Something Fun

I've been working on a sewing (not quilting) project for a friend, and it has been slow going. Let's just say I haven't been wildly enthusiastic about the whole thing. So this weekend, I decided to switch to a quilting project for myself, that turned out to be A LOT more fun. I'm hoping this will get me back some of my quilting mojo. I'll still have to work on my friend's sewing, though, just as soon as I get this bag out of my system!

This is as far as I've gotten. The bag part is now quilted and put together. I found four colourful orphan blocks in my UFO's that would never be made into anything like a real quilt, and cut them up into this. I used the slice and sew method, and added the blue print. You just cut slices and sew them back together again. Easy, peasy. No thinking, no measuring, no accuracy. I measured another bag to get the size I wanted, and went from there.

This was a good opportunity, too to practise some FMQ, so I did some bubbles, loops, and my first feathers. I learned that if I'm going to be doing any more feathers, they will take a bit of practise! Though I will admit to not being very fond of feather quilting. . . so I may never do it again.

To finish this up, I still have to make handles, and I want to add pockets inside for all my stuff, camera, phone, water bottle, tablet, so they don't pile up at the bottom. And I want to figure out how to add hidden straps to convert it to a backpack at times.

Linking up this time with Anything Goes Mondays, here, and TNTN, here.

More FMQ

I finished up my First Quilt. I've had no chance to get a photo, yet, but that will follow. Meanwhile, I had another look at my WIP list. I seem to have a disjointed stack of tops, backs, and battings in the box. Battings that fit get scavenged for other projects that come up! I shouldn't do that to myself, but it seems easier than a run across town for new batting, when I have some on hand. So it seems I currently have 2 battings on hand, along with tops and backs to go with them. In keeping with my previously stated goal to get all these tops turned into quilt this year, they are next on the list.

For now, I've pulled out this quilt from deep within the storage boxes. I'd worked on it some years ago, and did not do the sandwich properly, so the back had quite a few puckers. Very frustrating to not know what I was doing at the time! I am now resolved to get this one fixed up and finished. Sometime between then and now, I fixed all of that puckering, so I can proceed with the quilting.

It's funny, I had started quilting this with echo quilting and stippling. Having a little more experience now in Free Motion Quilting, stippling doesn't much interest me. At that time, it was all I knew how to do! There are so many other possibilities now, but I will finish what I started, with lesson learned. It's going well. I had forgotten how much I liked these red applique hearts. Makes me want to start another applique project. . . Maybe.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday over at TNTN as usual, here, Off the Wall Friday, here, Anything Goes, here, and FMQ Friday, here.

First Quilt Progress

First Quilt

I had put this quilt aside for a bit while I worked on the Magnolia Quilt, but have now been inspired to get back at it. I had been struggling with the quilting on it anyway, and needed a break. I put in some very large circles, and they had begun to get tedious. So now that hard part is finished.  I did like the way the straight line quilting in the border of the Magnolia Quilt looked, so I decided to carry that idea over into this one. And I like it here, too. I`ve been wondering what to put in between the circles, and I`m thinking I might try some cross-hatching.

This, by the way, is the first quilt I ever pieced together. I saw a tiny photo in a quilt magazine, of what I now know to be a pineapple quilt. I think it was 2000 or 2001. I did some drawing and math, and made it without a pattern. If I remember right, I started the block at the corner, instead of the centre like everybody else! In any case, I had a pieced top, but no idea how to quilt it. So it got put away until recently, when I made up my mind to master both the quilt sandwich and free motion quilting. This seemed like a good practice quilt. And now that I can see the end in sight, I`d like to have it finished, of course.

I`m linking up to Leah Days Free Motion Quilting Project, here.  I first heard about Leah Day when I was in Houston for the International Quilt Festival in 2011.  I wasn`t doing much FMQ at the time, but I was sure intrigued, and I think it was then that I committed myself to becoming better / good at the quilting part of making a quilt.  Leah Day has a great site, showing with videos how to do all kinds of fmq designs. Have a look at what she and others are doing with their quilting.

I'm also linking up with Stitch by Stitch: Anything Goes, here, and the Needle and Thread network, here.  That Needle and  Thread Network is a Canadian blog, with link-ups every week for Work In Progress Wednesday, and this is the 100th posting. There are a lot of really great Canadian Quilters out there, and that blog is a great place to see their work.

Sweet Finish

October Rose
20 x 16"
by Ilene Atkins

So I finally finished this October Rose quilt. I decided along the way that it needed a border. I wouldn't usually add a border, but I think this one was asking for one. I ended up cutting out all the embroidery and appliqueing it to a green batik I had on hand. As an added bonus, it turned out a little puffy and looks three dimensional. This quilt was a hard-won finish, and I like the final results.

Linking up with Design Wall Weekend, over at Fibre Artist Journey, link here, to Quilt Story, link here, to We Did it Wednesday over at Sew Much Ado, link here, to Richard & Tanya's Link a Finish Friday, here, and to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, here.

Still Quilting

Not much new to report here, since I am still plugging away at my pineapple quilt. I marked out some BIG circles to quilt along, but it turns out I'm not very good at following those lines! So I picked up some fine sandpaper to make a template. This I can do, so I cut the sizes of circles I need, and I just stitch along the edge. Easy as pie. Well, maybe easier than pie. It's not really FMQ, which was my original aim, and I seem to gravitate towards lines and circles and hearts and such, and not as much fmq. I'm thinking I could probably branch out, though.

I haven't decided what to quilt after these big circles. Do people know what they are going to quilt before they even start, or do they decide and make it up as they go along? I am curious, because I have a hard time deciding what to quilt. Time will tell. Maybe this will get easier as I get a few more quilts under my belt. I made the decision this weekend to finish up all my large UFO quilts by the end of this year, so I should have some good practice in by them.

And if you're wondering about my October Rose, I've been working on a border for it, which it seemed to need. It still needs just a bit of work, but the reveal shouldn't be too much longer!

Linking up with Anything Goes over at Stitch by Stitch, link here.

Not 1, But 2 Dilemmas

I finished the embroidery on my October Rose, and have a HUGE distortion situation which is not pretty.  Maybe it looks really bad to me because I've been looking at it so much, but I'm not happy with it. Two rounds of blocking have not made it behave, either.  I started quilting the background, but I've stopped because I'm considering cutting out the rose part into an applique. I know if I leave it the way it is, I will never be happy with it, so I might as well fix it up the best way I can. I really like the way the stitching turned out, though, so it's probably worth saving whatever way I can.

The difference on this piece is the use of polyester threads. I've never been one for polyester anything, preferring instead natural fibers, but I branched out here to get a wider variety of thread colours, and I am now looking at much more distortion. I did not know this when I bought the poly threads, but it's been a hard lesson. I'll also be continuing to try different stabilizers.

Maybe I should go shopping right now, to see if I can find the right green for a background. I looked at all my greens on hand, but none of them thrill me. What to do, what to do. That's one dilemma.

The other dilemma is on this quilt. I've started FMQing hearts into the large print areas, which is ok, but I'm realizing how much time it takes, and there are other things I want to work on, too. Each of these 20 blocks takes about 1/2 hour to do, and there just aren't enough hours in the day. I haven't decided what I will quilt into the blue segments, but I'm thinking something simple might be better if I want to finish this within my lifetime!

I like to keep going on something when I have my machine set up and get a rhythm going, but maybe I'll be setting this aside for a bit. I'm also getting the binding on my R&D quilt, so I'll get back at it. Linking up with WIP over at the Needle and Thread Network, here.