The pillows below were intended to be part of my Quilt Market booth, but they all got the ax. For one reason or another, they did not come together or look like what I envisioned ~ and I didn't have the time or mental wherewithall to improvise, adapt and overcome (like a good Marine). I gave them each too much of my attention as it were, and, for my effort, I have nothing but a revitalized trucker mouth, some half-sewn projects mocking me and a few lessons learned. Not the worst!
The Chevron.
Looks decent enough from far away. But get up close, and you'll see it's a whole 'nother beast entirely! (See the stitching below.) This was at the beginnning of my old Kenmore crapping out, and I wanted to topstitch a few select seams. No go. It would not feed properly, and I couldn't get over the chunky block junctions.
I trimmed, I tried other settings and other feet. Finally, I thought I could outwit the issues by using a zig-zag stitch. Nay. Inconsistent and dropped stitches. I ripped out one section about 4 times. I tried adding a backing fabric. Better, but not great. I forged on to finish it, but it looks like a very juvenile attempt. Didn't make the booth cut!
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The Posies.
I fell in LOVE with this felt petal pillow by Allison at Cluck, Cluck, Sew. It reminded me of the Mumsy prints in the Tilly collection! Every night for about a week, I traced circles, cut circles, sewed circles, notched circles (or clipped, whatever it is), turned circles and pressed circles. I wasn't following Allison's tutorial exactly, so I kinda guessed on the sizes and number of circles needed to make this work. I was extremely excited to see how they'd turn out!
Well, the same sewing machine had now gotten much worse, and I could no longer get the machine to move forward to start stitching without coaxing the handwheel while pressing on the pedal. When you're sewing tiny, straight edges into the form of a circle, you kinda need 2 hands. The backing fabric started to buckle, and the petals are only hanging on by threads (literally!). I was willing to go with it, but a mock layout after the first layer was sewn revealed that I didn't have enough petals to fill them in completely anyway! Sing it with me: "She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb. In the shape of an "L" on her forehead."
I will find a way to finish these b/c I think they'd look really pretty - might just have to start with bigger petals next time! And if anyone out there would like to make these, I'd be happy to send you the materials!!! Just say the word!
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The Wonky Log Cabin.
Nothing much to say about these other than it was taking entirely too long to make real progress on these. On projects I'm not married to in the first place, I need some early 'gimme' to fuel my fire. With each additional strip cut, sewn, trimmed and pressed, I just kept watching the clock. I finally decided the time-benefit analysis was not favorable and set these aside for another day.
A new machine awaits me, and I'll have a little more time after the first of the year (no pressure like the prep for Market). I will revisit these...
Hope your weekend is filled to the gills with triumphs and happy dances!
xo
Jan
