I posted the photo of my finished border. I used Barb's idea of cutting out the babies in one piece and it worked well (thanks Barb!) - it was much easier than trying to work with such small pieces. I didn't do the bird's eyes like the instructions because my birds are only about an inch high - I ended up just using a French knot for the eyes on all the birds.

It looks fantastic, as though it was supposed to be that way.

And woo-hoo for being almost done on September 5!


Barb in Alabama

I haven't finished my stitching yet, but I did add a photo of my border for month 9. It's sweet and simple but I think it looks good with the rest of the quilt. So I'm pleased.

That's a good idea Barb. Thanks!! I'm working on everything else while I "think" about how to do this.

Thanks again, Deb

Deb,

Maybe you could cut out the babies in one piece (as a whole), in the style of a skyline silhouette. Then you could use embellishment for little eyes, open beaks, and the curve of the breast / shape of a wing.

I really like your nest concept!


Barb in Alabama

Great job Barb! I really like your solution!

Rita - I like the idea of the babies too. I actually tried to do something with that yesterday but just couldn't get them looking right. Then this morning I thought: If I just make the babies by reducing the "adult" birds in half (which is 1/4 size from the original pattern), tilt them a little and add an extra beak to make it look like their mouths are open . . . it just might work. I'm just afraid that they'll be too tiny. I'm going to give it a try though and see how they look. I may have to go back to the big bird sitting on the eggs .

I keep getting tempted by everyone else's designs but, in the end, I keep coming back to the nest.

Deb

Barb, your floral center looks fabulous! Guess I need to get crackin' on this border, or all you ladies are going to leave me in the dust! :shock:

I am really enjoying seeing what everybody is coming up with as alternatives to 2013.

Barb I love your posey, what a great way to use up the extras and it will be so lovely at the top.

Deb, I really like the birds nest too. You can never have too many birds in MHO. If it was me I would put a couple of open-mouthed chicks in the nest and then you would have mum and dad on the branches.

Rosa yours looks good too - a neat solution. You see we are all designers when push comes to shove.

Connie, I am looking forward to your rebellious moment.

RicaWil you don't look old enough to have a daughter getting married - do you mean to put this in her bottom drawer for when she grows up?

Thank you, Norma! This quilt is my first experience with Stable Stuff; so I wasn't sure what to expect. That is good to know!

Barb

Pre-soaking the Stable Stuff would not remove it either, just soften it

Thank you, Margo!

I like your answer a lot. I will probably be quilting this on my 830, if I do it myself. But hand-quilting won't be happening at all hah.

And it suddenly occurs to me that if I pre-soak to remove Stable Stuff, I will also be dissolving the washable glue which is holding down the unsewn edges of the posey. Eeeeek! It would have been the circle fiasco all over again.

Shuddering here.


Barb

Barb, that looks great!! Personally, I seldom trim any bulk on appliques like this because I know that my quilting will be done on a long-arm.

If I were going to be hand quilting (stop laughing....it COULD happen!!!) it would be a different story.

...continuing The Saga of the Posey...

Then removed the stabilizer after sewing, aka ta-dah!



But now I am wondering if I should trim off any portions of a piece that will not show from the front, to reduce bulk. And if I should soak the posey to dissolve the Stable Stuff as much as possible, also to reduce bulk. Here's the back - you can see by the applique stitch where there are multiple layers.

{!-- ia0 -->TwoOfUs-BouquetBack.gif{!-- ia0 -->

I would greatly appreciate thoughts on trimming and soaking.


Barb in Alabama

Back with a progress report.

I decided to stitch as much as possible of my little posey to see if I could end up with a single unit to be appliqued onto the border. So first I transferred the outline of the design to a piece of tear-away stabilizer so that I had something upon which to mount the individual pieces.



Then I pinned the pieces onto the stabilizer.



And stitched here and there where the pieces touched or overlapped.

{!-- ia0 -->TwoOfUs-BouquetSewnToTearaway.gif{!-- ia0 -->

(Can load only 3 pictures; will continue in another post.)

...Barb...