Some time ago I asked your opinion on this UFO that I liked but it had huge problems because of sitting so long unfinished. My question at the time was if it was worth saving and I asked for suggestions on how to overcome the glue problem. There were a lot of great suggestions sent to me privately. There were a few who thought I should toss it out, learn from it and move on. I just really, really liked the piece and wanted to work to save it. This is where the piece is now, quilted and ready to bind or face. These are the things I did to save it.
The basting glue had turned rock hard and couldn’t be sewn through. I soaked it in a tub which helped a lot. I was finally able to quilt the piece on my mid-arm. I simply quilted around all the elements that had to be removed. I then replaced all the lilies with rust dyed fabric. As I searched my stash I found the fabric I used for the long grasses and leaves. I heated the old stiff appliques and found the corresponding area on the fabric. Using a white lead pencil I drew around the area I needed to cut out and applied light weight fusible. This made it easy to replace the areas within the quilting outlines.
The final step was to get out the paint box and shade/highlight areas. I rarely take much notice if I have used proper shading and light source on a piece like this. The light and dark is more a design element that I try to use to make areas of interest pop and the eye to move over the piece.
There is still some final tweaking to do and small areas of detail. But I’m really glad I kept with it and saved the piece.
