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Grandmother's Flower Garden
This is the point in the project that really gets me going. I can actually "see" progress when a whole flower is completed. I won't admit how many nights I stayed up late just to get one-more-sewed-in-place to see what it's going to look like. One flower turned into two, and then into three, and then I ran into a couple problems.
For one, I ran out of Quilt Pati forms!
Remember I had overstepped my budget of forms from the beginning when I made all those "centers" at once. The rest were used in making two flowers and one corner of the background.
I solved this in two steps. First, I ordered another package of Quilt Patis so I wouldn't have to budget them so closely. Then I followed the directions and carefully removed the forms from the pieces that were already sewn in place with all six sides attached to another. Those are the ones that can be removed and used again. The outside border of course does not get attached to anything, so I removed some of those, too. Caution -- if you anticipate wanting to attach an additional "border", give some thought to leaving the Quilt Pati forms in place around the outside edge until you're completely done.
It's hard to put it down when the first flower is completed. I just want to keep going to see what the next one will look like! And the next one . . . and the next
. . .and the next . . .The next challenge I encountered was the appearance of "teeth" between the shapes in my completed flowers. This was a lesson in sewing skill I though I had mastered, but now was seeing proof that I could (SHOULD) be paying more attention.
My tiny hand-sewn stitches averaging 12-15 stitches per inch were close enough together, but sometimes I was taking the stitch a little too wide into the shapes. This can cause the thread to show in the seam, giving the appearance of 'teeth'. But more often the teeth appeared because I was stretching the fabric too much in the process of removing the Quilt Pati forms. I had to teach myself to be more careful in that step.
And finally, I had to take a good look at what I'd created so far, and consider how I wanted to finish it. Even though the colors themselves were chosen at random to appear they'd come from the "scrap" pile, there still needed to be an overall balance of color, lights and darks, to prevent an unintended "lopsided" appearance.
An interesting thing happened on the way to picking out the fabric colors and prints for the rest of my flowers --- I started thinking of whole new patterns and designs to plan for future projects using the Quilt Pati forms. Just moving the precut pieces from stack to stack was giving me ideas. Suddenly I can't wait to finish this one so I can start another one!
But first ---- there's more to do with this one. Check back this summer; I'm picking out fabric to add a wide border, backing, batting, and binding. More to come . . . . .
