Sunday 26 October 2014

Well duh!

It seemed such a good idea at the time....
And really it isn't such a bad idea, just not the way I did it.
I used a glue stick to hold down the hexagons whilst I appliqued them in place.
But that obviously was not going to hold them down for long enough as it takes an evening just to sew two down. Pinning was not an option as it distorted the hexagons because of the thickness of the papers/card. Light bulb moment. I shall stitch them down with water soluble thread.
Have you thought further ahead than I did yet?
If you remember I use the Fiskar's punch for my hexagons. I punched the 1/2" hexagons from all sorts of things, often packaging. The papers/card are still in place. So when I come to soak off the basting water soluble thread, colours in the papers might run..... Soooooo I shall have to unpick each and every stitch. This would not be a problem now I am using heavy weight white paper. Then I could dissolve the thread and iron it dry.... In my next life I shall be perfect.

I find lots of uses for water soluble thread. Faux trapunto being my most often used one. Storage for these threads has to be thought about. I keep mine in a sealed food storage canister. And whenever anything arrives in the house with one of those little sachets to keep things dry, I pop it into the canister with the thread. I also keep the bobbins with soluble thread in there as well. Believe me, you do not want your bobbins of white thread and soluble thread muddled up...... Superior Threads do a stronger one for longarm quilters and that is my preferred one though I still have quite a lot of the finer ones left to use up.

On Friday I went to the Autumn Quilt Show at the Malvern Showground. I went last year on the Friday, but I swear there were twice as many people in the building this year. So much so, I have vowed never to go on a Friday again. I did wonder how so many people were in the building and it still was within Health and Safety regulations.

There was a Baltimore Quilt by Susan Lax.
Lots of quilts took my eye, but only those by Susan Lax  were of real admiration. Including this Baltimore. I took photos of quite a few of the blocks but only this one wasn't blurred. (note to self, check photos when you have only used your phone to take them) She had both machine and hand work on display and all were lovely. I was particularly taken by a quilt she had done of chickens but the photo is duff.

I realised the difference between the simpler Baltimore Quilts and the more complex ones. If I ever make one, it will be worth going the full distance and do the more complex blocks. I have nine blocks tucked away from years ago and they are just not up to scratch. I did them 15 or 20 years ago and at the time was not unpleased. Now I know they weren't worth the effort, except as part of the learning curve.
Perhaps one day they will turn up on Ebay or it's future equivilent as someone's treasure, though I doubt it.... lols

2 comments:

  1. Water soluble thread does have many uses but, as you observed, the complete process/situation, has to be thoroughly considered/analyzed!!! I keep my thread in zip-lock bags with as many of those desiccants as I can cram in with it/them!!!! If I machine baste a quilt I use it there, also!!!! Love Superior's thread!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Learning curves are important, even if they do get in the way of perfectionism!

    Personally I never trust water soluble thread as I once used it on a much loved quilt - and instead of dissolving, it only partly dissolved, leaving stubble all over my beautiful quilt. I spent hours pulling out weirdly frazzled 'dissolved' fibers with tweezers and vowed to never believe them again.

    I know what you mean about 'early' blocks, sometimes I look back at mine and don't even know why I thought it was worth the time to make it - its extraordinary how quickly you grow in quilting!

    ReplyDelete