Ha! Sorted ...

I finally found a good way to blow up and contort the original design into the size and shape needed. Photoshop and black felt tip pens were the tools of choice here.

Then I made templates and cut them out to trace with my quilting pencil and then the quilting began. I'm quite pleased with the results so far.

Tracing the design

I've emailed with Susan Druding of About.com fame. She's been incredibly helpful. Based on my initial thoughts and her invaluabe input, this is my current game plan:

I’ve managed to size the template using Photoshop, now it’s just a bit crooked. I’ll redraw it and then I’ll decide whether to just tack through it in order to trace it with tread or to cut it up and trace around the edges with coloured pencil. We shall see.

In the larger areas, I’ll just do a swirly design, I think. Or I’ll appliqué scraps taken from the cut-off of the border fabric. I’ve got elephants and jewels to choose from. Another “we shall see”.

Pins, pins and more pins

I spent all of last night on my hands and knees - thank you lovely Persian rug for making it a bit more comfy - pinning the border to my quilt top, the wadding to the top, binding and bottom, cutting said wadding to size etc. It's now ready for further assembly ... with the help of my trusted Janome.





(And yes, the most crookedest appliqués will be redone, sigh)