17 July 2012

FMQ - July

The July challenge was given by Angela Walters whom I have followed for quite a while and always admired for her beautiful work.  Apart from teaching and hosting retreats, Angela is a professional quilter who quilts for many large companies including the Robert Kaufman Fabric Company.  She has also written two books.

The quilting design for this month is called "Tiles" which could be used in a border or in negative space as long as it is not too small an area.  Angela used a "swirl" design in her sample and I can assure you this is not the easiest of designs to do!  It took many hours of practice after which I still wasn't very happy but towards the end of my final piece, I thought it was passable!  Also to quilt the straight lines of the tiles was a challenge in itself.  I had to resort to a ruler and wash-out marker to make them line up. 

Here is my final piece which I present for the July challenge.

Tiles filled with swirls


As usual I started with pencil and paper marking direction of quilting with arrows....

  

then did a few practice pieces - here is one....



Thank you Angela for providing this tutorial.  It was really more difficult than it looks and provided a great challenge.  Thank you also to SewCalGal for the opportunity.

Argh those swirls really got to me!  Anyway, after completing my challenge piece and while my mind was still in "swirl" gear, I decided to give them a go on a hand pieced ufo, and yes I know, I know..... many say that you just do not machine quilt something that has been hand pieced, but this Spool quilt had been put aside for the past two years and periodically taken out and had a bit of hand quilting done on it.  Unfortunately I had used a chintz on the back and this made it very difficult to quilt by hand, so to just get it done I decided to put it under my machine and go for it.  At least it is finished as I really don't like having unfinished quilts put away in cupboards!

And here it is....

Spool Quilt with swirls

Thank you for taking a looky and will see you again in August.  I wonder what lies ahead for us next month?




1 July 2012

New Books

1 July 2012

I am so excited to received some lovely new quilting books.  These 3 were on special from Martingale.

Martingale Publishers

I have so many Charm packs in my stash that I needed some new ideas of how to use them and "Charmed I'm Sure" has lots of lovely new quilt patterns to make.  I've always preferred the lovely old original quilt patterns and this is what "Fresh Vintage Sewing" is all about.  "Reversible Vests" is quite self-explanatory.  Mmm can't wait to get into this one!

The books in the bottom pic are from C&T Publishers.  SewCalGal put a post on her website that they were having a very special sale on their books ranging from $3 to $5. Shipping on these books was $30!  Oh well, the price we pay to live in the best country in the world is still worth it!!  Note the "Sophisticated Stitches" in the foreground - this is by Don Linn who gave us our March FMQ tutorial.  It has some really super designs.

C&T Publishers




Oh goodness the temptation to get into these books is so enticing, but I have 3 waistcoats to sew for a wedding so these must come first!  Thanks for stopping by....

I have typed this whole page with one hand as my little snow white kitten is on my lap and she complains when I stop stroking her.  Spoiled rotten!  DH wants to know why he doesn't get the same treatment but of course he's not as furry! 

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