Hey Everyone, welcome back to Stitch Along Sunday on Tuesday.
I am catching up for week 2 since it took me so long to do week 1. I didn’t have to debate anything, move anything or change my mind at all for this week and so was done in record time.
This week’s rules can be found at Rules – Week 2 on Ruth’s blog. The rule was to pick one shape from the list and I chose circle. Make sure to check out Ruth’s Week 2 Challenge Piece as well.
First of all I added a piece of fusible web to the back of my squares that I created in June Week 1. I am trying a new type of fusible called Soft Fuse from Shades Textiles that I bought at Country Concessions in Cookstown, Ontario the other day. I’ll let you know what I think at the end of the post.
Next I took my piece up to the kitchen to trace some circles with cups, glasses and saucers onto the back of the piece where the fusible is. There are so many different shapes in the kitchen why not use them. Ready made templates – how perfect.
After cutting out the circles I placed them on my background which I cut to 13″ x 16″ – no reason for picking this size other than the ruler was a 16 inch square and I wanted a rectangle so I moved it over 3 inches.
Here are the circles ready to be fused in place. I love how they are pieced and each so different.
Circles in place
Fusing done I moved to the sewing machine and set it up for satin stitch which is a really close zigzag that uses tons of thread. My settings for the stitch are a width of 2.5 and a length of 0.5. I used a thread from Superior Threads called Rainbows which is high sheen polyester variegated thread and boy does it shine. For the bobbin I used an Aurifil thread.
Close up of stitching
Because I hadn’t sandwiched my piece with batting I added a piece of tear away stabilizer to the back before doing the satin stitch. This makes for a much nicer stitch and keeps the tension even as there is more for the thread to grab onto.
Back of piece with stabilizer in place
After tying off my thread ends I removed the stabilizer and now I and my piece are ready for week 3.
I am impressed with the Soft Fuse – it doesn’t gum up the needle and the appliqué pieces are not stiff.
Happy Quilting!
