The Ingenious of the Creative Mind

Only 12 days to go and there still seems a lot to be done on the quilt!  Do you ever get the feeling that the more you do, the more there is to do?  I am working on the outside perimeter and have produced the patches for the top and bottom of the quilt but not for the sides as I want to incorporate the Adinkra symbol again and work on more styles of the Celtic Knots.  It is like at the last stage you get really creative but haven't got the time to explore that creativity - maybe I could have started earlier - maybe, but everyone knows that there is nothing like a bit of adrenaline and desperation to get excellent work out of people (especially me - I work extremely well under pressure!).

This morning I used my home-made light box (my window) to transfer the Celtic knot pattern onto the cloth and now I have to combine it with some muslin (a fine open-weave fabric) and hand stitch the channels of the patches.

My light box!

When an artistic and creative streak is part of your make-up, your imagination can compensate for anything which is lacking!  You are resourceful, can come up with new ideas from the remotest of possibilities and can think 'outside the box' which is always a great plus.  you will find that people also gravitate towards you for various reasons, mainly because you are self-sufficient and possess qualities which they aspire to; they always want you to do something for them but because you are adroit; you rarely reciprocate. I have come to the grand conclusion that creative minds are the pillars of society!

completed Celtic Knot

 
I plan to have the top layer complete before Friday so than I can start the quilt sandwich (top layer, wadding and bottom layer and not to be eaten!) and do the actual quilting at the weekend as I now have more free time available to me.

The words of wisdom.

The nearly completed central panel

WHAT! you say to yourself because you are really amazed and impressed that it was just yesterday that I posted the last blog and here I am today posting a new one of the fully completed central panel!  I must have worked all night to get it to this stage, you think to yourself!  Well, I must say that I did put in some hefty hours and you sewers know how it is; once you are way into a project, you only stop for desperate (really desperate, I mean walking disjointedly to the loo) toilet breaks and when it seems like your stomach has been disconnected from your mouth!

It is really satisfying to have completed the central image.  Sewing around the letters was a bit fiddley but I managed to achieve it all (then realize that I was missing a v) and have now assembled it all together.  I just have to decide how to attach it as I want a bit of movement in them; I don't want them to look too static.  Deciding on fabrics to use around the central image was hard as I had a lot to choose from (remember my fabric shopping spree!) but I managed.  Now I am going to concentrate on making the various patchwork blocks as all the hard work has been done.  Actually, maybe it hasn't, as I've got to decide which colours and prints to use - curse my fabric shopping tendency!  Do people like me call themselves Fabroholics!!  Do I need to go to Fabroholics Anonymous!!

Trapunto and Italian cording, and hand-stitching, here I come!

The best place to start a quilt is from the centre, I believe, so that is where I will start as the quilt has a central image. The central motif is what the quilt is all about and that has to be bold.  The Celtic knots which encase the image also has to be eye-catching but not fighting with the main image, so I have done then in colours which compliment each other and, as they are using similiar techniques (one trapunto and the other Italian cording) they will not clash.  The central image caused me no problem, but the Celtic knots!!!
First, I machined around the intricate knots, then halfway through (tell a lie, quarter way through) I discovered that it wasn't as easy to manipulate as I thought, there was a lot of stopping and starting and it didn't lay flat, so I gave up and rediscovered the joys of hand stitching.

Design ideas

Central Adinkra symbol and Celtic knots in various stages

Now with hand stitching one has to have the right size and comfortable needle, waxed thread and oh, a thimble is a must! The more you stitch, the more uniformed the stitches become.  It is one of the most calming activities which you can do - so if you have a demanding and stressful job/ life, take up hand-stitching.  Once all the hand-stitching is done then comes the threading of the wool for the Italian cording.  I bought a soft super chunky wool mix, but next time I think I would get something not so soft because all the pulling through of the wool through the narrow channels does add stress and makes it come apart.  Once I had finished all those 4 pieces, I was quite pleased with the results.  It gave me a sense of achievement to have finished the hardest part; I equate the sewing of strips to make my Roman Stripes and Courthouse Steps as easy.  I have also discoved another patchwork block which I quite like, but I am thinking 'how am I going to intergrate it with the others and will the quilt finish bigger than the given size?' 
I like projects which give me a challenge: the more complicated the project, the better I thrive.  The only thing which I don't want to do with this quilt is overwork it, so I have to occasionally step back and review what I have done.  Next step - the letters!