It's been a bit stressful around here lately, but I'm trying to focus on the good things and get into a "gratefulness" frame of mind. A couple of positives- we have adopted a delicious new puppy (she's the upside down one in the middle), my sister and baby Anna Banana are coming to visit this weekend, and Mike and I are going to New Mexico for Thanksgiving in just a few short weeks.
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On the crafting front, I buckled down and layered the nativity quilt for quilting. I used spray baste to baste it, and it's just barely small enough (40 x 40) that I think that will be ok. Any bigger and I don't think there's any way I could keep it together. I used a sulky temporary adhesive to attach the tulle to the quilt top (to cover up any loose corners), but I think I didn't use enough or something because it didn't stick very well. Since there aren't any ditches to stitch in to stabilize, I started by stitching around the people in the nativity. I also stitched around some major shapes that are not depicted in the mosaic but that will be overlaid in the quilting, namely two angels (in the sky) and a sheep (next to Joseph). I'm now starting FMQing all of it- I began by filling in the angels with gold free-form feathers, and am slowly moving on with the rest of it. I like it so far, it makes me happy that it is getting done, but there is a lot of quilting and it always feels a bit overwhelming to me at this stage.
And here's the angel from the back.
I'm starting to think seriously about the Christmas Crafting that needs doing, but so far haven't made any progress!!
Linking up with Lee over at WIP: Wednesday.
Your angel is incredible! Wow - beautiful work.
ReplyDeleteThose angels are adorable! I understand the beginning-of-quilting-so-overwhelming stage. Sometimes you just have to power through. I like the little star pieces in your sky. I didn't notice those before, or it was hard to see in the larger picture. Hope things get a little less stressful for you and you can relax with your sister and niece!
ReplyDeleteWow. WOW! This is amazing. Very creative and dynamic on the front, and softly beautiful on the back. So, do you find with the tulle that you have no problems with needle catching or corners flipping of the mosaic pieces?
ReplyDeleteLove the quilting. AMAZEing.
ReplyDeleteWonderful quilting, but I'm distracted with all that puppy love.....giggle. Your new one is really showing off!....too cute.
ReplyDeleteThat is one amazing angel! Is it freehand or do you draw an outline first? Do you use any special tools to help do it so nicely? I went to a craft fair yesterday and actually managed to do some FMQ with the help of a demonstrator. It was great. I'm hoping to try again on my machine so any hints would be great.
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