Bloggers Spring Quilt Festival

 I just find it all too exciting for words.
Thank you  Amy!           

Here is the quilt I chose to submit. It is called "Fred's Roses". I made it just this spring for a friend of mine who turned eighty. Her husband who has been gone for several years, always had amazing roses.


It is a paper piecing design by Eileen Sullivan. Lots of small pieces, which I love. I also tried trapunto for the first time. I took the opportunity to try some different machine quilting which is another passion of mine.

You can kind of see the trapunto in this last photo.

Thanks for the opportunity to share!

D

Taking a design wall.......

to a whole new level! I wanted to use this design on a quilt that was ready to be quilted. It is Wendy's at Ivoryspring. She has lots to show you if you haven't visited her yet. Anyways, I was practicing this design by drawing it out on paper. It wasn't coming out like I wanted it to. The small piece of paper didn't allow me to get the feel of it. Can you guess what I did?

I drew it on  the wall! It was so freeing and it sure helped me get the feel of it and draw the design the size I wanted to do it on the quilt. I wasn't sure what Hubby would say, but he thought it "looked nice". It gave me the idea to maybe paint that wall with chalk board paint.

Here is what it looked like done on the quilt. What I liked about this design was the little swirly bits. I used them to "fill in" around the flowers. So if I was stuck in a weird place that a flower wouldn't fit, I did a swirl to get out.

As you can see, it is a strip quilt. Don't seem to get tired of this pattern.

I have been sewing strips to paper like you do for foundation piecing. Then you have to rip off all of the paper. Of which I have a pile in my living room as we speak, from the next one in progress. I have since discovered there is a ruler you can use! Did not know there was such a thing. I am getting one!

Going to link up with Pat's TGIFF. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend. In Canada it is a long one.

Watch out for today's blessings.

Sunday Afternoon Fun

I had an opportunity  to "play" yesterday afternoon. Last week I bought a couple of stencils from Judi http://greenfairyquilts.blogspot.ca/ at Green Fairy quilts. She sells the stencils as PDF so you dont even have to wait for them to come in the mail. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy a visit to Judi's blog. Her quilting is exquisite.

This little quilty is just 10x10 ish. I wanted to try the design out before actually using it in a quilt. The method I used to mark the stencil you can find on Pat's blog. She follows SewCalGal's FMQ challenge. All info is on Pat's blog with links to the other blog. It worked very well.

Micro stippling on the outside of the design and pebbles on the inside. It is amazing how much you can learn from one little piece.

 I have a quilt top that has some big squares in it. I am always challenged by big open spaces. I think this design will work well.

I am forever grateful to quilters who share their knowledge and experience. So exciting to try something new.

Watch out for today's blessings!

Fred's Roses

That is what I called this little wall hanging. I made it for a friend of mine who turned 80 last week. Fred was her husband's name and he always had amazing roses bushes. He passed away several years ago, so it was kind of a tribute to him as well .

It was a paper piecing pattern by Eileen Sullivan. Her patterns are so fun to do. Fabric was bits and pieces of batiks. Paper still on the back.

Some pics of the machine quilting.

You cant really tell but that rose in the front is trapunto-ed. I did the roses and leaves in the front and the rose buds. It was the first time I had tried trapunto. Not sure if i really liked it but it does add a bit of dimension.

Sun is shining but still a bit cold here to be outside gardening, so will sew for a bit today. Working on my swoon blocks and a mystery quilt from the online Quilt Mag.

Watch out for today's blessings!

A little road trip

Hubby had to work in Charlottetown PEI, so I went along for the trip. I look forward to these little trips, just to have a break in the routine. To watch a little TV, read, nap, you know.

View from my hotel. That strip of blue is of course, the ocean.

Next a picture of the hotel we stayed in. It was built in the early 1900's. It was a famous hotel in its day. It is still beautiful. It has been updated with all of the modern conveniences.

Walked along that board walk which was almost at the waters edge.  That white building is seniors apartments. Awesome to retire there!

Of course I took some hexies to work on. I have them in various stages of development. Using scraps of course. It was good to get some completed. Each one is like a tiny little quilt.

You know the how the saying goes, "Good to get away, good to get home"

I have completed a couple of things I want to blog about, so hopefully it wont be as long in between blogs. I am always amazed how much time has passed!

Watch out for today's blessing.

Bits and pieces.

But they are exciting bits!

These piles represent two strip quilts. Strip quilts are so fun. One pile has 99, 7 1/2", blocks and the other pile has 80, 8 1/2", blocks, which completes the numbe  of blocks I need for each quilt. Instead of using muslin for the foundation, I used paper. It worked well and the resulting quilt will not be so heavy. I  am going to link up with Amanda at Crazy Mums Quilts for her Finish it up Friday.

The next "piece" is my first Swoon blocks. I was bit scared after doing the first one. As you see, because I picked a black back ground, it looks like a Halloween block even though it is pink and yellow. But then when I did the next one, I felt better. I love how the strips look. I was not careful to lay the strips a certain way so they would line up. Kind of like life, you never know what it will throw at you next.

And the last but not the least "bit". This book arrived in the mail just this morning!. I have hardly cracked the cover, because when I do, I wont be thinking about anything else. I did "peak" as I waited for the pictures to upload. So amazing and inspirational. This book is a must have for anyone wanting to expand their FMQ horizons. Check out Diane's Gaudynski's blog. Lots of tips there as well.

Well that's it for this fine Friday. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Watch out for today's blessings!

Post Script!

Just a note about my previous post.  I neglected to say that the applique design is not mine. I got it from a quilting magazine that I have looked for off and on all weekend, to no avail. The quilt top has been finished for awhile, so the quilt mag is not right at my finger tips. There a distinct possibility that I will not find it:(. I feel bad about that. I so appreciate all of the design, quilting process and believe that credit should be given where credit its due. It is hard work and I know that a person  pours a bit of  themselves into the things they create. I appreciate the quilting community for the willingness to freely share patterns, techniques etc. With out that, the quilting process would not be as rewarding and fun. I am still  hoping I will find that mag! In the mean time, thank you, who ever you are, for sharing your design, that I thoroughly enjoyed doing!

Thanks also for the kind comments about the quilting:) So encouraging!

Keep an eye open for today's blessings!