Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen Day 16 - Christmas fused quilt in process

So far all my Sweet Sixteen experiments have been with pieced tops. Now I am going to fuse a top and then quilt it on the Sweet Sixteen. I wonder how different that will be?

When I am between projects, or stuck during a project, I sometimes fuse my scraps. So, today, when I want to fuse a Christmas tree, I can pull out my supply of pre-fused scraps and dive right in. 

I am assembling my Christmas tree on release paper. Laura Wasilowski has a couple of great fusing classes on Craftsy if you are interested in learning the basics. The brown stuff behind the white release paper is a goddess sheet, which is basically a pressing sheet designed to allow you to peel the fused project off it after ironing. I like to add as many protective layers as possible as 1. I am a klutz and 2. I hate cleaning fusible off things they shouldn't be sticking too, like my iron and my ironing board. 

A mixture of leftovers from batiks and hand-dyes. Once I have the rough shape blocked out, I will give it a good press and then cut it out. 

The background is some white on white print that I dyed. The printing stays white and the background white cotton takes the dye. I must have scrunched it as it is mottled. 

I stabilized the tree on release paper while I assembled the shape. The presents are very simple shapes, so they are ironed straight on to the goddess sheet awaiting their ribbons. The great thing about the goddess sheet is that when the ironed shapes are removed from it, the backs are very shiny. This is helpful as it is sometimes difficult to tell which is the front and which is the back. 

When fusing on the ribbons I am using another smaller goddess sheet between my iron and the fusible. The ribbons are very thin and it is really hard to see if they are the right way up. 

Sure enough I got one the wrong way up. Without the goddess sheet that sucker would be stuck to my iron about now. Luckily, I can peel it off the goddess sheet and start over. 

Fused Christmas tree ready for stitching!

Ready for stitching! With the pre-fused fabric, that didn't take long at all!

Running out of steam

I did a great class with Nancy Smith on Craftsy, called Strip your stash. Strips I can do. Piecing anything very intricate is not for me. I don't have the patience, nor the accuracy. Quick and colorful does me nicely. I can't even cut straight with a rotary cutter. My Accuquilt is my saving grace!

So I dyed lots of fabric, some batik work, some shibori, some LWI.

Then I made about a bajillion strips, and was off to the races, stripping up some quilts to go with my Jane LaFazio cushions. 

#1 - Although it is hanging crooked off a chair, the rows are actually straight lines. I love the fractured look. And I love that it wasn't difficult to do. Cut strips. Sew them together. I can do that.

#2 - The illusion begins. I start to think I can piece. Squares are just strips cut short right?

#3 - Accuquilt also has flying geese cutters, which helps me enough that I don't cut off too many of the geese's noses sewing them together. So much more time-consuming than the strips though!

#4 - I finally come unstuck. Triangles from strips reveal all my slapdashitude. I love the look, but when I sew the first 2 pieces together it becomes clear that accuracy is sorely missing. Triangles are tricksy little things. They stretch, they unravel, they have points. They demand actual piecing skills. Things have to meet. They don't.

I had intended to make 4 lap quilts. I had romantic illusions of the family snuggling around the fire at Christmas. 3 quilts are made, bound and in service. Number 4 languishes on my design wall, glaring at me reproachfully as I start new projects. Sadly, this project is done in my head, even though it still clutters up my sewing room. Maybe it was too ambitious to do so many quilts at one time. I got bored. I got beyond my competency level. Maybe I'll finish #4 some time in the future. But I wouldn't hold my breath...

#4 will be consigned to the BUP - basket of unfinished projects. This is a limbo where things sit until sufficient time has passed that I can admit that they will never be finished. At that point they are quietly dismembered, and the corpses disposed of inside pillows for homeless animals.


In the mean time I have 3 colorful quilts, nicely folded and ready for family snuggles.

Ahem, Ms. Thambile, those were not intended for you to shed all over. She is the original princess and the pea. Why sit on one cushion, when you could sit on a pile of quilts?