Saturday, February 6, 2010

Row 2 Fat Cat Christmas pattern

W-e-l-l!  Serves me right, I guess.  On Monday when the new row came out, I printed it off and on Wednesday, I traced it out and fused it to my fabric.  Wednesday afternoon I opened my emails and there it was................an apology from Sindy.  She had posted the wrong reindeers!  Here is what she sent out.........


Please help me pass along this information. The Row 2 of the Christmas Row by Row had a mistake in it. It was not the proper file. OMGosh I am so very sorry about that. The file is now corrected. Be sure to refresh the page when you go to download the proper file. The correct file has a picture of the finished row included. And at the bottom of the template page it lets you know the finished block is 10x 16.

Again, I am very sorry about the slip up.
                                                                                         Sindy

Well, I was in a pickle, wasn't I?  Here I was with everything fused and now what to do.  I thought about for a bit.  I tried using the one I had started with but they were a bit big! to say the least.  Well, I wasn't wasting the fabric (cause you know I don't have any in my stash).

I downloaded the new pattern and using my glue stick I fused the pattern pieces to cardstock.  I then cut them out.  I then laid them right side down and traced around them right where the first pieces were.  To be honest, I find this method much easier than tracing on top of a light table and I think I'm going to do this for all the rows.  Any notes I had to make I put right on the pieces.  Click on the picture and it will enlarge.  See how I noted that W goes to T, that I need to trace 3 of the head and 3 of the body, I need 6 antlers.  Yup, I definitely like this idea.

I decided that I wanted to make use of several pieces of fabrics that have been favourites.  I had them laying out and Karl, in his infinite wisdom, said to me, I really like that one.  I had contemplated not using it.  I'm glad he spoke up!  It is one cute reindeer and it will be smack dab in the middle of the row.  (No, its not this one.)  I took this photo so you can see that my tracing and her layout didn't quite match for me.  I don't know why and danged if I'm going to try to find out.  I've given myself enough angst over this one.
TIP:  When I was finished with the pieces I used for tracing, I put them in a sandwich ziploc bag, punched a hole in the bag and then put the bags into the duo-tang I'm keeping the patterns in.  That way if I ever need them they are all together.  (There are 3 different patterns for the reindeer.)
TIP:  I have decided to keep the "redwork pattern" also.  That I'll keep in a separate duo-tang.  I may need a miniature for someone one day.

I did three of the deers at one time on the applique pressing sheet.  I let them cool completely and then lift them off.  If they aren't fused together, I take them back to the ironing board, give them another shot of steam from both sides.  Let them cool again.

They are now all fused to the background fabric.  I still have the stitching to do around the edges, but I also have a binding to do, pants to shorten, etc., etc., etc.  You can see that every reindeer is different. I personally like the look.  The antlers and the eyes and nose are made out of ultra suede and it did adhere well.  I will have to get the sewing done around the edges however, as it is fraying.
In case you missed out on this from the beginning, Sindy sent another email yesterday.




My inbox has been swamped with quilters wanting the first block in this series! The wonderful folks over at Electric Quilt mentioned it in their newsletter. So until the next update both rows 1 and 2 will be offered on the web site so that no one gets left out of the fun. Oh, and to keep me from sending out files all day, lol. I also tweaked the pre cutting measurements for the blocks if anyone is interested. I always cut my rows longer because I don't always keep a neat ¼ stitch (Good grief, now you know my seams aren't perfect!) and I tend to tug on the ends while sewing.
Hopefully that is ALL the editing for this BoM, everyone knows how much I love instructions (NOT). It would be so much nicer to just sit around and explain it rather than typing it down :)


By the way, there is a smaller version of this quilt.  Sindy is offering it as a redwork, but you could do it in fusible web applique. 

On Monday, I will be featuring work by another guild member.  Look for it then.  Here is a sneak peak.......



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