The first finish of 2023!!

It has been a busy start to the year and I haven't had a great deal of time to sew or to post here.  However, I have managed to get my little 'Strippy Scrappy' quilt which I showed you last time finished.

It is my first finish of 2023 and I am very pleased with it.

I used a piece of fabric from a collection by Anni Downs which I have had in my stash for some time, to put on the back and I think it looks rather cute.

I was so pleased to have it finished that I couldn't wait to use it on our kitchen table.  As we had visitors here this weekend, it was a perfect addition to the breakfast table.

Hope you are all having a creative weekend.

Until next time..... 😊 xx

Progress made....

I am pleased to say I have been able to spend enough time in my sewing room this week to make some progress on my latest project which I shared with you last time.

This little quilt is made from scraps (with a slightly larger piece of fabric for the setting triangles) from my scrap box and was made following a video tutorial/class by Linda Kemshall of Design Matters TV it is called the 'Strippy Scrappy' quilt and you can see Linda's version here.

When she had finished the piecing for the quilt Linda added some embellishment using fabric paints and hand stitching.  As I am not particularly gifted in the drawing department, I decided to add my embellishment using appliqué.

In fact, as I had used some scraps of the batik fabrics I had used in my Metro Tiles Quilt to complete the piecing, I decided to use the appliqué from one of the tiles to embellish it too!

This was tile 7 and it fitted perfectly into the central diamond of the quilt.  I then added individual 'tulips' to the corner triangles.

I am so pleased with the outcome and the cheerful Spring colours have really brightened my days as we have had rather a lot of rain here recently.

All the quilting has been done as I decided to quilt the background before I added the appliqué and the binding has been machine stitched to the quilt front, so I just need to turn it and hand stitch it to the back.  I am hoping to get that done this coming week.

Hope you are all enjoying some creativity whatever it may be! Until next time! 😊 xx

New year, new project.....

Happy New Year! I hope all your dreams come true in 2023!!

Of course I spent the first day of the new year in my sewing room starting a new project!  It is a small scrap quilt made using some of the batik scraps from my Metro Tiles Quilt that I recently finished as well as some other fabrics from my scrap box.

The pattern I followed is a video tutorial by Linda Kemshall of Design Matters TV and is called Strippy Scrappy you can see Linda's finished quilt and see how she quilted it here.

I have managed to cut and finish piecing my quilt top and have even started some of the quilting but still have more quilting and some appliqué to finish.

Looking forward to spending some more time in my sewing room again tomorrow! I am starting the year as I mean to continue.... with lots of stitching!!

Until next time.... 😊

Revamping is finished....

In my last post I showed you how I had started to free motion quilt an older quilt that I didn't have the skills to free motion quilt when it was completed in 2015.  Having initially started with the middle appliqué panel, I couldn't leave it at just that and have now added more quilting to the other two appliqué panels and the border.

I didn't want to put pebbling in the other two appliqué panels as there is not really enough room for that motif, so I decided to go with straight lines backward and forward.

Even this proved difficult in some areas as it was very difficult to keep the stitching smooth and even where the gaps between the appliqué shapes and the sashing were small.

Initially I wasn't going to outline stitch around the appliqué shapes but as I added the quilting I started to notice little puffy pockets appearing at the edge of the shapes. As you can see in the photo above.

Also, I didn't like how it looked on the back where there were just ill-defined gaps between the straight-line quilting.  So, after I had completed the first half of the first side panel, I went back and outlined the shapes.

So much more pleasing to the eye both front and back.  The second half of the first panel and the remaining panel I outlined as I went along which made it much quicker.

Then I decided that I needed to add some FMQ texture to the border too, so I quilted an orange peel design in each of the squares.

I can't tell you how delighted I am with the outcome.  It never fails to delight me how much texture and depth FMQ adds to a quilt.  It makes all those hours of practice learning the technique worth it.

I don't think there will be any more sewing from me now before Christmas as my family has started to arrive and they will be keeping me busy!

So I leave you with this picture of my tree (which I decorated last night!) and wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Adding FMQ to an older, finished quilt....

This week I decided to have a change round of the quilts that I have hanging in my house.

As I was moving quilts around I noticed that the one pictured above had a few creases which I didn't like the look of.

It is a quilt designed by Gail Pan and which appeared in Homespun Magazine in 2015. When I finished the quilt in 2015 I hadn't the same experience with free motion quilting that I do today, so I had only very simply quilted the finished project as you can see from the photos below.

I decided that I may be able to 'fix' the creases by adding more quilting and set about free motion quilting the central section of the quilt with pebbles.

It worked and the creases are there no longer as you can see from the photos above.  Of course, now that I have started adding more quilting I haven't been able to stop, so watch this space for photos of the finished re-vamped quilt!!

Until next time..... 😊 xx

Another small finish!

Today I have another small quilt finish to share with you.  When I unpacked after we moved house this past July, I came across a number of unfinished projects which I put aside to try and get finished.  One of these projects was a small quilt which had formed part of a Quilt-A-Long hosted by Lori Kennedy back in the Spring of 2017 to practise various FMQ motifs.

All that I needed to add to finish the quilt was a line of FMQ on the two side borders and across the top border.

I quickly managed to finish the quilting and then added a pretty blue print binding.

The majority of the fabrics I used were designed by Lynette Anderson Designs and should you wish to have a look at the original QAL blog posts by Lori just do a search on her website for 'Spring QAL 2017' and you should find the appropriate posts.

Nice to have this little quilt finished. Have a lovely week.  Until next time.... 😊 xx

A finish!!!

Yes, I am excited to show you my finished Metro Tiles Quilt!!!  This is a pattern designed by Gourmet Quilter which I have adapted slightly.  Partly intentionally and partly out of necessity!! I finished this earlier today and I am so pleased with it!  It used a QAYG method which I was not familiar with and there were a few learning curves but, I am really happy with the final quilt.  Here is the front....

And here is the back.... 

Which I am pleased with too as I love all the beautiful batik fabrics. Poppy thought it needed comfort testing!! (It passed!!)

I thought long and hard about how to bind the quilt as I wanted to used the same fabric that I had used for the 'grouting' between the tiles but I didn't have enough of it left to make traditional binding with it.  So, I decided to use some leftover grouting strips which had fusible web on one side.  

Instead of trimming off the quilt top as you would when adding traditional binding, I left the seam allowances of the border blocks in place but made sure they were an even width. Then I stitched a 'grouting' strip to the back of the quilt back. The right side of the 'grouting' (ie non sticky side) was placed against the back of the seam allowance of the outer edges of the border blocks. Then I flipped it over and fused the grouting in place on the front of the quilt.  

I then finished the raw edge with a zigzag stitch as I had for the 'grouting' in the rest of the quilt.  It gave me a nice finish on the front which matched the rest of the quilt and a lovely neat finish on the back.

So excited to have this quilt finished!!  Happy Halloween and until next time.... 😊 xx