Still working it…..

NOTE: There will be no blog post next week as I will be traveling. See you on Oct 17th! After that, one more post before Houston and another break. Will you miss me?

This will be a short post – I am going to be out of town for a few days and I just have not had time to do much.

Maybe all my readers have figured out that I am never going to finish my applique/trapunto piece. I think this is my fifth post on my little ole 33″ square piece. Oy. Last week I showed all my bad choices for border thread and thought I landed on the right thread. Nope:

I had quilted out about half of one side of the border last week and it looked like a winner. As I quilted this out……no, no, no! This is way too shouty, too busy, too much. The question became, was it the ornate nature of the feather, the color of the thread, or both? I concluded it was the thread. Again.

I may drop down to a 28 wt instead of 12 wt and see if that helps. Or maybe back to the more subtle thread. On this one, there is just no way to predict, I just have to quilt and rip, quilt and rip and hopefully at some point, just quilt.

Since I’m doing so much ripping, I thought I would share my thoughts on that. I take ripping as seriously as any other quilting skill like piecing, free motion quilting, etc. I have figured out the best way for me. All those other ways take more time. These are my weapons:

I mainly use the bottom stubby awl, NOT a stiletto which is too pointy. The awl is perfect for ripping. The point widens quickly on the shaft so you can just barely get that tip under a thread, then push and be able to lift the thread easily. I use the normal seam ripper just to sever pointy ends only.

My method is this on these feathers: I use the ripper to sever every pointy end before I start in earnest. Then I go to the side with the strongest thread, 12 wt in this case, the top one, and I pull threads up with the awl. Because that thread is the strongest of the two, I can pull maybe 12 stitches up, then pull, which makes for quick ripping. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

I will rip out one long feather frond, 2 1/2″ ish long, in 2 or 3 pulls. That makes for quick ripping! It is way faster than severing every few inches, then pulling. Works for me.

People send me stuff sometimes because they want me to try it. Sometimes it affirms I do not want to buy that thing, but sometimes it piques my interest. Birdie Bird Quilts sent one of their battings to me in the most lovely package:

Isn’t that sweet? I am incapable of creating such pretty fluff myself; it was fun just to open the package! Jean sent this batting:

It is unique in that the batting and flannel backing are one! They are adhered together, no bunching or moving.

Here’s the really cool part: no pins, no pre-wash of backing (unless you need to). You smooth the batting onto the backing and it sticks, no pins or basting! She has 2 short videos on her landing page that show how to layer up and how to quilt.

Okay, I haven’t tried it yet, but if I don’t have to baste, and I don’t have to adhere the batting to the backing, that is a huuuuge time saver. Anyone already used this batting? Do tell!

Okay, give me two weeks. I’ll be linking up this week’s post:

Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday