To anyone who has been following, I have not given up on the project but have not been diligent about posting my progress. Probably because at some point, I mixed up the already posted blocks with the unposted and was too lazy busy to sort them.
I now have 10 blocks left to embellish and at the rate of 1 or 2 a day, I will be done in about a week. Then I have to figure out how to back them. I have an idea to use the leftover necktie pieces on the back. The front is attached to the batting so I just have to add the backing. How to sew the necktie pieces together? Probably onto fusible interfacing.
And then how to attach the backing to the front/batting. My original idea was to pillowcase them rather than bind or face. I was worried about the delicate beading/binding/findings getting caught when I turned them inside out. Reesa suggested that I make the backing from two pieces which will make the turning inside out easier and then I can just use a little fusible to rejoin the pieces after sewing.
I also had to figure out a hanging sleeve. I usually do triangle corners but if I want to gallery hang these, they should all have a hanging sleeve. OK. The top of the sleeve will get sewn by machine when I sew the pillowcase seams. And then the AHA moment. If I use ribbon (of which I have plenty of wide ribbon), I can machine sew the bottom onto the back before I pillowcase thereby eliminating hand sewing.
So I am going to finish my last 10 blocks, prepare the backs with the ribbon sleeves and give my idea a try. Hopefully successfully. And then photograph the blocks one by one, perhaps with commentary on how I reached each decision.
Have I mentioned that 1" painters tape is my friend?
