March TIF: Primrose Path

OK.  I admit that I am woefully behind on my March TIF project.  But I’m pleased that it’s just a little past noon and I’ve already met today’s goal of getting all the pieces cut out so I can start piecing this afternoon.  So I’m giving myself a pat on the back, even if I am still basically behind. 

I still use the old-fashioned method of cutting and piecing because I just get more consistent results.  Here’s how I’ve proceeded so far:

1.  Once I decided on the simple tessellation I drafted the pattern and made plastic templates.

2.  I traced around the templates on the back of the fabric for all the pieces I needed and then cut them out, eyeballing 1/4″ seam allowances.  The traced lines will be my stitching lines.  I goofed and cut a couple of pieces out backwards (with the template reversed), but they’ll be ok.  I did an experiment many years ago on marking techniques and markers and learned that pencil and colored pencil lines erase out nicely from fabric with a soft white eraser. 

3.  Then I laid all the pieces out until I got them in the order I want.  I have now discovered that the blocking boards I recently made for my knitting make great “flannel” boards for my quilt making.  I don’t know if the pieces will hold onto the muslin quite as well as with flannel, but so far they’re sticking pretty well.   

4.  The next step will be to hand piece, yes, repeat, hand piece these pieces all together.  I really like hand piecing and it gives me the precision that my perfectionist personality craves.  Plus, I like to sit and piece while watching old movies.  I have The Joy Luck Club on tap for tonight.

I think I’ve mentioned before that this is going to be a small table runner.  I think it will be about 12″ x 30″.   It will be hand quilted and I’m pretty sure I’m going to add additional embellishment with embroidery and beading.  Hence, it will not likely be completed by the end of March.  I also mentioned before that I have hand-dyed all the fabrics for this piece.

I’ve decided to call this piece “Primrose Path.”  I love the minute detail that you see when you closely study primroses.  I’ve been thinking about primroses ever since I watched this audio slide show by plant expert Sydney Eddison.   I love primroses, but I don’t think they will grow in New Mexico, so I’m looking forward to getting some next spring in Virginia. 

My White Flower Farm Spring 2008 Garden Book (catalog) arrived yesterday and I’ve been oooing and ahhing over all the beautiful things in it.  My Taos garden is beautiful, but with xeriscaping you just can’t grow the same kinds of things you can back East where there’s a lot more precipitation.  We’re not strictly xeriscape because we use a little bit of drip irrigation, but once all our plants are established they won’t need it as much. 

Off for a hike on a new trail we learned about yesterday.  We’re going to scope it out for mountain biking.