Friday 10 July 2009

a little designing and a tree struggling to survive

You might think this is going to be a quilting design but you'd be wrong.
I started playing with colour for appliqué.

Fliss and I hit the shops today and in the middle of Reading is an old church with a small old cemetery on two sides. This tree is obviously on the way out but I love the way they've saved the trunk which has always fascinated me. And despite having the majority of it removed, it's springing into life again with new small branches. This has to be one of the most amazing trunks ever. Perhaps the fertilizer from 6' under?

6 comments:

  1. this trunk can be a sit down and analyze one while you are in the shop hubby can be busy seeing things inside its ancient bark..love its own personality..

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  2. Hi Sally,

    I was just wondering if I could get some advice. I'm currently machine quilting a Chinese Coin quilt and I'm having problems with the back pleating. I admire how beautiful your machine quilting is and I was wondering if you have any tips on how I prevent the pleats in the future.

    thanks :o)

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  3. Love your feather design and what an interesting old tree!

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  4. Thanks for your help ;o)

    I think you have nailed it. I think I was getting puckers when I wasn't repositioning enough. As soon as I was aware of that and repositioned more often the problem stopped.

    I've been using the Sharon Schamber method of basting and I think something is slipping at the corners as that is where the puckering is occuring and I think I need to tape the edges to hold them in place during the first bit of basting. The centre is fine. I also think I need to go back to quilting from the centre out. Someone posted on their blog about going up one side and then down the other and somehow I think I'm going to end up with more problems. I also wish I hadn't starched...that was another tip from a blog. I think part of the problem is that it is huge (70" square) and I've had less problems with small quilts and forgot how difficult working on a large one is.. 15 years of quilting and this is the one area I still need work on! :o)

    The good news is that I got it done and I've managed to fix all the pleats. I got some great tips in the comments that highlighted my problem areas. In fact I must do a blog post to summarize them so I don't forget all the good advice next time I go to machine quilt!

    TTFN

    Jane

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  5. wow what a great tree.
    great feather design....your such a pro at them!!!!!

    Kathie

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