Almost There-Design Wall Monday

I changed out the corner on the border. I tried the knot in the original design and it was too heavy. I've ironed on about half of the leaves. I used misty fuse for the letters and the edges frayed a bit...I'm going with it. The leaves are so small that I'm using stitch witchery. A bit more there, there so I don't think it will fray. I'm cutting the leaves by hand, then bonding them. When they're all done I'll stitch around each one to make sure it doesn't fall off.

I love the darker green circle framing the tree. I did it in four sections, and it still needs to be stitched down. I'm doing a top stitch near the edge. I used freezer paper and pressed the round edge under, then took off the paper and pressed with best press. It's all pinned and waiting.

The borders aren't sewn on yet. I'm going to wait till I have the leaves all one. They'll be the last thing sewn. I don't want the letters to fray too much. I might see if I can find something that will stop the fraying. I think fray check will make it shiny, and I don't want that. Do any of you know what I might use? I am really pleased with how this is turning out!

If you want to see more design walls, check out Judy's blog.

Dissapointment

Sometimes Mother Nature disappoints. I was hoping that wouldn't be possible to go to work this morning, but we only had about 2-3 inches and tonight, not a whole lot more, maybe 4 inches. I guess we can hope for more tonight, but I'm thinking we're going to be disappointed again. I guess I'll have to wait for another day.

I may get more work done

Gotta have a picture, so here is one from Weather Bug

We have a forecast that includes 4-8 inches of snow tonight and another 6-10 inches tomorrow. The first real storm of the season.  If we end up with even 2-3 inches tonight, we probably won't go "down the hill". That's from Woodland Park to Colorado Springs, about a 2,500 foot drop in elevation. It's possible that if it continues to snow during the day, we won't be able to get home, and I'd rather be stranded at home than at work. Soooo, if I stay home tomorrow I'll be able to get more sewing done on the tree of life wall hanging, and that will be good!

Design Wall Monday-October 23

 Here is one of the knots. Thought I'd share just so you can see what it looks like up close...

...here are three of the borders done. I've decided that I am going to put the leaves in, and put the green circle border around the tree.

The words are raw edge applique, and I'm going to put the leaves on using the same technique.

I'm really liking the way this one is turning out...lots of work, but I think it's worth it.

To see more design walls, check Judy's blog.

Tree of Life Progress

 Here is the drawing...

...above is what I have done so far. Now I can't decide if I want the circle of darker green and the leaves. I think the circle really frames the tree, so that will go in, but the leaves are still a question. The fabric for the leaves and the frame is not a solid, it is a darker green batik, you can see it to the left.  Do you think I should make it more solid?

I decided to use a stop watch to get some idea of how long the knots take to pin and sew. I wasn't exact (because I forgot a couple of times to start or stop it), but the one knot next to "be" took approximately 1 1/2 hours to pin and sew. I guess there's a lot of time in this one.

All of the knot work in the branches and roots are sewn now. The letters are fused and top stitched down. That was pretty easy. I'm going to try to get more of the knots done. I think I'll do the top ones next. They're smaller than the others because the letters are larger.

Design Wall Monday

 I've got the top bit sewn down along one edge. The roots are still just pinned. I need to add leaves to the to between some of the limbs. I'm also going to add a darker green in a circle around the tree. The tree is about 24" across. I'm also going to add borders with "The Lord be with you" the way the priest starts prayers...seemed appropriated.

It took a long time to pin, and a long time to sew what I've sewn. I don't think it's going to take as long as I thought.

I want to have it done by early November so I can quilt it. Don't know what I'm going to do for the quilting.

If you want to see more design walls, check out Judy's blog.

I decided I should add a bit more information about this. I am making the quilt for the pastor of my church. He is retiring after 11 1/2 years with us. He made a trip to England, including Iona, and really enjoyed the Celtic spirituality of Iona. My husband works for the church, and has a trinity knot quilt on his wall (that I made) that the pastor really liked. I decided since he is retiring to use the tree of life, and did a google image search using celtic and tree of life. This is actually based on a design for a tattoo.

I used Microsoft Paint to make up the design for the whole top (to the left). The words "The Lord be with You" are included because that is how he starts many prayers, and gets everyone's attention when we're in a group.

When I was finished with the design I found a free poster program online and enlarged the whole thing to about 36" square. I then traced it because it was quite pixelated and used the traced version to mark the knots and cut out the trunk.

 I'm going to quilt it with a white/light backing so it can be signed by the parishoners on the back. The pastor is leaving December 4, so I gotta hurry!

Whew!

 I just spent a good part of the day making the bias strips and pinning them to the design. It took a loooong time.

I bought some applique pins this morning, and used about 2/3 of the 350 I bought.

I wonder how hard it is going to be to sew all this down. I am going to use the machine. I'm a skilled top-stitcher, but there is an awful lot of bias tape to sew down. I like the way it looks.

The bottom edge isn't reddish, that's just the indoor lighting.

When I've sewed it all down I still need to add the leaves.