UFO Sunday #5

This week was much better. I felt back in control and got started on quilting my English Paperpiecing WIP/UFO.  Doubts were put aside and I just pursued what I liked for this quilt top.

In the end, I decided on a grid which took me ages to work out, as it is an irregular grid across the quilt top, quilting 1/4 inch off the seams of selected 1 inch squares. The overall grid that emerges is about 2.5" X 3". While the rectangles should be true rectangles in a perfect world this grid is slightly uneven as I thought it was more important for the overall look to keep to the 1/4inch spacing approximately correct rather than stress with the measurements. This is not how a normal grid would be done however that was the only way that I could think of placing a grid over the hexagons where I would be able to avoid the seams. If this was perfectly pieced (which it is not) one could extend the grid and place 1/2inch lines on either side of the major lines in a different colour to make it a bit  more interesting, I thought. I did not do it because in the end I thought that this might really draw attention to some of the inaccuracies. Like this it is not noticeable , I think, unless you get a ruler out and measure it (which I, of course, did do). Measurements aside, I was really happy with the end result and then tackled the border design.

The grid:

Normally I FMQ my borders, just winging it around the corners, but for this little piece I wanted a more formal border. Found a nice continuous design in Quilting Dot to Dot by Cheryl Barnes, however could not make it fit within my border.

As you can see the design actually reverses around the corner. I made several copies on paper trying all sorts of ways to place this. In the end I drew the corner elements for the top border and then tried to link up the design in the middle....problem was that the design does not link up as it is coming towards the centre in a reversed way (angles are completely different). I then tried to come up with another way to combine this, putting another heart in, having it literally freestanding in the middle...all a bit odd.

In the end I came up with this after many hours of trying to put this together only to decide I did not like it that much (ha, ha...the trials and tribulations of quilting). Totally wrong design (what was I thinking?), I needed something more dainty. (Definitely keep my drawing though, this would look nice on a country quilt).

I definitely dislike working out and marking border designs...I am no good at it and I continually struggle with trying to make a design fit into a space. Actually this is the reason I originally started FMQ  as this allowed me to just stitch a border design free form in that space. I did mainly leafy type of designs and with time they became pretty consistent. The only problem is that it limits me to a few selected designs.

Anyway, found another stencil (which was adjustable) and this is the end result....

This was a great exercise in trying to follow straight lines. The thread on the photo looks white...it is actually dark rose (Gutermann 50/3) which will blend in more once all the chalk is removed from behind the thread.


















I am actually finished (almost)...cannot believe it!! Yep, while a bit frilly and old fashioned, I like it. In fact, if I had been better organised and planned out, this would have looked great with a scalloped border around it to match the stencil design. Never mind, I am thrilled to bits that I finished this...I was so out of my comfort zone with this. While I am actually not a great fan of hexagons, there is something about this I really like...and I do like the fabric.


Linking up to UFO Sunday on Leah Day's Freemotion Quilting Project.

Karin