I draw my designs out on tracing paper, but I forgot something. I filled in all the spaces and it looked so nice on paper, but when I began to stitch I realized that if I fill all those spaces with stitches, there will be no puff. Empty spaces don't look good on paper, but they look beautiful on a quilt. My quilt agrees, "YES!" See below. I filled one side with the pebbles, but the remaining un-quilted sides showed me that the fill was no good. Have you ever ripped out pebbles?
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| Pebbles = No Puff |
Here is our conversation regarding the latest motif:
Quilt: "Get rid of the black thread. It makes me feel dirty and depressed." (no photo)
Me: "OK. It is gone. I will use red."
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| The upper motif is filled with red and a diagonal grid. |
Me: "OK. Red is gone. I give up. Orange it is and I'll change the grid."
Quilt: "I LOVE it. Now I can dance. I can fly. I will be noticed. I love being surrounded by gold. I feel like a queen."
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| Success! You can't see the puff on the lower motif, but it makes a nice frame. (photo slightly distorted) |
TIP: Keep your seam ripper, scissors and tweezers close at hand. Don't be lazy and leave it if the quilt begins to scream at you. The more you ignore the quilt's conversation the more ripping, or the less you will love your quilt.
I hate to rip as much as the next person, but I will continue to do so if it doesn't look right.
Sew some happy seams this week. I wish you perseverance to achieve your goals.
You are hysterical. No, I haven't ripped out pebbling yet but that's only because I've not been brave enough to do any pebbling on a real quilt yet, only on practice pieces that don't matter. My pebbles look like lumpy little rabbit turds. My quilts say things to me like, "Not YOU again; seriously?! Aren't there any REAL quilters available?!" Hah!
ReplyDeleteHang in there and keep at it. It is so true that only with practice will you get better with your quilting. Keep trying new designs.
DeleteNo ripping out quilted pebbles here. Isn't it amazing the difference color and line direction can make. Thanks for sharing your experience and examples.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't take much between OK and Spectacular. You just need the right combination. I hope you never have to rip pebbles or stippling. Both are nasty.
DeleteI've ripped out pebbles, McTavishing...you name it, I've probably ripped it! I've found that if I rip from the back, it is usually easier. I love it when my quilt talks to me and tells me what it wants! I have one quilt that is currently off the frame because it just refuses to tell me what background it wants! In my earlier years of quilting, I put a quilt on the frame 3 times before it talked to me (frustrating thing!). This quilt is going to be beautiful!
ReplyDeleteMy quilt has remained silent long enough. Thank goodness it has begun to talk!
DeleteI've never ripped out pebbling, it would take forever! But I always use it when I want the space next to it to pop out. To get even more puffiness, I've used a layer of wool batting on top and a layer of cotton or poly on the bottom. Are you using variegated thread, or do you keep changing your threads to different colors?
ReplyDeleteI love the look of pebbles and use them often. I am not using a double batt, but have done so on other quilts. This one is going to be quite flat so, with that in mind I decided against the extra weight of two batts. I am using wool. I am using lots of different colored thread so am constantly changing them. I try to be efficient, but sometimes it is impossible.
DeleteThere are few things worse than unpicking machine quilting. Good for you for staying true to your standards.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I do want it to be as perfect as I can make it, but I am so human.
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