Yea, Nourish the Tree as it Beginneth to Grow

Alma 32:41 But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life.

Although the prophet Alma is talking about the "Word" and our testimonies, I have always thought this was an excellent metaphor for marriages and families. This project has seen all that and more!

Here it is in all its unbound glory. I will give details after the pics.

 

As I mentioned earlier, it is still unbound and the explanation for that is in its history.....

When I completed the machine quilting I went in search (on my computer) for the pattern thinking I might post the pattern as well in case there were any masochists out there. It was the date on the files that surprised me though. I knew I had started this mosaic before s was born. She is 7 so that puts the date at 7+ right. The earliest file date is November 21, 1999....so yeah, I dare you to dig out a project that has been hidden away that long!


The pattern was completed, the mosaic laid out (the grid it is built on is a PELLON product, fusible), and the seams more or less sewn straight. (You lay out and fuse all the little squares and then sew along the grid lines to actually piece it together.) There were a few problems, little edges that weren't fully incorporated etc so I got a little frustrated....and it got laid aside.

The pattern itself is 39X39 inches (before the seams are sewn) which means there are 1521 1X1 squares in 15 colors.  Somewhere is an exact count of how many squres I had to cut in each color but I can't seem to find it.

In addition to the troubles of a few loose edges, I realized that this was going to have to be machine quilted. With such a density of seam, it would be a nightmare to try to do by hand. At some point, several years after the initial creation, I attempted to quilt it in squares using the clear monofilament thread. After about 1/4 of it, I decided I hated it. Eventually that all got picked out. (I didn't have a mcahine I could put the feed dogs down on, so it was bunchy on the back and....well, boring.)
Fast forward several years, the family goods are being divided in to storage and ship. More than half of my fabric went in to storage because, while I can NOT control my purchasing of fabric I do have a good sense of what I am not going to use in the next little while. hehehe. As I was sorting through things, I came across the tree (wrapped with its back and batting still after all these years) and decided I wasn't willing to lose it if the storage was destroyed, so tossed it in one of the Ship bins. ALL my quilting supplies otherwise went in to the Storage stuff because honestly I hadn't quilted in years, being much too busy with Boxpleat.


Now we come to the part that should give you hope for all your set aside projects....as I hae mentioned earlier in the blog, I got burnt out. Feeling unmotivated to sew for my work (dolls) I decided I ought to sew something else, and what's more, I ought to use my sewing skills to encourage my social life. heheh The Cursed Quilt Group comes on the scene....


Suddenly my energy returns as quilting picks up all the slack imagination that has been sitting around bored and we are off and running. I's quilt (see "Trains" below) is going to have to be machine quilted so I get over my reticence and TRY IT. Come to find out I really like it. Of course having a flash sewing machine that obeys my will is part of that success. (Although I have had this machine for years, so that isn't really any excuse....I got it just before s was born.)

After my little square practice, I needed an interim sized project to help me get the hang of managing the fabric bulk.....ah, the TREE. And here we are. k.


Details of the Machine Quilting: Bark, Air, Leaf, Bush, Grass and Stones (in case you couldn't guess what you were seeing.  Sorry the grass is growing sideways!)