Welcome Back!

Returning to reality, after nine days away,  can be exhausting. There’s all the unpacking and laundry to do as well as catching up on household tasks. Once those chores are taken care of it’s easier to slide back into your normal routine. For me, it doesn’t take very long to get that out of the way. Once I put my mind to it, I keep myself focused on the tasks-at-hand until each one is crossed off. After my list has been accomplished and tossed into the trash I’m free to move onto more enjoyable things.

Let’s Unpack

Re-establishing my presence in my sewing room meant unpacking and stowing away the supplies I took to my little cabin in the woods. It’s also a great opportunity to clean-up and reorganize my things to give them a fresh, new appearance. I especially had a great time unpacking the items I made while on my trip. Each one was carefully removed from the plastic tub and checked for wrinkles. The small art pieces were stacked, one on top of the other, on a shelf. The two quilts, Circuit and Teacup, were draped over a rod for safekeeping until I have the chance to long-arm quilt them.

Time to Sew

After unpacking and tidying up my sewing room I created the backings for Circuit and Teacup. Even though I don’t have time to long-arm quilt them now I like having the backs already to go. Then when it is time to quilt I don’t have to stop to do it. As soon as I finished the backings I could finally move on to other items.

One of the improv art pieces I made during my retreat was this little quilt.

If you remember from this posting the inspiration came from this random grouping of fabrics.

These small pieces of material, along with the addition of several others, morphed into Crossroads.

A Backing was Added

After pressing the final seam I decided, rather than add borders, I would fuse the mini art piece to black fabric. The borders would have provided a smooth finished edge. This technique would have worked just fine but I really liked the look of the raw edges. I wanted to preserve as much of that appearance as possible.

To accomplish this I used a piece of Misty Fuse, a product I learned about at the Rayna Gillman’s class I attended in May 2016. I prefer to use this product because it allows my piece to maintain a soft feeling. Some of the other products make your piece feel stiff. This is how my Crossroads looked after being fused to it’s new background.

Left to do on this piece:

1. make a backing
2. cut the batting
3. quilting (most likely a simple linear pattern with gray thread, except in the black area)
4. binding (I will create a facing for this)

Once I’ve added the finishing touches I will share the final outcome.

Moving On

Not much else to share on Crossroads for now. Once I’ve had the chance to make further progress I will bring you up-to-date.

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Cindy Anderson