The Garden Party Down Under quilt top is finished. It has been a long eleven months, but I am pretty happy with myself as I stayed on task each month. That is not the way I usually work, projects like this one in the past have often taken several years to complete.
I elected to not put on diamond borders. It finishes at 63 by 63 inches now. A perfect fit for my dining room wall above the buffet. It is off to the quilter on Monday.This week I started a new appliqué project by Laura Heine. I immediately ran into a major issue. I managed to get the entire lower left pieces appliquéd on fused the left side pieces when I realized I had a problem.
I was using Steam a Seam 2 to fuse my pieces on. I noticed that the fusing is coming through and leaving a very apparent shadow.And the two shown here are not all of the ones that were like that. I discovered that the batiks were the issue. I had some regular cotton pieces that showed no problems at all, but the batiks were not something I was going to deal with. I scrapped the the project. I cut out a couple samples of the batiks and tried Steam a Seam 2 Lite, it worked OK, but I was hesitant to trust it. So I pulled out some Pellon Wonder Under in both heavy and medium weights. The heavy weight worked just fine, no issue at all and it fuses well. Moral of the story, is DO NOT USE STEAM A SEAM 2 FUSIBLE WITH BATIKS.I spent the end of last week re-cutting, re-fuseing then re-appliquéd the new block pieces and will be taking the problem block to the quilt store where I am teaching a Beginning Quilting class to show the shop owner so she can warn others of this issue.
DESIGN WALL MONDAY
MID WEEK MAKERS
CONFESSIONS OF A FABRIC ADDICT
Wow, congratulations on finishing Garden Party Down Under, it is such a beautiful top! I love your new appliqué project, but sorry about the issue, it's great to know about it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing a pretty finish and great tips, and linking up!
Your Garden Party Down Under quilt is amazing. Well done!
ReplyDeleteYour Garden Party Down Under is a beauty. Goodness, you finished this pretty in a short time. What a pain having to recut and reapplique the pieces for your next quilt. Thank you for the warning re the Seam a Seam 2 Fusible with some fabrics.
ReplyDeleteGarden Party is wonderful! And thanks for the warning about Steam-a-Seam. I’ll pass it on. I think you have a little typo: you said “shallow” where you mean “shadow”. Dot
ReplyDeleteYikes! I've only tried Steam a Seam a couple of times but since I use batiks when I applique I appreciate the warning. The Garden Party is a beauty! Congratulations on persisting to the finish line.
ReplyDeleteOh what a shame that the fusible showed through!! But your garden Party is looking great...
ReplyDeletethanks for the warning about using SAS2 with batiks...hugs, Julierose
That is a fabulous quilt top - great accomplishment!
ReplyDeleteGarden party down under is gorgeous. What a shame about the fusible product.
ReplyDeleteYour garden party looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your finish. It's stunning! But the steam-a-seam fiasco!! That's so sad. Scrapping a project that makes you unhappy is always the right move.
ReplyDeleteHi DonnaleeQ! I've never seen an issue like that. How annoying. I'm glad you didn't abandon the project completely. Gosh, Garden Party is just gorgeous. What a great accomplishment. Congrats on teaching a beginning quilting class - it's fun to get others hooked, isn't it?! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne
ReplyDeleteGarden Party turned out beautifully! Sorry you had such problems with your new project, glad you found a solution.
ReplyDeleteGarden Party looks amazing! I can't wait to see it after your quilter works her magic. As for the new project -- ugh, running into a problem like that at the very beginning of a new project is like getting a flat tire just as you're backing out of your driveway. It can totally sap your enthusiasm for the whole trip. Good to know the Pellon product is better for batiks! I'm glad you stuck with it.
ReplyDeleteHi Donnalee, what a lovely finish! I can't wait to see it when it comes back from the quilter's. Sorry to hear about the fusion problem. I'm glad that you've worked it out but sorry that you had to start over! Thanks for linking up to Free Motion Mavericks!
ReplyDeleteSuch a rotten thing to have happened! I've run into that as well but never figured out what it was as I use mostly Wonder Under. I have some Steam a Seam leftover from older projects and occasionally use it too. I'll try it out on batiks to see if I get the same results. I may just throw it away since I don't like having to use steam anyway. Love your Garden Party Down Under! It's so hard to stay on track with a big project like that but you did. Kudos! Thanks for sharing on Wednesday Wait Loss.
ReplyDeleteI've followed your progress all year and your vase fabrics really make the quilt interesting and special. Congrats on a finish
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the top finish. Fusibles are funny, sometimes the batch is bad. I like misty fuse myself, but it's harder to use of that type of project.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a wonderful accomplishment! Congrats on a beautiful quilt.
ReplyDeleteThat first quilt is just stunning! It will look fantastic on a wall. And thanks for the advise about the fusible on batiks. Good to know!
ReplyDeleteGarden Party Down Under - WOW! So much goodness to see, I can't decide which part is my favorite but I'm partial to the vase on the top right. It's all just beautiful. That's too bad about the batik/fusing issue but good that you will be able to help others avoid it. Thank you for sharing with us at To Do Tuesday!
ReplyDeleteIt is stunning! Way to keep up all year. It is easy to let a big project such as this go by the way side and take years. Great tip on the fusible Batiks.
ReplyDeleteI love the Garden Party - but do not belong to the Quilt Club - Your's is a beauty!
ReplyDeleteWow! Haven't seen that fusible show-through issue before. Glad you did some samples to figure out which fusible was causing the problem.
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful quilt and so much work put into it! Lovely!
ReplyDelete