Wednesday 8 February 2012

Star so bright

Our assignment was to go round and through a star. Leah said you can't do it 'wrong', and that you can sort of do it your way - or I hope she said that, cos its what I did!

First we had to stipple in a shape - Leah did not go around the square in the middle, but I couldn't help myself, and I did. It looks So Wrong to me to go over that square - so I didn't. Let's hope I don't get told off...

Rather small stippling from the top. I used a chalk pencil to mark the sandwich - almost like my first stencil?

First square from underneath

I have lots and lots of this red fabric - a shop assistant and I had a maths accident, which I still have about two metres left of. It was a really big accident, possibly involving a decimal place...

Me and son #1 really like the above star, and plan to turn it into a cushion for the window seat.




The second star looks fine - I definitely was using a stencil thing to make the pattern, and there are different sizes of stippling. So assignment complete! But this didn't come out looking so good to us, we thought it looked too busy and the middle star is drowned by all the busy stippling both in and around it. 

This week I used a cheater needle, and I'm terribly impressed with how much tidier my starts and stops were.

The underside of the second one is a bit munted where I forgot to put the foot down till after I'd done a few stitches, but I forgive me! That doesn't mean I'ma gonna show youall!

7 comments:

  1. Oh WOW! Looks awesome, both stars! I have a question though, what is a cheater needle?

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  2. Very nice!!! Aren't those cheater needles great?!! ~Jeanne

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  3. Cheater needle? Do tell! I agree: the pattern in the middle gets lost in the stippling a bit, but it still looks great! It would probably make a nice window seat cushion. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Cheater needles are the easy threading needles. You don't 'thread' them, they have a slot at the end and you kind of tug the threads into the eye. Leah had them in her shop - my quilting shop also carried them, especially when I worked out the proper name for them. . . :)

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  5. Told off??? Who's going to yell at you? Me?! Absolutely not!

    Oops, I guess I am yelling. Both of your stars look terrific! I know what you mean about something feeling "wrong" and that's a feeling you should go with and listen to - it's your inner designer sharing her opinion.

    As for the second star - yes, when you stitch inside the motif and on the outside of the motif it can get hidden in the stitching. There are two ways to stop this from happening - either stitch the stippling around the motif MUCH denser (we're talking a 1/8 inch scale here or smaller) and / or trapunto the motif so it's puffier than the background area.

    Regardless, both look terrific! I look forward to seeing the cushions you make out of them.

    Leah

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  6. Your stars look great - the back as good as the front! Wow. I never manage that!

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  7. Toni, what a beautiful job....and I love the red fabric. I concur on the cheater needle. It's so quick to bury the thread immediately when I stop FMQ.

    BTW - happy belated birthday!

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