NOAH'S ARK TOP IS TOGETHER!

 The top is finished! I still need to add thin batting and some backing. Then stitch in the ditch to hold it all together and then finish it with a binding and hanging sleeve. Those things are in my opinion the boring grunt work, but it must be done. So here is the top all pieced together.

I've always said I would never do a tile work design.  As is often true I've once again learned to "never say never"! They really become a tapestry with lots of seams.  They are very heavy and very stiff. Also most I have seen done have not been lined up well and I find that really distracts from the design and make them look , well, cheap.  However, I love Noah's Ark and all things that depict it and when I saw this Anita Goodesign pattern I knew I wanted to make it, but I had no use for it.  So, I asked my friend and pre-retirement boss if he would like it for his church. Yes, not only does he own a sewing/quilt shop and a repair department for sewing machines and vacuums, but he is pastor of a church. (Personally I don't think he ever sleeps.) He said yes, and I was off.

The embroidery was easy; though time consuming. Basically after I choose out all my threads and fabrics all I had to do was hoop the stabilizer, trim appliques and change threads.  My lovely Dream Machine did all the work. The sewing the blocks together after they were trimmed was my challenge. There is so much to line up.  I decided to do the sewing on my Janome Horizon rather than my Dream Machine.  I really like its built in even feed foot. So with lots of  clipping and checking I dove into the sewing. I also took time to press each seam well after sewing. In order to keep things trom slipping or my not sewing a straight line I set my machine speed down to almost as slow as it would go. I think that was one of the biggest keys to my success.

I didn't sew rows together except for the final sewing of the two halves together.  There were 4 rows of  5 blocks each.  I chose to work in pairs taking a block from row one and the one beneath it from row two and sew them together; then I took the second block from row one and sewed it to the second block of row two. I pressed them both and then sewed them together to a block of four square. Next I took the third block of row one and sewed it to the third block of row two; then the fourth block of row one to the fourth block of row two. I then pressed the two of them and sewed them together. I sewed the fifth block of row one to the fifth block of row two; pressed it and sewed it on the second of the four block units. Finally I sewed the two units together and voila half the top was together. I completed the second half using the same technique and then the [picture below show the tow halves clipped together and ready for sewing.