Pushing the boundaries

I hate leaving things until the last minute because I don’t like rushing to get things done. Happens all the time, but I still don’t like it. This month’s Free Motion Quilting Challenge came from Don Linn who demonstrated how to transfer a design onto cloth so that it could be quilted. I finally got a day off work today (second one this month!) and luckily, my calendar still says April.

I didn’t have any of the suggested tulle that he used, and I don’t have access to such things in my small town. I made it into “the city” a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t have time to stop for fabric (*sigh*). So, I wondered what I could do instead. I was about to use the ol’ deck door “light table” – which is really hard on the arms, but… – and then I remembered that I bought some Sulky Solvy a while back for a project that I hadn’t used it for (and now can’t remember even what it was). It was made for a project like this, although at $7 for a 19x32-inch piece, I’m certain it’s a bit pricier than tulle.

But it worked, and I had the opportunity to try something new. And honestly, even though this is the last day of the challenge, I didn’t feel rushed. I laid the Solvy over the design and traced. Pencil didn’t work, so I used the only fine-tipped marker in the house, which was a Staedtler permanent marker. I tried a little piece first with the fabric and then washed it away. Seemed to work. It’s practice, right? So I made myself a sandwich and pinned it all together.

Sewing through it was no problem, and the wrinkles in the Solvy didn’t make my pattern move around. It stretched over the fabric slightly as I sewed, so it all stayed nicely in place until I was finished. Then I had to wash it off. Goooey! But it all washes off easily. Most of what you see here is shadow, but I think that because I stitched over permanent marker ink, some of the residue was left on the red polyester thread. Still, that doesn’t bother me. because I learned some new tricks. I think I’ll do some fill quilting on this and then bind it and have a little 10x10 inch mug rug or mat.

Meanwhile, the sun is mostly shining here and there’s so much yard work still to do today.

Until next time,