Moving Mountains

So I've been thinking about my Mt Robson quilt lately. You know, how you think of unfinished projects: oh, I should work on that some time... and recently I actually did.

I've been stalled at sandwiching it (finding batting, finding a backing) and by not knowing how to quilt it. At some point, though, you realize that no quilting is the ugliest kind of all so you should just try something. And I had an idea of how I could make this a little less scary.

I asked Troy out of the blue if he had a piece of clear plastic or material about this big (holding out my hands to indicate a rough rectangle). Not 30 minutes later he came back with a pane from an old window that we had around somewhere.

I had to cut off some of the glazing and some caulk (and clean it), but then I did this:

Yes, the edges are wrapped in elephant duct tape.
My sister found it for me and promptly
bought me four rolls so I would have enough
that I could feel free to use some! :)

I set the glass over the quilt and guess what I can do now...

Draw all over that glass with Vis-a-Vis (dry erase) markers! When I didn't like something I could wipe it away and I could experiment with different patterns. I expect the sewing will not be exactly like this, but I wanted something so I would at least know what I was aiming for.

Here is a close up where you can see more of the red, which I used for the trees.

It looks a little funky because you can see
the line and its shadow.

Feeling like I had at least taken steps toward a solution to my creative block, I decided I could also find the energy to sandwich the quilt. I pulled out all my batting scraps and found a piece that will work. I pulled out my cotton fabrics and found a piece for the back. I ironed them all nice and smooth.

And then I remembered this little uncovered spot on the landscape:

Right in the center of the picture are some white spots where the fabric of one group of trees didn't quite meet the fabric of the neighbouring group of trees. I know your first thought is going to be "That doesn't look bad." or "You are too picky, Christina." but seriously, you can see it on the quilt and it was time to fix it.

I had been thinking that I would just touch it with a black or green marker, but that never works as well as you think it will. Since it's on a very dark green, I thought that it would be hardly noticed if I just patched a piece on top.

So I got out the double sided adhesive, stuck it to a piece of fabric and cut out some more trees:

I tried it on the quilt and realized that flat bottom edge was not going to work, so I cut some "tree shapes" in the bottom as well:

Here it is lying loose in place (with the paper backing still on, which is why you see some white outlines):

And here it is stuck on:

I really don't think anyone is going to notice now!

With that done, I got out the spray adhesive and stuck the backing, batting and front together. You're right, I don't like using spray adhesive, but I really couldn't see putting this together with pins or basting it. The double sided adhesive used to stick on the pieces makes the fabric quite stiff, and it doesn't "heal" from pin marks very well. (Which brings up another nightmare: I do not want to contemplate having to unpick any quilting!)

I bought different coloured threads a few weeks or months ago for this quilt so I am about ready to sew this! And once I settle on the design, I can take it with me to the sewing machine for reference by carrying along my glass pane.

The quilting is not overly dense so once I get sewing, it probably won't take that long. (Assuming nothing goes wrong.) :knocking on wood: