Assemble - Ta Da!

I have named this mini quilt Assemble. She is about 13.5" x 17" and was quilted on my regular home sewing machine using a walking foot.

Assemble is the result of a small, international round robin project that I participated in with 5 of my internet friends (their instagram names are in brackets) - Lynz (@ochil_lynz), Susan (@patchnplay), Jan (@isisjem), Dee (@deeroodesigns), and Ethné (flamingstitches on Flickr).  The group, which on Flickr calls itself PIP Testing (I have to admit I do not understand what that means or why it is the name but I'm good all the same) decided on a round robin project, with the quilt to circle the globe. (My piece went to Australia, then to the UK and Scotland, then to the USA then back to me.)

Talk of all that postage led to the idea of a mini quilt round robin, which also made the project much harder as additions were small and counted a lot. To allow for the quilts to travel, we had a shipping month and a making month, which turned out to be about perfect and the project took us almost exactly a year to complete.



We each made our first block and created an inspiration mosaic.



With my mosaic, I asked my friends to focus on the "feeling" for their inspiration. If you click that photo you will go to my Flickr photo which has links to all the original photos used in the mosaic if you are looking for them.



I love the mini quilt that was returned to me. I started quilting her this weekend.



I used my home machine and a walking foot so that I could have straightish lines going whatever way I wanted. One issue with the long arm is that diagonal lines are hard to make without a ruler and I am not yet skilled at using rulers. Moreover, I did not want the lines perfectly straight either.



Here she is after quilting. I was debating whether or not to add some hand stitching to the appliqué shapes last night so I trimmed and bound her while I was thinking. I have since decided to leave those shapes to float above the quilted part of the quilt. Like planets or something, the overall image of this quilt has an outer-space sort of quality for me, I'm not sure why. Also it is a play on the idea of the quilt being assembled by several people, and the appliqué pieces are, perhaps, in the process of being assembled - well, you have my thoughts on it. Modern pieces are interpreted by each viewer differently, and it is fun that this is my quilt but also not fully my processes - she is still telling me about herself.



On the back I included the signature block from all my friends. I picked the yellow binding as the yellow bits in the quilt stand out for me as rays of light and I quilted them with a yellow thread while the rest was quilted with aqua or a darker blue/green variegated thread. I am going to think on the binding. I might, in future, take it off and add a faced binding instead. I am not sure that I like the frame on this piece or not yet, but for now she is finished.



Initially, this was the orientation I had in mind, but I have now decided that the photo at the top is the right way up for Assemble. She does work landscape too.

Assemble is my only finish for Q2 of the 2016 FAL. I know, as one of the global hosts, I should have done better but still, a finish is a finish.

If you have not yet linked up your Q2 finishes, you have a day and a half - until Thursday July 7 at 9 pm MDT, so get them linked - go here - as there are wonderful prizes to be randomly given away after the link closes.

Best,

Leanne