Monday 16 June 2014

Sidetracked finished

Here is the completed Sidetracked - somewhat bleached by the sun I think.


I've shown you the background and the making of the tracks in my last two posts



I debated several fancy shapes for tracks, but in the end I decided to stick with the simplicity of the piece and just go for a straight line down one side.

When I made Fracture, I appliqued the quilted body directly onto the background with a machine blanket stitch. This works well, but does leave a raw edge of sorts. This time, I decided to face the quilted part and then hand stitch it to the background.



This is a lot of extra work but it gives a totally different finish; much neater - the stitches do not show on the front or back as I didn't go all the way through the backing. It is also raised up, sitting on the surface. I would be interested to hear what you think of this and which finish you prefer.


I had intended to tuck the end under, but didn't leave quite enough length to do that and I quite like the small overlap.


I also faced the edges of the background giving a similar finish to both.



One mistake I did make was to forget that in facing the tracks, I would lose some of the width. They are therefore I bit narrower than I had planned, which I think shows. I like this piece, but I'm not entirely happy with it. I think it is because the tracks are just that bit too narrow. Humm. What do you think?


Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Please find below a list of linky parties. I may not link with all of the every week, but with some of them most weeks. Please go and have a look at some of the other wonderful quilts and quilters there.
Anything goes Mondays @ http://marelize-ries.blogspot.co.uk/
Linky Tuesday at Free motion by  the river­­­­ @ http://www.conniekresin.com/
Fabric Tuesday @http://quiltstory.blogspot.co.uk/    
Sew cute Tuesday @ http://www.blossomheartquilts.com/ 
WIP Wednesday at freshly pieced   @   http://www.freshlypieced.com/
WOW = WIPs on Wednesdays  @ http://www.estheraliu.blogspot.co.uk/  
WIP Wednesday at TN + TN  @ http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca
I Quilt Thursdays @ http://prettybobbins.com/
Really Random Thursdays @ http://www.liveacolorfullife.net/
Needle and Thread Thursday @ http://myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.co.uk/
Off the wall Fridays @ http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.co.uk/
Lizzie Lenard @ http://lizzielenard-vintagesewing.blogspot.co.uk/

22 comments:

  1. Wow, that is a wonderful unique piece. I LOVE IT! Your quilting is amazing.

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  2. I love the overlap and think it is fabulous your work is so awesome.

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  3. It's beautiful just the way it is!
    Lisa

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  4. The "narrower-than-planned" tracks do not show. The faced quilt edges is very nice. I love this piece.

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  5. Astonishing! I love it the way it is. Of course, I didn't have any expectation as to the width. It looks perfect to me. The same for the overlapping ends. They just enhance the 3D textures of the whole work. The gold stripes and thread also add a beautiful texture to the piece, as well as brightness to the quilted white background.
    I'm a strong advocate to finishing by hands. I could never achieve as neat a finish with the sewing machine. So I love how you finished your sides. Again, astonishing!!

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  6. I really like the 3D effect. And all the textures And I agree with France, you hand finished really makes the difference in end quality.

    If you don't tell people it ended tinner than planned, nobody will ever noticed it. It think your proportions look great. And the front a little taller than the back add more movement.

    It's really great, and maybe I'm a little it jalous :)

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  7. Love the faced edge on the tracks - perfect finish for them. I like the width too, although I can understand why you might have liked them a smidge wider I think that they are fine as they are. Another great piece!

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  8. The faced edges are perfection. Your design decisions are dead on. This is one of my favourites, so far, of your quilts. It's elegant in it's simplicity, part of which, I believe, is caused by the width of the quilted strip. You might not be happy with it because you had different expectations or have been staring at it for too long. I'd suggest putting it aside for a week....or longer, then reassess. I'm willing to bet (a dollar) that you won't want to change a thing.

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  9. I definitely like Sidetracks and I do not care about the width. I also like the colors of the quilt. It looks sooo elegant. The quilting is great again. And the binding is perfect, too. It makes it so modern and unique.

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  10. Great job, I think the proportion of the tracks to the background is fine, as someone who did not have any expectations. I did a similar long skinny piece with only the top layer faced. I wish now I had faced the bottom layer as well. I only attached the two layers at the top, because I wanted a lot of movement, but looking at yours I might go back and tack down the top layer.

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  11. I love this piece. I like the contrast in texture between the background and the tracks, the colour choices and how the gold strips and gold thread makes it so elegant, how the joined pieces makes it look 3-D and of course your FMQ is amazing. Did I tell you, I love this piece. I didn't see a size but it looks to be fairly large which would make it even more impressive. Just curious, did you plan these two pieces to go together originally?

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  12. I love it! The raised track, it looks like it is floating on the background. Your quilting is wonderful, very intricate.

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  13. This is such a pretty piece! I love the dimensional look of it. You are very creative; the quilting is magnificent as always.

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  14. Oooh, I love this, Hilary. Especially the raised track. Very cool!

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  15. Facing the track was prefect for the piece. It allows the appliqué to extend beyond the background. Different pieces call for different techniques. I continue to find your work captivating. There is always more to see and learn from. Another stunner.

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  16. What fabulous texture! I love that the track is raised!

    Thank you so much for linking up to Needle and Thread Thursday!

    :) Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

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  17. Very unique! I love it! It looks like it would be a fun project to make.

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  18. Hi, Hilary. This is such an elegant piece. I like the raised effect with the beige strip, and the quilting gives the white part such depth.
    best, nadia

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  19. Totally unique, Hilary, I love it. Wonderful overall concept, and just enough gold to make it twinkle.
    Thank you for linking up to free Motion Mavericks!
    Love, Muv

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  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  21. I call mistakes "creative license". Your project is great! Stopping by from Free. Motion a mavericks linky.

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