October 15, 2008

Here are the two panels of my nametag along with the backing board I'm going to put between them. I've glued two layers of quilt batting to each side of the backing board. I put everything together just like you'd attach the panels of a biscornu, with the exception of starting one side in the middle and the other in a corner.

The directions the Victoria Sampler cyber class used for finishing this piece seemed alot more complicated than my method. They wanted you to attach each panel to it's own backing board by gluing it to the side that didn't have the batting on it, then glue the two sides together and use some kind of piping to hide the seam. I can tell you from experience that trying to center these little panels on the backing board was a major PITA! It just didn't work. I ended up stitching 2 1/2 sides together and slipping the backing board into the pocket I made. I then completed whip-stitching the two sides together using the Orchid backstitched borders. I alternated the purple beads with opalescent clear Mill Hill petite beads, picking up one before each stitch.

I stayed up all night and finished my nametag at 6am. This is how it turned out. I had a little scare when one corner almost totally frayed, but my beads cover it. I used Fray Check, but I guess I didn't leave enough fabric outside the Orchid border.

I still didn't want to go back to all the yellow of Baby Kasey so I picked up one of my old Challenge pieces that was started early this year. This is Lavender Luminesence by The Sweetheart Tree. I last worked on it all the way back on January 7th. I decided that I'd stitch one area at a time, rather than use the steps the instructions tell you to stitch in. There was just too much jumping around the way you're instructed to do it. It was much easier working from one motif to the next by staying in the same area. I completed all the backstitching and specialty stitches on the right. Now there's just 3 more of each to go, plus all the beads and charms.