Name bunting

Sometime right after Jimmy came home from the hospital I decided the children all needed name bunting.  I'm not sure why.  But it seemed important.  One of the items on my first to do lists was "Think about bunting."  I knew I wanted them to be quilted and have pinked edges.  All of this seemed very important.    I didn't want to look for a tutorial and follow it, I just wanted to do it.  

It was also important that I use new fonts.  None of this makes a lot of sense now-it feels like retelling a funny dream.  I went online and found free fonts and downloaded them, just for this project.  Then I looked through all of my fabric and VERY seriously considered the merits of different combinations.  I did let Anna pick hers.   

  

I had to size the letters and print them, and then trace them onto the fusible web...and then print them and trace them again because I forgot that I would have to reverse the letters...

Then I ironed the web to the fabric...then I had to repeat that step on a few letters because I forgot to fuse to the wrong side of the fabric.  I also cut my own triangle pattern and cut some pieces and then decided the proportions were wrong and went ahead and found a bunting pattern  online just for the shape.  But I was all serious about doing my own thing so I didn't even let myself read her instructions.  Very strange.    

I cut all my bunting triangles and cut out my letters and fused them on.  I cut bunches of triangles out of batting so that I could quilt them.  Doing the stitching around the letters worked fine, but then I wanted to do a straight stitch along the edges and that got bunchy and looked bad and I tried three times before I decided to do something else.  So THEN I cut triangles of fusible fleece and pressed them to the fronts.  (Now I need to figure out what to do with that stack of batting cut into triangles) 

Then I did the quilting around the letters.  Anna and Katie got blanket stitch, but Jimmy's didn't look right with the blanket stitch (more ripping of stitches!) and I finally decided on a straight stitch.  In hindsight-stitching around the letters isn't going to do a thing to hold them on, but I don't think this is going to go through the wash too often, so it should be fine.  I'm really enjoying the applique technique-though now I'm coveting this embroidery foot with clear sole so I can see where I'm going on tight curves.  

I have no idea why the quilting was so important to me-but it is cute on the back.  I don't know if you can tell at all from the front.  Then I used my scalloped and pinked rotary blades to cut the edges, and used bias tape from my enormous stash to put it all together.  

Each child is getting theirs for Christmas.  I think it's a good thing Jimmy's tiny-this doesn't strike me as a very exciting present for a little boy.  But it was fun to take this idea and carry it out, in silly sleep deprived fashion.  My September project.