Update on completed projects

Well, it's quite a while since I updated my completed projects of which there have been quite a few!  Where does the time go?  We are already in the middle of May so here goes!  

Sailor's Delight

 This is a little table topper that I made for my sister Lesley.  It is called Sailor's Delight and it was made from Peggy Martin's Quick Strip Paper Piecing, a class on Craftsy.  This is a relatively easy class on paper piecing which is a method I really enjoy doing.

New York Beauty

 Another paper pieced quilt from Peggy's class is this New York Beauty.  I chose purple and yellow as I had never worked with these colours before.  They are quite striking and not at all compatible with the colour scheme in our home!  But still, it hangs proudly in my sewing room!

Mariner's Compass

This wall hanging is called Secret Garden (not very obvious in the fabrics I used as the original had flowers on the outer border).  It was made from one of the books I bought from C&T Publishers called Mariner's Compass Stars by Carol Doak.  It features 24 paper pieced blocks and 9 quilt projects - a really great book to have.

We are  now finished with paper piecing but there will be more to come in the near future!

Disappearing 9-patch

  
I was so fascinated by Jenny Doan's disappearing 9-patch tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company that I just had to make a few of them.  This one used a charm pack and extra yardage for the border.  Do you see that lovely plate, well it came to grief not long after I took this photo; the culprit, Big Boy, Heather's cat who still lives with us.  He decided to jump out of the window above the table.  

Who me, I didn't do anything!

Another Disappearing 9-patch.

See I told you I was fascinated by this pattern!  I used 6" square charms for this one.  It's quite a fun table topper that I use when we have bookclub here.  I added yardage for the border.

Sunflower Quilt

This quilt I made from a book called Vintage Quilts by Joanna Figueroa.  I really had fun choosing the fabrics as these are "my" colours.  I used a 100% cotton batting that I found on the internet in Alberton.  Why had I not discovered this source before?  It was so beautiful to quilt and drapes so much better than the Loomtex which we get locally here in SA.  I was able to use quite a variety of fmq stitches - one of my favourite quilts. The pillows were made from charm squares quite unrelated to the fabrics in the quilt and are not too bad together.

Now what else have I got?  Oh yes, the 2012 BOM!

2012 Block of the Month

This is the completed BOM I did with Craftsy in 2012.  Amy Gibson was the sweet lady who did the classes and Leah Day showed us how to quilt it.  I quite enjoy doing BOMs but they do tend to drag out over a whole year!  I'm now busy with the 2013 one which I'm doing in totally different colours!

Well, I think that I am up to date now save perhaps for one or two which will hopefully come to mind!

Thank you for visiting my blog.  You are welcome to return again.  Please follow me on bloglovin'.

Happy quilting,

 

iPhone Case

I enjoyed making this quick little project this morning I found on Erin Erickson's blog Dog Under my Desk.  I enjoy her blog and her patterns are so well written and illustrated.  I did not take pics of the making process as it really is such a simple pattern.

I did not use a very colourful fabric, I felt that the lighter the fabric the easier to see in my bag!


 

 Notice how snuggly the phone sits in the case.  The pattern actually has a metal ring through the tab to attach to a key ring but I decided against using one, but I might change my mind - isn't it a girl's prerogative?!!  Oh and by the way, do you like the metal cover I have on my phone?

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to look at today's little exercise.  If you would like to make one of these you can go over to Erin's blog here for the free tutorial.

Happy quilting

Sheer Ribbon Illusions - 2013

How sad to hear the news about Libby Lehman's brain aneurism. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family at this difficult time.  We all wait for her to regain consciousness and start on her long recovery.  

Our first challenge set by SewCalGal this year is Sheer Ribbon Illusions set by Libby way back in January of this year.  I have only got around to attempting it now having watched the show on TQS.  A "splat" was drawn onto freezer paper and then sewn with a metalic thread onto my chosen piece of fabric.  The freezer paper was then removed, leaving the outline of the design on the fabric.  The square of fabric was then put into a hoop and pulled very tight.  I chose to scribble in red and green embroidery thread (bad choice) and then outlined the shape with a yellow metalic thread.  Mmm not like Libby's where she used a "highlight" metalic thread which certainly looked far better.  But being in SA and not having the beautiful Aurifil threads in our fabric shops, I had to settle for second (or third) best!  I then made up a quilt sandwich with backing and batting and quilted a loopy squiggle in the center and all around the ribbon design.  I did not find the soft satiny fabric the easiest to sew as it frayed terribly, so won't be using that again any time soon!

Here is a pic of the quilting almost done. 

I decided to made a cushion for want of something to use it for and to add piping to the edge.  Oh dear, my new machine has a crazy zipper foot which cannot be used to make piping; so off with the cover of my Bernina to find that the needle alignment is so "out" that the needle could not go far enough to the side.  So now, what do I do.  Let me try my 46 year old Elna automatic.  Hey presto!  It worked beautifully; my beautiful old baby did the job perfectly.

I happened to have a pillow form waiting to be used. 

Thank you Sewcalgal for this first tutorial.  I enjoyed doing it but can't say that I would do it again.  Libby's quilts are beautiful though and I hope she is able to return home to enjoy them.

 
I should have chosen my two colours differently to really get the effect of "sheer ribbon illusions", perhaps a paler shade of a colour would have worked better.  Oh well, we learn by our mistakes.

Bonus Tutorial - December 2012

Teri Lucas kindly gave us the bonus tutorial in December 2012.  Teri was our FMQ expert for the October challenge and she very kindly offered to give the last bonus tutorial for 2012.

The technique she taught used software from Kaleidoscope Collections (KK).  The images in the downloadable software in Kaleidoscope Kreator 3 can be printed on fabric and be turned into really spectacular quilts.  I do not as yet have this software so I printed out the pdf of a design that Jeanie of  KK provided which incorporates the Feathers Template pack.  Click here to see Teri's tutorial to which I know I will return over and over again.

I would like to add once again how fantastic these FMQ tutorials have been this past year and to say how much I have learned from them.  I have a special love of quilting feathers and have, therefore, enjoyed doing this tutorial.  I took the pledge at the beginning of the year to complete the 12 months' tutorials and although I have only managed to do one bonus tutorial, I do plan on doing the others when time permits!   So here is my completed work which I will use either as a little wall hanging in my sewing room, or as a table topper.

 

Here is a close up of the centre showing the sparkly thread I used as it does not show up very well in the above photo.

 
.....and another close up of a corner where I stitched the feather border which Patsy Thompson showed us in her tutorial in December.

 
I have used in many projects what we have learned this year in our free motion quilting tutorials and you are welcome to look through my blog to see them all. 

Once again, my thanks go to SewCalGal and to all the experts who gave of their time and expertise to bring us these information packed tutorials and who started us off on our quilting journey.

Overview of the 2012 FMQ Challenge

SewCalGal hosted an incredible quilt challenge this year where we had an expert quilter every month who gave a tutorial on their particular field of free motion quilting.  I knew very little about this art when we started in January and was so excited to begin this course. 

Oh my goodness, words just cannot describe what I learned during this course.  What I was able to produce each month tells the story!  I gained confidence in myself; that I could do it and with practice it actually got better.  I enjoyed reading about each tutor when SewCalGal introduced them at the beginning of the tutorial and they became more than just names I had heard of.  I learned more about basic essentials needed to make free motion quilting easier to handle - from adjusting my chair to the correct height to using a "Supreme Slider", gloves and bobbin washers that I ordered from Leah Day.  Wow what a difference they made. We were encouraged to try different threads, in fact my variety of threads has grown so much that I've had to buy additonal containers for them all.  We were encouraged to try different battings.  Unfortunately where we live in South Africa, I do not have access to the many battings that are available in the States or UK, so these are definitely on my bucket list for ordering online.  Learning about the different needles I found very interesting too.  My favourite now is the titanium 80/12 for doing free motion. 

Free motion quilting has become my passion; feathers and swirls are my favourites and I've already used them in many of my projects.  As a young child learns to write, the formation of the letters change as they practice and gain more confidence.  The same applies to free motion quilting - you develop your own style after a while which becomes unique to you.

And now I would love to show you what I have achieved this year. My very sincere thanks go to you SewCal Gal.  I know that it has taken much of your time and effort, not to mention the expense and time away from your precious family to host this year of  FMQ tutorials.  Hopefully you will find rest over the festive season!

Challenge Quilt 2012

 
I would love to sneak in a photo of a quilt I have recently completed putting all I have learned this year into practice, using many different stitches we have learned.  I pieced it with a lot of negative space to show the quilting.  It has pride of place in my lounge!
 

Chocolat et Creme

 

 

FMQ - December

Oh boy, was I looking forward to this month's challenge by Patsy Thompson; and it did not disappoint!  I enjoy Patsy's website and have watched and learned so much from her video tutorials.  What an exciting world.

She taught us that the border zones of a quilt are special areas in that they act as frames for whatever is inside them.  What a lovely way to put it!  Multiple borders quilted in different designs and the way they will interact with each other will add a new richness to a quilt.  Here is an example of different border designs she so kindly gave us to download.  I love the look of those feathers - so different.

 

Here is my final December fmq done on my Challenge Quilt.  My entry falls under her number 3 of her challenge to us.  Unfortunately when I made this "challenge quilt" in January, I did not put enough thought into the fabric that I chose for the border as it's difficult to see the quilted design, but if you click on the photo it does enlarge it and is a little clearer.

Challenge Quilt 2012

Here is a close up of a corner but still not very clear.

Top right corner

Here is a shot of the back showing a little of the border where the feathers are clearer.

Back of quilt

 

Well, sadly this was the last of 12 months of wonderful tutorials on perfecting our free motion quilting skills.  A huge thank you to SewCalGal for your time and effort you have put into organizing  professional teachers who have kindly given of their time and expertise to share their knowledge of this exciting art.  My fmq skills have certainly surpassed my expectations and the confidence I have in myself to produce beautiful work (I'm still getting there), is beyond thanks!  And of course the many lovely "friends" I have made along the way.....hopefully we have all been an encouragement to each other.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a quiltfull 2013!

 

FMQ - November

The November FMQ Challenge, which is hosted by SewCalGal, was given by quilt expert Sarah Vedeler.  As one of her favourite quilting designs is "Spirals" this is what she had us do!  We could print off a page of spirals to trace over to get the feel of how they were stitched.  I have many pages of spirals scattered all over the house as I practiced and practiced and .... practiced!  Here is my final group of spirals which I stitched on my Challenge quilt.

I drew parallel lines measuring 1 inch and 2 inches in which to stitch the spirals.  The last column of spirals is stitched travelling on the same line to come out which gives a totally different look.  Mmm I quite like these ones!

The following are the usual sketching practice pages.

Printed page for practice

   

My attempt at free hand

Stitching on FMQ Challenge Quilt

Thank you Sarah for your great tutorial and for giving us the printed pages on which to practice.  I really believe they made a huge difference in stitching our final pieces.

Thank you SewCalGal for the huge effort and time you have spent on hosting this challenge.  I look forward to December to see how the borders and finishing will be done. 

FMQ - October

This month our fmq expert was Teri Lucas who lives in New York City.  I do hope she has been safe while "Sandy" has been wreaking havoc along the east coast of USA.  She suggested we use a piece of silk or silk/satin/cotton this month.  I stuck with my ready made challenge piece which of course is cotton so obviously I wouldn't get the same effect of the shine that the silk or satin would give.  Anyway, I am still quite satisfied with the result although I must say that dividing and conquering is not my cup of tea!  I don't really like the tiny fiddly bits of quilting.  That said, I enjoyed doing my bit and it certainly gets the imagination working overtime and getting one out of one's comfort zone!

We were to write our name more or less in the center, echo around it and then do various designs all around it.  What I did enjoy was doing the feather without a spine.  Now that was fantastic and suited my passion down to the ground!  Also we were to use different coloured thread and different weights of thread.  I used what I had in my thread collection; mostly Colorful Embroidery thread.  The red for my name is an Isacord.  Here in South Africa, the weight of the thread is not written on the reel so I'm not able to record it.  So here is my finished piece.

See those little nautilus shells.  That was different!

Thank you to Teri and SewCalGal for this interesting challenge.

Elna eXcellence 720

I have recently been very spoiled with a brand new sewing machine.  Isn't it beautiful!

It has a wide throat area for quilting large quilts and a wide variety of embroidery stitches.  It has an ingenious attachment for sewing button holes.  The button is put into position in the special foot, select the buttonhole switch and the buttonhole is stitched according to the size of the button!  The magnetic pin thingy is my own and didn't come with the machine.  It comes from Day Style Designs in the USA.

 

It came with a flatbed table with a handy little drawer in which to keep the accessory box and spare bobbins.  Thank goodness for the knee lifter which I had got so used to on my Bernina.

There are canvass pockets on either side, inside and out, for storing manuals and other whatnots!
 

Here is a side view showing the pockets on the side.  I have placed the table up against my original long table which gives a bigger area when quilting large quilts.

Here is a view of my sewing room - rather untidy though!  My 45 year old Elna Automatic still sews beautifully and I use it for piecing when my new one is set up for free motion quilting.  The gate-legged table in the corner opens up to give me more surface area when quilting.

I am one spoiled girl and I hope to produce some stunning quilts in time for everyone to enjoy!

Chocolat et Creme

I have just this week finished a wall hanging with a lot of negative space where I've been able to do some free motion quilting.  I'm very pleased with how it has turned out and was excited to use some of Ann Peterson's techniques which she taught in her tutorial, "Beyond Basic Machine Quilting".  The pieced pattern was designed by Joanna Figueroa and appears in her book, "Fresh Vintage Sewing".  It hangs on a brass rod above our television.

Chocolat et Creme

  Here are a few close ups of the stitching.

Centre with beading

The center block I have used beads from my girls' wedding dresses.

A view of a corner

This is a view of one of the corners to show the feathering.  I have micro-stippled all around the feather.








This quilt was sewn on my new machine, an Elna 720.  Photos of it can be found under "Elna 720"!

FMQ - September

This month's quilting expert was Paula Reid.  She is the owner of "Batts in the Attic" quilting studio where she has designed many patterns.  Paula loves doing beautiful free motion quilting on large quilts using a domestic sewing machine and her "fluff and stuff" method makes so much sense!  You can watch her video here.

She provided us with a stencil of a fancy feather design to fit in an 8" block.  It was not a continuous line design so some backtracking was needed.  I first quilted the circle, then the inside feathers followed by the outer feathers.  I used Don Linn's technique which we learned in the April tutorial to transfer the design on to my fabric.  Here is my finished design.

Fancy Feather Design

I used a variegated thread to quilt the inner and outer feathers and a green Colorful embroidery thread to do the four corner groups of feathers which I thought could be leaves!  But this is my interpretation of the design!  I finished off with quilting pebbles in my favorite gold Colorful embroidery thread around the outside and red "trellis" work in the centre.  I used a titanium 80/12 needle.

Thank you Paula Reid and SewCalGal for a most informative tutorial.

FMQ - August

We were really spoiled this month!  Wendy Sheppard aka Ivory Spring, was our tutor and I had been looking forward to this month from January!  Wendy does magnificent work.   She is originally from south east Asia but now lives in the US.  She graduated from university with a degree in Chemical Engineering and worked as a researcher in the world's largest ultra-low wind velocity tunnel in the world.  She has been quilting for about 7 years and her passion is free-motion quilting!!  She is now teaching quilting and her work has appeared in various magazines.

I have followed Wendy's blog, "Ivory Spring" for some time now and have regularly used her fmq designs which she so generously shares, with wonderful sketches showing exactly how to do the stitches.

Her tutorial for us was "Jester's Hats".  This was quite a tricky design to begin with but after the usual drawing and practicing on a quilt sandwich, the penny suddenly dropped and I was able to get into the swing of things!  Here is my finished challenge block.

Jester's Hats

I used a beautiful gold "Colorful" embroidery thread in my regular 80/12 needle with "I'm not sure what" in the bobbin!   This was a fun design to do and I will definitely be using it again in a quilt.  

Here is a close-up of the stitching-

And the usual drawing and practice pieces.

Thank you Wendy for sharing your wonderful ideas in the tutorial and also on your blog.  I look forward to your e-mails every day!

Table Topper

Just finished a disappearing 9-patch using "Tea Cakes",  6 inch charms by Verna Mosquera for Free Spirit Fabrics.  I thought it would make a nice table topper for my next bookclub meeting.  I wonder how my Royal Albert tea set will look on it!?

Laid out on the snow we had today

                                                                                 

A close-up of the quilting which I have practiced from the fmq challenge so far.

My "Winter Wonderland" garden

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