A New Chapter for an Old WIP.

Back in June 2021, I started a new project, Papaver Pazazz. (Link here back to the original blog post.)

Those bias edges gave me a few problems, even though I was working on freezer paper. 

At the time I added some stems, then all work stopped. I'm really not sure why.

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It rested quietly in its project box until 2024, when out it came again and the flowers were appliquéd on.

 And once again it stalled when I realised that the designer had quilted the black and white background before adding the flowers, so I really wasn't sure how to overcome my hurried mistake. Back into the box it went.

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Papaver Pazazz — or simply the poppies, as I have been calling it — saw daylight again when I came up with a plan last year (2025). It was loaded onto the quilting frame and I began to quilt. I don't seem to have saved any photos. 

Not surprising really as I wasn't happy with my efforts, and once again progress came to a halt. It sat on the frame for months, causing all manner of blockages... quilting, mental and creative. Eventually I admitted defeat and took it off the frame early this year. So that Anchor Me (Jiffy's Quilt) could take its place and be finished in time to travel with us to the Isle of Man for the wedding.

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Since getting home, I've spent a couple of afternoons with Jack, carefully unpicking those first quilting attempts. During one sleepless night, a much simpler idea came to mind. 

It wasn't what I had intended to work on today, but it kept calling to me, so I made another start.

I did load it back onto the frame, but only so I could keep everything nice and straight while I used about a billion pins to hold all the layers together. Then it was back to the domestic machine...

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Domestic?

No, no, no.

It's not domestic. I have far too much fun with my sewing machine for it to be domestic.

The fun machine.

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I popped on the walking foot onto my fun machine and set about working into those bias seams. Not quilting in the ditch but stitching a serpentine pattern over the ditch instead.

It reminds me a little of coils of wire laid over trenches, and I quite like the effect. I've already started planning where to go next.

I want to quilt into the flowers and leaves, using the stitching to add extra detail. 

I'm thinking perhaps echo quilting around the flowers and leaves, maybe more serpentine stitching using red thread for the flowers and green for the leaves and stems.

Then there are all those blank spaces in the background. I want to try something creative—not too heavy or loud, because the poppies are the stars of the quilt—but enough to secure the layers and add some interest. I think I have a plan for those too.

And finally... perhaps some barbed wire quilted into the red border.

This quilt will no longer be called Papaver Pazazz or even the poppies.

From now on, it will be called Lest We Forget.

I didn't forget about it and after fretting and worrying over it for the longest time, I'm finally falling in love with it again.