Stitching beside the ditch!

Having said I was going to work on my poem piece next I started stitching the letters as the words were fairly indecipherable.  This was two arm lengths away and who can tell where I stitched?

Well!  It was here:

To be honest, I was a bit downhearted about this so decided I would work on something else instead.

At Summer School I had put this together:

I put wadding and a backing behind it.

On one of those reels that turns up on Facebook I saw about a sewing machine foot for doing 'stitch-in-the-ditch' quilting.  I did try this style of quilting once before on a hanging with limited success.  I looked on the internet and there is such a foot for my Janome machine.

Much to my surprise I discovered - once I knew what one looked like - that I already owned one.  So armed with the correct tool, I gave it a go!  With various rates of success.

Firstly I found it really difficult to see the guide blade against the fabric.  Secondly a lot depended on how well I had pressed the seams which is the ditch you are supposed to sew in.

And thirdly, a lot depended on where the needle was positioned in relation to the blade.

So several lines of the stitches are beside the ditch rather than in the ditch.  C'est la vie!

It's stitched and the binding put on.  I could call it finished but I do want to add something else to it.

I have bits of cords left over from the river piece which I wondered about making into letters and have raised words on top.  I've also thought about using the cords to make chains.  Or maybe cut out words.

Watch this space!

Thanks for being here today
Bernice