Banner Days

Ah….I adore this time of year. I like spring too, but there is nothing quite like the cooler days with a crispness in the air. The creatures are busy preparing for the upcoming changes as the leaves gradually begin to take on a rainbow of colors and gently fall from the trees. Warm days and crisp, nippy nights!

About a month ago I was fortunate enough to be able to visit with my mother at her home in Iowa. One afternoon we took the opportunity to drive over to Harlan to go to Stitchin’ Tree Quilts. They have a wonderful storefront in the historic town square. While the place isn’t huge, it is brimming with great fabric, ideas and helpful staff.

They were having a sale when I arrived, and I took the opportunity to buy a few fall themed panels. I finally got around to working on them a couple of weeks ago and then finished them up earlier this week. I would have been done sooner but a Hawai’ian vacation and an injury stood in the way. The story of the injury is coming….

I decided that I would try using the technique of trapunto on these panels along with a bit of free motion quilting and thread painting. I figured if I screwed them up, no one needed to know. Of course, I learned a few valuable lessons along the way as you shall see.

While I found these wonderful panels in Iowa, I didn’t see any yardage that would serve as the backing and binding. Once home, I was able to find this really fun gourd and pumpkin fabric that would work perfectly with the fall themed project.

My machine and I were getting along just grand, thank you very much. New needle and lovely thread combined with a charming fabric. But I was tired and ill and not paying attention. As will happen, a small wrinkle appeared in the fabric and as I tried to manipulate the fabric to ease in the fullness…..I realized that I couldn’t move my hand!

Well damn….I just sewed into the side of my finger. Yes, it is true. And it didn’t hurt, in fact I didn’t even feel it since I had a new, super sharp needle in the machine. The Elna didn’t mean to bite me, but I did stick my digit right there where is doesn’t belong. I sat there frozen for a moment not knowing what to do. Then I realized that I had to manipulate the machine to free myself. The mister, who wasn’t home at the time, simply asked if I bled on the project or not. Wow! But, no I didn’t and it will feel better when it quits hurting, thank you very much.

Enough gruesomeness for one post….back to our regularly scheduled program!

I was nearly done with the wall hanging but I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was nervous to get back to sewing. It took me a few days to be brave enough to lower those feed dogs again.

With the pumpkin panel (WELCOME) I made an error in planning and execution. *Sigh* Live and learn, right? Here is what I did…..I placed a layer of batting behind the pumpkin and made a series of “basting” stitches. Then I trimmed away the excess, added the second layer of batting and the backing and finished all of my stitching. The end result is a messy looking back.

Not horrible, but not necessary. However, I was very pleased with the front side and after a few days of licking my wounds (ego and punctured finger), I came back with a renewed sense of purpose and desire to finish the second panel.

Side by side you can see the difference that the finishing makes in the dimension of the panels.

This time, with the Give Thanks fabric I added a piece of batting to the back and embellished the cornucopia plus the pumpkins and gourds until I was satisfied with how it all looked.

Then I flipped over the fabric and cut away any excess batting, taking care not to clip any threads.

Once I completed all of the detail work, I added a second layer of batting and then the backing. I stitched around the perimeter of the printed border to join the layers together. This time I “buried” all of my stitches and so the back looks very tidy. Using the backing fabric, I cut strips and used this for the binding of both panels.

One more quick look at some of the detail work:

And now for the reveal:

I think they turned out quite lovely and I am pleased with the final product. As always, I learned something from this project and at least one thing that I hope I am not bound to repeat! Now…..do I keep these or give them away?