Practice.......

 Makes perfect. Well maybe not perfect, but in the  FMQ case it does improve your skill.

This quilt top has been completed for awhile. Probably three years or so. I am sad to say it has been pinned across a closet opening. It is hand appliqued. I wanted it to look like picures on a wall, which I think it does.

A couple of close ups.

So....... I have be practicing FMQ designs to put in the background of the appliques. Trying mostly Leah Day's designs. Here are a few practice squares to see what might work. I havent really decided. Probably figure it out as I go along.

I am anxious to start so there wont be much more practicing, I dont think. So fun to have something different to tackle.

Watch out for todays bleessings!

D

Yikes......

I am always amazed at how long it has been since my last post. Time does really fly by.  How much I blog is not an indication of how much I think about quilting. I have read the new Sampler mag from cover to cover. It so much fun to get a look at quilt shops and see some of what is going on out there. Also I have recently bought fabric for a quilt I am making as a request from someone. I have favorite blogs that I visit often. Maybe because blogging is fairly new to me I have the "finished project as worthy blog stuff" stuck in my head even though my favorite blogs have a bit of "life" thrown in. I know that when I began blogging it was away to journal about what I am working on. I believe that the process is just as important as the finished project. That is the way life is. Process.

On that note, I am posting pics of a strip quilt I am working on. How I have loved this process. It is such a fun quilt to do. I had some fat quarters picked out in the begining and on the advice of a friend I started adding fabrics of diiferent colours from my stash, bought a few more that I thought would make it zing.



I have to say that these are not the colours I usually choose. But so much fun! I have three more rows left to sew on. Have all of the blocks made, 80 in total. Dont think I will add borders, just put on a binding made from left overs. How to quilt it mmmmm........dont know yet. Thinking, dreaming, imagining, all part of the process.

Watch out for todays blessings!!!!

D

Look who's coming to dinner.......ah I mean breakfast.

Chester my brother's family cat! We thought he had disappeared. My brother and fam are traveling and after they left, the cat was not seen around their house. It has been 2 months! I opened the door this morning and there he was. So amazing. When I opened the door in he came. He is a bit thinner but looks in good shape. All I had to give him was a bit of left over steak, which he gobbled up I might add.

Makes me wonder where he was all this time. He never was a very affectionate cat to other than his family but boy he is cuddly now. Currently (as I type) he is curled up asleep on the mat he is sitting on in the picture.

Oh yes, want to post a picture of the little quilty that I fiished this week. It is 20" by 20". Small quilts are fun to do. I got to practise a bit of free motion which is my favorite thing. I love how the none quilted sections (green and small  lighter purple batik squares and triangles) kind of puffed out around the quilted sections. It gave a bit of dimension to the quilt. I usually try and quilt something in all of the sections but this works too.



Cats and quilting, a good combo for a blog dont you think?

Watch out for todays blessings!

D

A touch of the past

I had the privelege of working on a quilt, the owner thinks is from the early 1900's. It was made by his great grandmother. There is something about holding a quilt made by someone long ago. It is hard not to imagine her story. It is made from wool patches mainly, so probably was used to keep a loved one warm.

The back was very worn so that is what I replaced. It was a red flannel fabric that was there previouly so replaced it with the same. I didn't remove any of the old fabric just added the new fabric. I hope she would be pleased with what I have done to lengthen the life of her quilt. The wool patches will last along time.

Some of the patches:

This is the Stewart tarten I believe though it  looks yellowish.



They are going to retie the quilt with its new backing and give it a new home! As we laid the quilt out on our floor their baby girl of 10 months crawled all over it, making the ultimate connection between the generations.

Watch out for todays blessings. This was one of mine!

D

A well used favorite.

I just love this around the world pattern. I use it alot when I need to make a quick quilt. This particulair one I made for a special little boy who we are privileged to be friends with.

I quilted a center based design then echo quilted until I reached the borders.

In the first border, I quilted verse and chorus of "Jesus Loves Me". The second border I quilted swirls. The pic didn't turn out so you could see quilting very clear and the quilt is already being snuggled. For some reason the pics aren't as clear once transfered to the blog page.

It is so satisying to make a quilt that you know is going to be snuggled and used to keep a small body warm. Joy for the reciever and the giver.That is something that alot of quilters have in common. It is one of the main reasons we do what we do.

Watch out for todays blessings!

D

Forgot

Forgot to post a picture of the back of the quilt that was on the previous post. It is the first time I have tried putting something else on the quilt back. I needed just that small strip to have enough backing. It worked out ok. Not too crocked. I like the look of blocks on the back.






Also wanted to share this picture of the ironing board cover I made. Got the pattern from Connecting Threads. It is simple and fun. You could insert any design that you wanted. It seems my ironing board covers dont last long, so am happy to have an alternative to trying to remember to buy one.

Wishing my sweet grandaughter a happy 3rd birthday. Have fun at your princess party sweet one!

Watch out for todays blessings! Grandkids being one!

D

First big quilt with my new machine.

It has been awhile since my last post. It has been a busy but fun couple of weeks.
I have been practising a bit with my new Pfaff quilt expression 4.0. It is a great machine. I love it. It is user friendly and free motion quilting on this machine is soooo fun. The bigger throat makes it much easier to manipulate a full size quilt. The design below is adapted from a design of Leah Day's called "Tear drop tree" (colors of fabric are not true in this picture). I made my leaves more pointy. It is an over all design. I used Isacord thread which worked great.



Colours look better in this picture:

This picture shows  the whole quilt. 





 

Watch out for the days blessings!

Donna



Off to the Philippines

The little quilty pictured below is off to the Philippines. My brother and his family are leaving Sat. for one year, to work with OMF, a missions organization there. I wanted them to have something I made, on their kitchen table.

The pattern is from a book that my daughter-in-law gave me, by Malka Dubrawsky called "Fresh Quilting", fearless color, design and inspiration. Her use of colour and techniques are amazing. If you want something to stretch you to use bright fabrics and not be too concerned about precise measuring this is the book for you. I would definately make this again. Have got to start collecting more brights!

The quilty is 20x30. I free motioned with a type of swirly design. I used precisely measured 5 inch blocks. Not ready to guesstimate size of blocks just yet. It was the first thing I made using my new dream machine, Pfaff
quilt expression 4.0. Still getting the kinks out (my kinks, not the machines!). It is amazing to use.

Happy July 1st!

Watch out for todays blessings!

D



My new toy!

Want to share a pic of my new toy. My amazing husband surprised me with the instruction manuel in an envelope, the day before my B-Day. We went immediately to pick it up. That was Sat, today is tues and I haven't really had a chance to do anything yet!. Hopefully today.

It is 4.0 quilt expression from Pfaff. It has the bigger throat space and a ton of amazing features. Also my other machine was a Pfaff so all of those attachments fit on this new one. My favorite feature of the Pfaff machines is the built in IDT, so no walking foot is required. Pretty much the only time I dont have the IDT engaged is when I am freemotion quilting. I find it even helps with piecing or straight sewing of any type.

My sister is visiting for a week and I  taught her to do english paper piecing. Her thing is painting with water colours so her quilt would be a drawn design using fabric hexies as her "paint". That is one thing I love, getting someone thinking in fabric.

Remember to keep your eye out for todays blessings!

D

More of the baby deer!

I was sitting in my usuall place by the window this morning when the mother deer went running across the lawn. A couple of minutes later I spotted the baby. He was cautiously walking in the direction that his mother went. He came close to the back step when I opened the screen door. Maybe he thought the noise was his mother.

So cute eh?

I am also posting a couple of pics of a little runner that I completed. Peter and I were traveling in PEI a couple of summers ago and I bought this fabric then. The pattern is out of "McCall's Quilting" June 2009, designed by Ann Webber. I used the runner to practice machine applique. I used a button hole stitch I have on my machine. Then I machine quilted "plumes" over all and a swirly thing in the tight spots. Patsy Thompson has amazing tutorials and free downloads for every type of feather and many other free motion designs which I love. I have been drawing some for practice and then trying them for real on practice "sandwiches" and other projects.

Can't really see the button hole stich. I used thread that is the same color as the fabric.

In the pic below you can see the "plumes" pretty good. 

It is exciting to try different machine quilting designs. It does take lots of practice though, which can be frustrating. I am also trying out different threads. Have not come to any conclusions. I have ordered a couple of different ones, but dont know when they will get here with the mail strike. Some quilters are using polyester now, so I want to try that. There is no end to the possiblities!

It is sunny here today, so am planning to be outside. The irises are in their full glory!

Watch out for today's blessings!

D

Is that the sun?

Well it IS the sun, trying very hard to stay out. It is a bit warmer though, so that is good. Dry enough to mow the lawn. Thank you to my sweet husband!

Here is a picture of a strip quilt top I have been working on. It is made  from two jelly-rolls by Moda called "Portabello Market". The fabrics are amazing. As is, it measures 68x79. I cut most of the strips into pieces because I didnt want many full stips. I wanted it to look scrapy. I sewed the pieces of strips, of varying lengths, which I didnt measure, together with a diagonal seam into one huge long strip. Measured the first strip 68" and sewed the next strip to that measured one. Sometimes I added a strip to the bottom and sometimes I added a strip to the top.  I read somewhere that when sewing strips together you must sew left to right and then right to left so the rows will not bow. That seemed to work well. I kept adding strips until the long strip was used up. If I make another one I would make it narrower so it could be a bit longer. I plan to add a border or maybe two. I haven't decided yet. It was a quick and easy quilt top to make that is for sure.

Here is a close up so you can see the fabrics a bit better. You would not have to use a jelly-roll. Cut strips 2 1/2" of varying lengths from stash fabrics. It took eighty WOF strips for this one. Fat quarters would also work.

Give it a try!

Happy quilting!

Donna

Baby Deer!

While I was using my computer this morning, a mother with her brand new baby walked by my window! What an amazing blessing! You could tell the baby was new because his walk was still very wobbly. I scrambled for the camera but it was too late. All I got was a fuzzy backend picture as they walked out of the yard.

I am working on a couple of different projects. Practicing free motion skills on a quilt pieced by my sister about 20 years ago. I am trying some of the designs that Leah Day shares on her website. It is worth a visit or several visits. She is very talented. The yellow and green squares are two of her designs.

 



This picture is the back of the quilt so you can see the feathers I quilted.

The starfish is my design and there is one in each corner of the quilt on the border. The background and all the rest of the border is quilted with an "S" shape. (sort of) ;)

Thanks to my niece Sophie for helping me set up my blog. Don't know if I can figure it out with out her, but I will try.

Happy quilting!

Donna