A little late, but here is a progress report. “Parenthesis” was the last word and the embroidery complete! Not being well-practiced at embroidery, I’d say that this effort has a lot of “character.” I’m really happy with the overall effect.Sewing the binding on. No pictures of making the bias-binding because, after basting, it’s a step that always confounds me to some degree. And as I was stitching the other side on, I noticed that some of it isn’t actually on the bias. So, oops. I always seem to mess up the continuous binding method and will take this as a lesson to just cut on the bias and sew the strips together.
I decided to cut the excess after sewing on the binding. There are pros and cons to doing this, but it worked out in the end with no issues (like sewing the excess into the seam). But since it didn’t really add any safety into the process, the usual method of  cutting the excess and then sewing on the binding will be the way to go.And here it is, ready to have the other side hand-sewn down. I use a ladder stitch that is quite effective.As of last night, this is where the binding stands: almost complete! I’ve written the quilt details into the seam allowance and marked the start of it with a little red flower (just in case there is a need to prove the history of the quilt). I’m considering what I’d like to do for the quilt label. In the past, I’ve chickened out and not labelled the quilt, but I’ve made a few now and it’s past time to start! I scoured the net for ideas, browsed Pinterest boards and read through a bunch of tutorials. I think I’m going to create little leaf-shaped patches to applique into the quilted shapes and use the embroidery thread to stitch a border. Not sure about placement yet. The idea is still forming in my mind and I’ll probably sketch it out soon to solidify it.

I promised a photo of the underside of the embroidery. I’m working on the third line, almost done! I am loving this font even though it has added so many swirls and flourishes, it’s taking AGES to finish. That, and I’ve been taking a bit of a break from working on this quilt to play video games. Hard to do both at the same time! If I could, I would!

Here are close-up of the embroidery and the quilting. I may not go back to white/cream quilting thread ever again!And here is the underside of the a pictured above. It does look a bit behind-the-scenes, but I realised when I first started that it couldn’t be done any other way, sandwiched as it was and quilted.It works for me, though. Makes me think of a marker that’s drying out, fading in and out.

This is the first side I’ve started of the embroidery. I’m using perle 8 thread and chain stitch. I’m going all the way through the quilt and anchoring the thread by weaving it through the stitches instead of using knots. I suppose I should grab a shot of the underside!

So I need to transfer the poem extract to the quilt. I did some research and decided against using tulle, sewing through the paper, and various products conveniently available for sale and pricey. The carbon paper I have appears to have permanent properties, so I put that away. I decided that I was quite happy quilting through the wash-away pen, so however I transferred the design, I wanted to finish with the pen. This evening I tested out a few techniques. I tried the prick method but didn’t have any pounce, so I tried just stabbing through the holes I made with the wash-away pen. I had limited success with that. Then I tried the cheap carbon method where you take a pencil to the back of the design and then trace onto the fabric with a pen. I need a much softer pencil because that didn’t show up at all!
I found some old interfacing that used for a pattern to test with. I thought maybe the pen would go through as easily as tulle. Not the first time, but the third go over the same line proved moderately successful! Further experimentation proved that holding the pen in place for a second would allow enough ink to flow through the interfacing to the fabric beneath.
So this is my plan for transferring the text to the quilt:
1. Trace the words onto the interfacing.
2. Lay the interfacing on the quilt, maybe use some spray adhesive to keep it in place.
3. Dot the wash-away pen in 1cm intervals.
4. Remove the interfacing and connect the dots
5. Embroider!
I’ll hopefully be able to get all four sides marked up this weekend.

Two nights ago, I thought this was all the quilting I had left. I was so excited to spray out all the blue marker lines, but was dismayed to discover that I missed a tiny, tiny portion. But that’s okay, I’ll quilt it before I start the embroidery of the words.

Here is the print-out of what I’ll be embroidering on each side of the quilt. I bought some red perle 8 thread. I haven’t decided whether to ignore the thin-thick lines and just use back stitch or to attempt some satin stitch. I might wimp out in favour of time and my lack of experience with satin stitch.

Since I last posted. I’ve been busy quilting and quilting! Here’s a picture of my current method of quilting.

I’m now quilting without a hoop at all! I feel I am able to because I used Sharon Schamber‘s method of basting. It is fortunate, too, because the weather has been ridiculously hot and having the quilt on top of me would have been in possible. Instead, I’ve been laying the quilt over a little folding table and quilting the drape. I’d better supply a picture of that, too!

In the meantime, I’ve also been playing around with a new plug-in for Lightroom that will export directly to WordPress. This means that I’ll be able to post better photos more easily!