Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Whew - That Was Close!

The joy of working with hand-dyed thread such as Oliver Twist is its wonderful subtleties and unpredictable variegations. The stress of working with it is knowing that those wonderful characteristics mean that the spool of thread you use up today will likely be enough different from the replacement spool to be noticeable. I also have a difficult time gauging how much is on a spool since it is wound on long cardboard tubes unlike what is typically used for other brands of thread. More than once I've thought I had plenty to complete a project only to look up and see how very close I am to running out. Luckily, today I made it through the background quilting with a little to spare.

Now more decisions. Should I also quilt the border? I'm tempted to quilt circles, outlining some of the ones in the print. And I also have to decide about those arms. Can they go directly over this quilting without the texture shadowing through if I want the arms to remain unquilted? If I do quilt them, I'm thinking of doing it over a thin batting before attaching them to the quilt. I'm thinking a slightly lighter mauve thread would give them some life, but I am also considering a slightly lighter fabric. Decisions for another day. Outside opinions welcome! 

5 comments:

ZenQuilter said...

Sheila, I love how the quilting turned out. Looking forward to seeing it completed. Quilting the borders in circles just might further tie it together. Donna

Sherrie Spangler said...

Looking good!

Amanda said...

I'm loving it! That colour is rather nice. When I did the After Daniel Merriam quilt all the components were made separately and then appliquéd on. I didn't know what I was doing then but it worked. Looking forward to seeing the next stage.

The Inside Stori said...

The quilting is such a lovely compliment to your fabric design!

The Idaho Beauty said...

Thanks as always for the thumbs up comments! I've consulted with a couple of people who could see this in person, and the consensus does seem to be I need to quilt the border. Even I agree after more contemplation!