Project Quilting 12-2

 Fussy Cutting

This challenge was a real challenge for me, which is a good thing, because that's the reason why we do it. 

The first challenge was to find a fabric I wanted to work with. I tend to use solids, atmospheric sorts of fabrics, batiks, etc.. all the sorts of fabrics that I can manipulate for art quilts I make. Finding a good pattern that was large enough to fussy cut was going to be a challenge. 

We all have random fat quarter packs that have pieces you like and some ... not so much. I looked through these and found a cute little deer print. I had enough images that I could make a small quilt of 9 blocks with these deer as the center. 

Back to my stash for coordinating fabric and, again, challenged! Just not a lot of the colors I like to use and, again, hit up those odd fat quarter pieces, or remnants of other projects. I made some math mistakes and cutting mistakes and generally grew frustrated with this project. Revisions upon revisions of my original idea gave me a basic plan and resurrecting some really ancient stash fabrics and I had a plan. 

So this is a close up of my feature fabric. Cute right? 

I ended up with a design plan that gave me an opportunity to Make an applique of the deer and other elements from the print. I'm just now realizing I'm doing an applique element like I did in 12-1 challenge. Sigh! It's wasn't intended but solved a problem. Anyway, I thought it needed it and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. 

To make the deer, I used a photo of the deer to enlarge and create a pattern for my applique. I added a few flowers from the scraps I used for the blocks to add design elements matching those in the feature fabrics. 

Speaking of using elements from the feature print, I used some elements like stars, clouds and swirls to form my quilting lines. I drew them out using heat sensitive pens. With the exception of making a star template, it was basically just free drawn. It was easily followed in the lighter fabrics, much harder to follow in the darker block areas and, in the end I just sketched out the stars and just decided to "wing it" for the rest. I was happy to try a new technique. I was frustrated at times. I don't think it ends up looking absolutely fabulous and I'm happy that it doesn't make much of a visual impact in the end. It's quilted and that's about the best I can say about it. 

Deer One 

42" x 38.5

Final thoughts. Man! Quilting and binding is my very least favorite part of making quilts. It's always a struggle for me. But, I sure remember the first time I was able to upgrade my sewing machine to one that CAN do free motion quilting. It was a game changer for me. But time has moved on and, unless I win a quilting machine, I'll still struggle with this part. 

I was very happy to find a home for some of these odd pieces of fabrics that have been lingering in my stash for years (if not decades). 

Limits in coordinating fabrics and the limited amounts of such fabrics (not to mention a few mistakes) defined this design. It's a true "Make it work" project. I think it turned out ok in the end. Thanks Ya'll.