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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Better Late Than Never!

I discovered Vignette a couple months ago through PamKittyMorning, a favorite blog. I love Australian quilt magazines, so when heard this one, I knew I had to have it! Once issue one arrived in my mailbox, I drooled all over it and immediately decided to make the mystery quilt. I loved the fabrics and colors Leanne had chosen, so I found a shop that had most of the Sweet Broderie fabrics. I don't have a complete 100% match, but that's okay - the stand-in fabrics have a similar look and feel.

When all of my fabrics arrived, I wanted to start the stitching immediately and thought I would do the stitching first and then attach it to the patchwork. I realized, though, that with the batting behind the stitching panels, the seams might be bulky. Of course, I had already started stitching the bird - oh well! I rethought my plan and decided to do it the way Leanne suggested. Just last night I finished the block and now I'm ready to get started on the stitching.

Since we don't have Parlon available here in the US, I went to my local quilt store and got the thinnest batting I could find to use as the backing. I'm trying to decide if I should use a spray adhesive to attach the batting or just baste it into place with thread. I worry that the spray might gum up my needle when I do the stitching. Any thoughts?

Another concern I had was fraying around the edges of the block as I work on the stitching. I've thought about using some Fray Check around the edges to keep everything intact. Has anyone else done that? I don't want to make any mistakes on this gorgeous quilt, but the edges already show some slight fraying and I haven't even started the stitching yet!

I'm exciting to be a part of this blog! Although I'm an avid blog reader, I don't have my own blog, so this is a first for me. Many thanks to Perri for allowing me to participate!

7 comments:

  1. I just began my stitching adventure as well! I wanted to tell you about avoiding the fraying. There is a part in the instructions where LeAnne talks about the"temporary edging." You sew strips of throw away fabric around all the edges while you stitch. I used muslin strips. Sew them on with a long basting stitch and they are easily removed when you are done stitching. Also, I did use iron-on thin batting and it seems to be OK with the needle and stitching! Happy times! Good luck!

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  2. I've been having difficulty finding the magazine here in the US. I know Leanne had some links on her blog, but some of the links are no longer working, and some of the places are out of the mag. Where did you find yours?

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  3. Hi! I live in the states and purchased my supplies from the Buggy Barn. They don't have the parlan, but something called form flex that works well.

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  4. I am using white flannel behind my stitches, thin, soft to feel and the behind mess does not show through. Bunny Hill showed me that trick.
    Be sure to pre-wash the flannel - shrinkage and all that jazz. Also, it looks like some have basted strips to the outside of the block to prevent the fraying while doing the embroidery. I have a hard time with fraycheck staying where I put it - don't like the dry time either!

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  5. Linda, I got my magazine from Daisy Cottage Quilting (http://daisycottagequilting.com/). I know that Happiness is Quilting (http://www.happinessisquilting.com/store/pc/home.asp) also has it. Hope this helps!

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  6. Tammy, I like the flannel idea. I think I will goto the quilt shop to get some flannel to try out - I'll save the batting for another project! If anyone else is interested, here's the post from the Bunny Hill blog where Anne discusses using flannel: http://bunnyhillblog.com/2009/02/11/embroidery-101-part-one/

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  7. I use a product called weaveline G700 behind all of my embroidery including this one. It's a thin, soft iron-on interfacing. Because it stitcks when it's hot, there is no glue-i-ness once it has called so no glue gets on to the needle!

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