Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Back to the Square Deal

"I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. 
I acted and behold, service was joy."
~ Rabindranath Tagore


When I saw Tula Pink's Free Fall extra wide on a trip it called to be made into a dress but without the pattern I couldn't calculate yardage. The store closed and that opportunity was lost. Finding the fabric online seemed like a sign but... It's printed at a much, much larger scale. Instead of kumquat-sized circles, these are grapefruit. Who needs a quilt back 108" wide but only 72" long? The mistake compounds - absolutely not a dress and not enough for a larger quilt either. It could be the back to several baby quilts.

Tethys Waves needs a back but this is much too short so I pulled out other quilt tops. According to my calculations it was just enough for the back of Square Deal but once pinned it came up an inch short. Grr. Fortunately there's loads of width left so I matched the design as best as I could, pinned and then glued it in place, then took the whole mess to the machine to sew the seam. Crazy but it worked {if you don't look at the birds closely because they are different angles.}

Pale blue sateen printed with five-inch olive green polka dots interspersed with a few flying swallows.
Large scale Tula Pink Free Fall fabric back

SID the sashing and borders was my first task {Hey, I remembered!} then I stitched the edge of the quilt to keep it from pleating during the FMQ.

Bernina 1240 is used to stitch in the ditch the sashing and borders of The Square Deal.
SID sashing, borders and sides of quilt

The dreaded thread color decision was next. I could use red to match the large HSTs, light blue to blend with the Coins, or nylon monofilament to cover it all. The blue looked terrible on the HSTs while the red wasn't quite as bad on the Coins {probably because of their variety} so that was the choice. You might have to enlarge the photo to see the threads crossing it. Let that be a lesson to us all; sometimes we create a bigger deal out of things than is called for. {I do this almost every time I choose thread. Sigh.}

Both thread colors are laid on the quilt top to choose which one works better.
Red or light blue quilting thread?

Because the back is light blue I tested that color in the bobbin. No threads are peaking through from the other side this time. Yea.

The quilting designs came from Angela Walters YouTube videos. While the wishbones are easier, I can't make the quilting travel easily so I'm going with the echoed lines although it involves more quilting and more time.

A plastic overlay is used to mark free motion petals, libbon candy, and parallel lines that might be used on The Square Deal quilt.
Three variations of a
quilting design from Angela Walters

OTOH ribbon candy might look nice on the sashing and straight lines here will add good contrast. That's my story for now. We'll see what emerges.

Merry Christmas to all!

Enjoy the day, Ann

16 comments:

Quiltdivajulie said...

Merry Christmas to you, too -- and happy stitching!!

LA Paylor said...

haha the dreaded color decisions. It's so true.

Nann said...

Ah! I looked up the fabric and see that the birds are part of the print. Yes, grapefruit-sized dots would not make a very flattering garment. (Maybe this model could manage it: https://thevintagetraveler.wordpress.com/2019/12/04/update-on-key-west-hand-print-fabrics/)
But I would look at the too-short piece as an opportunity for a pieced back, which I've done since before they were popular......Meanwhile, Merry Happy to you and your family!

Janie said...

Merry Christmas to you Ann.
I enjoy your decision making adventure, it is an adventure isn't it?
Great quote, wow.

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

I can't wear dot fabric. No matter the size of the dot, they always wound up at exactly the right place to make me uncomfortable. The smaller dots probably are not as noticeable but since I am on the lookout for them, I always see them. I am glad you were able to find the right quilt for that backing, even though it required some piecing.

patty a. said...

Oh my goodness what an issue with that polka dot fabric. It sounds like you handled it along with the thread color and kept moving forward. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

Ann said...

Thanks, Julie. Enjoy the season.

Ann said...

It's amazing how much I worry about this minor decision.

Ann said...

I pieced the back. It just bugs me that half a yard more would have made it enough for either of the tops without any fuss. Oh, well. It's not my first mistake. Enjoy the season, Nann.

Ann said...

Thanks, Janie. It's good to share all the steps - even those that are tougher for us. Quilting is a great adventure. I'm glad you noticed the quote; it makes a strong point if we'd just try to live in that manner.

Ann said...

You know, I don't wear polka dots often although I don't look out for them. And I'm glad this could be made into a back. It annoys me to have purchased the wrong size. Sigh.

Ann said...

Who'd have thought they would change the scale like that? I'll know better next time. Funny how you can like a fabric at one scale but not another. Rather like the speed of a song. Wasn't that the point of that Tom Hanks movie, That Thing You Do?
I hope you have a happy holiday season, Patty.

Mystic Quilter said...

Looking forward to seeing which way you go with the quilting design!

audrey said...

Even when I measure, sometimes my backing comes up short. Good job on fixing the problem! Love this large polka dot fabric and like you, will choose not to buy rather than buy enormously too much or be short an irritating amount. Having the choice to hunt it down on the Internet later just makes our life more interesting though!

Ann said...

Thanks, Maureen. I am, too.

Ann said...

I'm annoyed that I bought this fabric only to make it a pieced back. Still,it's good to move it along