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:

Mt Robson Quilt Comes Together

About a week after I started the Mt Robson quilt, I had all the pieces cut out. I did go out and get a new pair of scissors: the "medium" size Perfect Scissors from Karen Kay Buckley. It was the only brand carried by my LQS, but I was able to try them at the store and they felt pretty good.

Cutting with them was certainly much better than with my little embroidery scissors, so once I had those, cutting was fairly quick, easy, and (happily) painless.

Assembling the layers was supposed to be easier done over a light box. (The directions actually recommended using a window, but I don't know how they get the pieces to stay on the background.) I don't have a light box, but I had heard of people using their sewing machine extension tables and I do have one of those.

So, take one clear extension table:

put the pattern on upside down (so that the picture's not reversed):

 add a light bulb underneath:

 and you have a light box!

I put the background fabric over the pattern (the blue piece is the sky which had already been affixed) and then started to add the pieces in numerical order following the pattern underneath.

But it didn't work very well because I just couldn't see the pattern through the layers of fabric.

So I had the brilliant idea to trace the pattern with a marker on the side I could see:

and tried again. Well, it still didn't work. There's just not enough light to get through the multiple layers of fabric that build up. So eventually I gave up on my brilliant idea and just placed the pieces by eye-balling and lots of referring to the pattern.

You put all the pieces on and arrange them until you're happy and then fuse them all at once. And here is the final top:

A lovely little scene, isn't it? All the pieces are stuck down. I had no problem with the iron-on adhesive so switching to a lower heat setting worked! :)

What this quilt needs now is some batting and a backing and then some quilting. I think I'll be doing a lot of free-motion quilting with a lot of different colours of thread. I looked at thread when I was shopping for the scissors, but I decided to wait until I could bring the piece in and look at the thread colours on the quilt. I'm not sure how many shades of green, grey and blue I'll use.

I expect I'll do some sewing to just hold down the edges of the pieces, and then add more to give texture to the trees, water, sky, etc.

And before I forget to tell you, I heard back from the store where I bought this pattern and they do have a Mount Rundle pattern! I just need to find a time when I can call them and they're open and then it will be winging its way to me.

And now there's very little pressure on me for this quilt. I can use it for practice and do the Mount Rundle piece "for reals".