I am back to working on "The Little Gem." You may remember from a previous post (http://thequiltermomski.blogspot.com/2010/07/little-gem-project.html) that I was working on a baby quilt while working on the LSU Signature Quilt for my Uncle Hilton. It has thus far been a headache but nonetheless I have decided that it's time to finish it. There is a toddler out there who hasn't received his baby blanket.
At some point, I rearranged the basting safety pins so I could at least start machine quilting the center of the quilt. I plan on quilting around the whale, turtle and sea horse then filling in each rectangle-shaped section with wavy, horizontal or vertical stitching. The idea being that the more stitching there is, the less likely that it will come apart from "lots of love." I have completed the outline of the whale, seahorse, whale's bubbles and more than 3/4 of the top blue section with wavy stitching.
The quilting I planned seemed easy enough in theory but I have found a problem with the plan. When stitching the wavy lines in the blue section, the chenille-like fabric is getting trapped under the stitches and creating inconsistent patterns in the quilt top. I have chosen to sew between the chenille-like strips to make these patterns less noticeable but it is causing me to go painfully slow. I have resorted to wetting each strip and splaying apart the fabric fibers as I stitch between them so that they don't get trapped into the stitching. Like I said, it's painfully slow!
I have found that I work more quickly when I try to meet a timeline. With that in mind, here is an intended timeline to finish this GEM of a UFO:
Week 1: 1) Complete wavy stitching in top blue section and 2) stitch outline of top blue section.
Week 2: Stitch 1) outline of turtle's bubbles, 2) cross-hatch pattern in center yellow section, and 3) outline of center yellow section.
Week 3: Stitch 1) outline of turtle, 2) wavy lines in bottom blue section, and 3) outline bottom blue section.
Week 4: Stitch 1) outline of sea horse's bubbles, 2) cross-hatch pattern in top green section, and 3) outline top green section.
Week 5: Stitch 1) cross-hatch pattern in bottom green section and 2) outline bottom green section.
Week 6: Echo stitch border except for the top due to applique name on back.
Week 7: Attach binding and blind stitch to the back. Week 8: Wash, press and send.
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