Nearly finished

A quiet evening & I managed to get plenty done on the wall hanging. I must admit that I am very pleased with how well this project is working out and I can tell that my sewing and cutting skills are improving.

I cut the border strips first of all but I also had to trim the background fabric down as when I started this project I had cut it larger than the pattern required (on purpose). Once the border strips were cut I then sewed the first one to the bottom of the background fabric, sewed the patchwork panel to the bottom of the first border and then attached the top and bottom borders. Thankfully as I had been accurate with my rotary cutter I achieved all of this without a hitch for once!

The next task was to cut and attach the side borders. I checked the length of the wall hanging to make sure that the size required by the pattern would fit (I found that the side strips would extend out further than the length of the wall hanging but this was no problem as I could trim them down once they were attached.

Once the side borders were attached I had to layer up the wall hanging with the wadding and backing fabric. I had some polyester wadding and some cotton wadding left over from previous projects. Unfortunately the cotton wadding was not wide enough to fit the wall hanging so I had to use the polyester wadding (having worked with both types I definitely prefer the cotton as it is much nicer to sew through although it is thinner). I laid the wadding out & placed the front of the wall hanging on top & then cut the wadding to size, leaving a nice wide margin of wadding extending out from underneath the wall hanging top. I repeated this process for the backing fabric.

Now it was time to baste! Even though this was a small project I still found it a bit tricky trying to ensure that all the fabric layers were pinned together nice and smoothy and pucker free. I wish I had some 505 spray to help the layers stick together as I was pinning them. After a bit of fiddling about I did manage to get the wall hanging basted.

Before I started quilting I changed the needle on the sewing machine....I had noticed that the previous needle was starting to make a slight popping noise as it was going through the fabric when I was sewing the borders. I hadn't changed the needle since buying the machine and I guess that the quilting I had done on the previous project had blunted the needle slightly. I also changed the presser foot on the machine for the walking foot.

My last job of the evening was quilting the wall hanging. I chose to use navy blue thread for this as the borders are blue on the wall hanging and I think it looks nice.

The last job is to add the binding. I am saving this task for tomorrow. I have not yet decided how I am going to do this. The pattern suggests that you do each side separately but I might do it as continuos strip binding to practice what I learnt on my first big quilt....anyway we shall see what tomorrow brings....nighty night xxx

Quick stitches

So yesterday I spent most of the day with my dearest sister but instead of any stitching we spent time at her house baking - chocolate eclairs & apple pie samosas. Delicious...the apple pie samosas will make a lovely alternative to mince pies at christmas so I must get the recipe from S so I can make some at home...they can be frozen so I'll be able to make some in advance of Christmas.....

Anyway after collecting HM from school we headed over to my Mum's for our usual Wednesday night dinner. Whilst there I managed to get the hand-stitching of the wording on the wall hanging completed.

After dinner we went home & put the children to bed & I was able to carry on with the wall hanging. I cut out the tiny bits of fabric for the small bird & flower & then stitched them on. Next I measured and cut out the fabric for the patchwork panel - this took some time as I wanted to ensure accuracy. Finally I stitched them together using the 1/4 inch foot for the sewing machine. As the pieces were small I did not need to pin them together.

I called it a day after that as the next stage is to cut out and sew together the border strips & I did not want to do these whilst I was feeling tired. P is out tonight so once the Twins are put to bed I can carry on - its such a lovely thing to look forward to!

So far, no sewing yet today but I thought I would spend some time updating the blog & I also made some scrummy coconut slice for hubbie & HM (my daughter) for tea tonight as a treat. I have not made coconut slice for ages and to make it even more special I used some of my best home made raspberry jam inside it. Also above is a photo of the blanket stitching I did last night around one of the flower pots on the wall hanging....its a bit difficult to see but I hope you get the general idea.

Wall hanging - second session

So the children were tucked up in bed & I sat down to work :-)

First task was to make my final fabric selection for the flowers and quilting. I referred to the finished design on the front of the pattern, using that as my guide. After choosing the fabric for the flowers, pots & stems I cut out the flower stems, pressed them and then decided to use my machine to attach them to the backing fabric (as I have a new machine I might as well use it as much as possible in the project & it will enable me to discover more about the functions & all the different stitches).

Stems attached, next came the pots & the flowers. I traced the pots & flowers onto fusible interfacing & then ironed them on to the fabric. I cut out the shapes now ironed on to the fabric, peeled off the paper layer on the interfacing and then ironed the fabric shapes to the backing fabric in the desired position.

The pattern instructions then advised to use a decorative stitch to securely attach the shapes to the backing fabric. I like to use blanket stitch but decided to do it by machine & not by hand. Again, this was a new function of my sewing machine that I was going to use. I practiced a little on a scrap of fabric before letting myself loose on the wall hanging. In fairness it probably will take just as long as sewing it by hand as I found it quite tricky turning corners & ensuring the stitches ended up in the right direction. Overall the finish is probably not as neat as I would like here but I am viewing it as a learning process & frankly practice makes perfect :-)

By the time I finished doing the blanket stitch around the flower pots it was time for bed & I decided that I will tackle the flowers this evening....