Okay my friends, Tonya's Lazy Gal quilt class quilt is now a flimsy!
According to Elaine's directions I spent the week putting piano key borders onto paper and I got those all made a couple days ago. Then I had to decide what to do about the corners and here's what I came up with. Was this going to work or not?
Once I'd cut everything to size the next problem was getting the paper off of the borders and I began wondering if the paper had been such a good idea. It made for lovely, straight, non-stretchy borders but the paper didn't rip off as easily as I'd hoped. I spent most of last night ripping paper and after breakfast started in again.
"I don't know how you can do that without driving yourself nuts!" and needless to say I've done all of it without going nuts or if I'm nuts, I'm happy with my condition, so the comment spurred me on. I guess Tetsu felt sorry for me because pretty soon he joined me and the last 15 minutes went quickly.
So. What shall I do about quilting? This is a very big quilt. Even though it looks like it would be great for my echo heart machine quilting I did last week I don't think this will all go under the sewing machine and besides this size would be very bad for the stiff shoulders I got last week. I don't have access to a longarm (though I'd love to try it!) I could hand stitch-in-the-ditch around all the colorful pieces... that really might drive me nuts. I could do wonky Baptist fans like I did last year with Leiya's Wonky Word quilt.
"Wow! You're done!" said Tetsu a few minutes ago when he saw the finished flimsy. Well, not if you count another 6 months of quilting if I decide to get out my quilting hoop!
According to Elaine's directions I spent the week putting piano key borders onto paper and I got those all made a couple days ago. Then I had to decide what to do about the corners and here's what I came up with. Was this going to work or not?
Once I'd cut everything to size the next problem was getting the paper off of the borders and I began wondering if the paper had been such a good idea. It made for lovely, straight, non-stretchy borders but the paper didn't rip off as easily as I'd hoped. I spent most of last night ripping paper and after breakfast started in again."I don't know how you can do that without going nuts!" said Tetsu, but those were just the words I needed to know I was doing something right! Many times people will see me hand piecing or quilting or see something I've completed or even see all the quilting I've done by machine and they'll say,
"I don't know how you can do that without driving yourself nuts!" and needless to say I've done all of it without going nuts or if I'm nuts, I'm happy with my condition, so the comment spurred me on. I guess Tetsu felt sorry for me because pretty soon he joined me and the last 15 minutes went quickly.This evening I've been up in the sewing room sewing the borders onto the quilt and it is officially a flimsy! I really like the borders and I'm pleased with the way the corner squares bend the piano keys around the quilt. For anyone doing piano keys, the only advice I have is that stay stitching on both sides of the borders keeps the seams from ripping out when you try to maneuver the quilt. I learned this after a majority of my seams popped and I had to go back and resew them.
So. What shall I do about quilting? This is a very big quilt. Even though it looks like it would be great for my echo heart machine quilting I did last week I don't think this will all go under the sewing machine and besides this size would be very bad for the stiff shoulders I got last week. I don't have access to a longarm (though I'd love to try it!) I could hand stitch-in-the-ditch around all the colorful pieces... that really might drive me nuts. I could do wonky Baptist fans like I did last year with Leiya's Wonky Word quilt. 
"Wow! You're done!" said Tetsu a few minutes ago when he saw the finished flimsy. Well, not if you count another 6 months of quilting if I decide to get out my quilting hoop!
21 comments:
Its great. I love it!
How about stitching the ditch within the various blocks and doing baptist fans on the rest?
That border is awesome.
Well done you!
the house with the hearts coming out of the chimney never ceases to catch my attention.... :-) well done.
Congrqtulations on your perseverance. The quilt looks great. I hate using tear away when doing machine embroidery as I also hate tearing paper away.
Such a happy, happy quilt! I love it! And the "smoke" hearts are a wonderful idea!
It's beautiful! You did a great job. Tetsu claimed this one, didn't he?
It is so beautiful Tanya - what a wonderful job! So sweet of Tetsu to help.
Love your corner blocks they are perfect. Reducing stich size can help to make it easier to tear away the paper...also try different weights of paper.
What a clever idea for piano key corners. I love them.
This quilt is wonderful. I think however you quilt it will work. Just beautiful.
I love what you did with the corners of the piano key border! What a great looking flimsey! I love using paper foundations too, but the tearing off of the paper is not my favorite part either. That is usually a good thing to do in front of the TV.
Love the fan corners! That was a great solution. I have found that even the supposedly-tearaway paper really doesn't give up without a fight. I used the kind that you can run through the inkjet printer for foundation piecing and it just about drove me over the edge, trying to pry those little pieces off the back. Would something like package wrapping tissue paper provide enough stabilization and be easier to remove? I'll have to try it.
Tanya - it looks awesome! Congrats on getting it to this stage!! Love the borders.
Tanya,
I love your wonderful ideas...the smoking hearts are so clever. The piano keys are so colorful.Tetsu is a real jewel! Not only helping to remove the paper....but, sitting on the floor removing paper. You could quilt musical notes around the border as an idea. You will make it sing with your talent. Can hardly wait to see it quilted.
Take care of your shoulders,
Liz
OOOOh -- cute, and how nicely the border reflects/echoes all the colors in the quilt! Love it, and also your corners.
For paper for a project like this, I used old telephone book pages. I trim the page to approx. the size (width), the start sewing down strips, until I have maybe 40 sheets. When full, sew ends together, paper and all. This paper tears off very easily and recycles some of those old telphone books. (Don't turn the fan on when you are removing that paper!)
Great job!
OH! Its GORGEOUS! I'm being good this week and getting a few small things done before I PLAY on the HQ! I'm just HANKERING to do some wonky letters!
The fan corners look great - good idea. I also like the idea of quilting Baptist Fans on this one.
That border is brilliant Tanya! I think it just perfect. How clever you are. It was nice to see Tetsu helped you, too.
I have just been catching up on your posts, & loved the one about Takumi. Also the one about Tetsu cleaning the floor every day! We have light carpet, & I sooo regret choosing the light colour!!
Tanya - those corners are simply inspired! What a sweetie Tetsu is to give you a helping hand. As for quilting it depends on how much you want the different words/characters to stand out - if you do then you must avoid quilting over them, otherwise go for an allover like baptist fans. I really love the finished top and am sure that whatever you choose will look stunning
What an amazing creation! The hearts coming out of the chimney is a wonderful touch. :)
Oh my gosh this is gorgeous. Excellent job!!!!!!! That border is so cool, I just love it. You are so clever!
Allie
so amazing and fabulous. you did such a great job. those borders are wonderful - I love the angled corners. congrats on the flimsy!!! this will look wonderful no matter how you quilt it.
Post a Comment