8.01.2010

August Wreath


Ah! August is here!  Which means school starts in just a few weeks.  In anticipation of school starting I wanted to find a school house block to hang on my wreath.  My short Internet search provided me with nothing I really wanted to assemble.  (mostly paper piecing)  While I'm continuing to wait for the perfect school house block for the first day of school; I went ahead and quilted up this little sailboat for my August wreath.  We have a boat, although it is not a sailboat.  We do have a boat and spend most weekends during the summer out on the lake.

For this little number I switched over to my old machine to do the quilting.  I used a wood-grain type stitch for the main body of the boat.  I quilted around the sails to give them the impression of filling with wind.  If I would have planned ahead, sigh, I would have added a little trapunto to the sails.  I think this would have really added to the effect.  next time.


 For the sky I tried a pattern that I have played around with on my long arm machine.  It is a cloud type stitch which I have difficulty performing on my long arm machine.  Somehow I thought it might be easier to perform on my White.  Boy was I wrong!  If anything it was harder.  I love, love, love to to curvy designs on my long arm.  It really feels natural and almost calming in a rhythmic sort of way.  Curves are much harder for me on my White.  I immediately plucked out all the clouds, as they looked more like sagging breasts then clouds, and used this stitch from Leah Day's 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Fillers.  If you haven't been to her blog I highly recommend it.  This design is her Trailing Spirals filler.  As I said curves are new and difficult for me but I really am happy with the way these turned out.


The ocean on the other hand is I am less than happy with.   I tried to quilt in a rolling wave pattern I also use on my long arm machine.  It looks much better when I perform it on my long arm. But as I've said before, the purpose of the wreath project is to practice and learn new designs, not to be perfect.  Happy August everyone!

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