Petal Progress

Best laid plans...finally posting about my progress on Garden Party, uploaded the new photo, and found the previous, in-progress photo that hadn't been posted. Most of the fabrics used were sample sizes, smaller than a fat quarter, and my process was to fuse the fusible to the pieces, then trace the patterns onto them. There was actually very little waste, though I did discover that after carefully washing all of the pieces, when extras were needed I missed that step, and the fusible did not adhere to the non-washed pieces, requiring pins.

Petal sets

This morning I finally found the hang-up with my Photoshop program not launching without a restart (it has two listings in Task Manager that need to be deleted), so now editing my photos will be less frustrating.

It’s been quite a few years since I’ve done a fusible applique quilt. I’m taking a learner’s attitude, not worrying that each block is done exactly the same. A few of the petals were accidentally reversed (learning point #1 – use an opaque label on clear plastic templates rather than a pen to label so letters & numbers aren’t reversed), but if they fit on the block I kept them as-is.

I did some practice with my machine’s stitch regulator, using it for the first time, and stitched down the 36 tiny hearts on each block before doing any other stitching, so as not to lose any of them. If I were making the blocks again, I would probably just spiral stitch over the whole areas of them, rather than stitching a heart shape in each one. The rayon thread is a light variegated color and gives them some shimmer.

Scraps were used to test different stitches, and I still ended up changing some of them. The scalloped satin stitch with a point, mirrored, gives the petals a soft edge. Matching bobbin thread helps keep the colors clear, and I’ve limited the variegated threads because of this too (learning point #2.)  My machine’s tie-off works differently with each type of stitch, so I’ve learned to tie-off by just moving the block around to stitch in the same place. Most threads are brought to the back and tied before trimming. Though I do love the satin stitches, they are slow to stitch out compared to buttonhole stitch.

I worked one thread color at a time on all nine blocks. With the many trips through my machine the fabric edges kept fraying, partially because the interfacing used was 1/2" narrower than the 20 1/2" background fabrics, and eventually I zig-zagged all of the edges (learning point #3.)

Garden Party blocks

A light brown-grey border/sashing fabric is on order, the only piece (other than fusibles and interfacing) purchased for this project, and a couple of backing options have been pulled from the stash too.