Facing & Finishing

Confession: putting the finishing touches on a project is my least favourite part of the process.   This probably accounts for why I love to knit socks.  There are no seams to sew save the wee bit of grafting at the toe, and there are very few ends to sew in -- most of the time.

However, if one is going to donate pieces to benefit auctions, put pieces on show and/or offer them for sale, one has to finish them, and do so properly and well.

Facing & Finishing - (Back) "Uphill to Mirror" (2014)
(Front) "Yellow Tree" (2015)

Next week I'm sending six of my "15 x 15" pieces to Ontario, where they'll be given to my colleague Chantal.  She will take them back to France and from there, to Maastricht, The Netherlands, for the Open European Quilt Championships competition and exhibition, which runs from October 29 through November 1, 2015.  Yes!  Our group is but one of several which have been accepted as a Guest Collection for the show!  Each of us is sending 6 to 8 pieces, so it will be a great collection of our work over the past three years.  

Then there's "Yellow Tree", my piece for the 2015 SAQA Benefit Auction, which has to be ready to go to Portland with me next week so I can deliver it to the curator of the Auction, Gale O-P.

Today I sewed down the facing and applied the sleeve to "Uphill to Mirror", the 15 x 15 piece, and started to sew down the facing on "Yellow Tree".  The sleeves for all of the 15 x 15 Group's pieces are 2" deep (finished) and mounted 1" from the top and 1" in from each side.  For each I include a tiny pleat (see photo at left) to facilitate hanging.

The sleeve for "Yellow Tree" will be similar, but made of the same fabric as the backing and facing.  I like to have them all match and blend in if possible, so they are rather...um...unobtrusive...and don't take away from the "main event", which is the front!

Speaking of finishing...I am closing in on the end of the Wedding Prayer Shawl too.   Turns out the women in our parish decided to hold a shower for our young bride...on Saturday (April 26)!
This is a good month before I'd planned to finish the shawl, and I'm not prepared to go to the Shower with a different gift...so I'm trying to finish early.  As of this writing, I'm at 23 1/2 of 25 pattern repeats...with 20 rows of garter stitch edging to follow, plus washing and blocking...!

It may or may not be 'on the needles' when presented to the bride-to-be...

At about 21 pattern repeats...

Lace detail
Pattern: "Kimono Shawl"
from
Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle

Blessedly I was able to do most of this handwork in the Outdoor Studio, which I opened this afternoon for the 2015 season!

Opening Day 2015 at my Outdoor Studio 

Being here makes facing and finishing so much more enjoyable -- don't you agree?

Linking this up to WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network.  What have you been working on lately?