Monday, October 13, 2014

Messy Design Wall Monday

Is everyone this messy when they work?  As you can see not much has changed in the Studio.  My real design wall has collected even more dust.  It's peaking out of the upper right corner of this picture.  The entire weekend was spent cooking and working towards getting the birds off my work table.
It took all day Saturday to make templates for the center block.  My stash of different templar products ran out and I had to make a few triple layered freezer paper templates.  
 In order to trace on the white templar I had to use the table light Mr. Podunk put in my work table a couple of years ago.  
 Most of my quilts are fairly easy to assemble and take just a little snippet of time out of my life.  This one is a big CHUNK.  With so much effort I feel like taking the time to make sure it sticks around awhile is probably a good idea.   I'm no expert quilter by a long shot but I do like to take the advice of those that I feel  fall in that category.  So somewhere I read that using Sew Secure on the inner point of turned applique will help with any fraying that might occur over it's lifetime.  If I were better at these inner corners maybe I wouldn't need this but for now I'm not taking any chances.  It's better to be safe than sorry, it would be a shame to do all this work only to have a gazillion little frays after the first few washes.
 It does make the fabric a little stiff and harder to handstitch  but it's worth it in my book.  Using it sparingly is the trick.  Just a itty bitty dot at the top of her neck, can you see it?
 It's so hard to see on the bird so here's the itty bitty dot on my finger.  After I make the dot in the inner point I kinda smear it into the area.   To test this stuff  I've washed unsewn pieces of fabric with one edge treated with the product.  Low and behold they don't fray even when completely exposed.    
Well these birds are going to be on the table a bit longer, I'm quilting on the frame today.
 Three years ago I started this project, can you believe I still don't have a fabric for the vase!

~ Lea Anne ~

Today's freebie from Attic Window Quilt


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15 comments:

  1. Yep, defnitely messy when there are a couple of projects in full swing! your birds are coming along nicely. Love the colors so far

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  2. That is one beautiful design. I take it you will hand appliqué them to the background. Thanks for the info about the Sew Secure. I've never heard of it before. Where do you find it? I would imagine it would work really well to control embroidery thread from coming undone on machine embroidery also.

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  3. What an amazing quilt block you are prepping! My sewing room is the messiest when I"ve working in it the most.

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  4. I get messy....even on the little kitchen table I work on atm. The bigger the space, the messier I get! I live by the motto "I'm not messy, I'm creative!" Love what you are doing.

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  5. I make a huge mess when I am "working" LOL

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  6. A very intense and difficult project but it will be a masterpiece in the end :)

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  7. I like using June Taylor Fray Block (in a tube) for those areas that might fray. It stays soft and is easy to stitch thru. I don't follow the directions on the tube where it says to warm it under hot water....I just put a bit on a paper plate and use a tiny brush to dot it in the areas that need it.

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  8. I never heard of that Sew Secure product before -- where did you get it? Is it the same stuff as Fray Check that I use to keep the knot secure in a serged seam? Your applique is looking lovely -- and your light box built into the work table is super cool! :-)

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  9. I would use your table as the "after" picture as in what it would look like after I cleaned my sewing room. There are huge areas of table showing and look at those Karen Buckley rings all tidy in their holder. And your project is amazing.

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  10. It definitely gets messy in my sewing room, but I also like to clean it up between projects. Love the look of your applique. I think it would be fun to learn needle turn applique - I don't relish the idea of all that prep work. Thanks for the tip about that product - I have never heard of it before.

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  11. Oh yah....I call it my creative mess. The more creative I'm being the messier I am!!! Love your block! Isn't applique so fun!! I feel like I'm playing with paper dolls all over again!!

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  12. what a project you have here this is going to be amazing

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  13. Lots of progress, slow going that it is. It's going to be beautiful when it's all done.

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