Starting at the center, without the orange star portion, I outlined petals. With the needle down on the outside edge, I put the star in place before outline stitching over it. Then I went around that shape again, a bit inside the first and ended with some circles for the very center. Now the outside edge didn't look uniform so I traveled back and went around again... deliberately very casually. The hardest part actually was tying and burying the threads.
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| Flowers are machine appliqueing onto a quilt |
I thought this would take a day or more to finish but it took less than an hour {after the material was prepped.} In fact, cutting the shapes out took longer than sewing them on. While it would look better done before basting, it turned out pretty well.
Now to choose a quilting design and thread color.
Enjoy the day,
Ann
Now to choose a quilting design and thread color.