Free Motion Quilting Challenge

Another month where I have met the deadline!!
This month's tutor for the SewCalGal FMQ challenge was Paula Ryan who shared with us her feathered wreath stencil design.

I can't get a photo that shows up the stitching very well.

(If you click on the photos to enlarge them you can see the detail better!)

After all the freehand fmq-ing I did on Dad's quilt, I found staying on the lines and having to be controlled for this quite difficult!

I traced the stencil onto fine tulle and used that to transfer the design to the fabric, as described to us in Don Linn's April tutorial; interestingly the new tulle I used this time was a lot finer and the transferred pattern was a lot clearer than my previous attempts.

I also had needle issues while sewing this piece - I had put a new quilting needle in but it kept lifting the fabric up and down - it wasn't till later when I realised this pack of Schmetz quilting needles had a variety of sizes and the 90 was far too big for this weight fabric and batting. You live and learn.

While I was in fmq-ing mode and mood, I completed July's sample block. July's tutorial was by Angela Walters and was a tile design.

Angela didn't appear to pre-draw her straight lines/tiles but I did go around with a marker and do that first - but still had trouble keeping to a straight line! It was a good piece to practise control and a slightly different filler pattern with.

The fabric I chose for my fmq sampler quilt doesn't photograph very well - the quilting patterns show up a lot better in real life.

So a big thank you to SewCalGal, Paula and Angela for the tutorials and inspiration. I am really enjoying the opportunity to play with different designs and techniques.

Happy creating, everyone, and thanks for stopping by,

Seeing Stars

There seems to have been a bit of a Star theme going on here lately —

Maverick Stars - a surprise for a friend-nod-nod-wink-wink.
I love making these stars.

Christmas Table Centre Star.
Something is wrong with this picture - can you tell what?
(Yes, I've run out of fabric).
I made one of these as a class sample for The Country Yard,
and loved it so much I'm making one for myself!!

Yummy Christmas fabrics making me drool!
(And hum Jingle Bells in my head).

Farmers Wife blocks #31 and #41
(Evening Star and Friendship Star)
It's been a while since I did any of these.

First blocks for Joanne's Thread Head Quilt Along
I had some Kansas Troubles fabric sorted out to do this with but decided
at the last minute I didn't have enough colour in the range.
So I'm using the Moda Special Basics range instead - these were the only
fabrics of it I had at home but there are lots of muted colours in it which are lovely!
Seems like I need to go shopping!

I don't think one could get bored with Star blocks - there are so many variations around... but for now, I'm all starred out so I'll do a bit more on my Hop To It sashings!
Have a great week everyone,

Friday Night Sew In and a Surprise Quilt

Again this month I took advantage of the excuse to sew in the evening and joined in with  Heidi and Bobbi for the Friday Night Sew In... I do sew most evenings but it is usually some hand stitching in front of the telly, interrupted by milo making, pets and dishes. Last night I decided to have a lock down in my cave and have a good session of machine sewing. I told my family I was sewing from 8-10 pm; as I also said it was a bloggy thing, they left me well alone (well nearly!).
I was keen to make some progress on my Hop To It quilt. I still have one more appliqué (by hand)  block to do but there's also a lot of machine sewing to do with the sashings, borders, etc.

8 pm. An appliqué block and a pile of cut quarter square triangles waiting for action.

9pm. Progress being made.

Just after 10pm-calling it a night- lots of sewing, pressing and trimming done.
I joined one length of sashing to a block to give me an idea of
how they will look.

 It has taken me a while to decide which fabrics to use  for these sashings. The pattern suggested rusts, oranges, reds and purple but I wasn't happy with how the ones I had collected looked.I then decided to make it really scrappy with all the leftovers from the appliqués. That didn't work for me either; so I took out all the light fabrics and used just the brown shades, green and reds and I'm pleased with their look. Now that I've made a decent start on it I'm hoping it wont take me long to get them all together.

A group of friends had a fun start to the day this morning with a surprise morning tea for a friend of ours who has a special '0' birthday this coming week.
We each made her a block which we put together in a quilt for her. Many, but not all, of the blocks came out  of the Some Kind Of Wonderful book by Anni Downs.

Happy Birthday Aurely!!

Don't you just love the setting the girls came up with? We used the Putting on the Ritz range by Bunny Hill and the addition of the green really makes it sing.

Leeanne (Quiltmekiwi) did the fabulous quilting. My block is
 the Angel on the moon -top left.

 It was a fun surprise and she loved it!  For lots more photos visit Leeanne's blog.

And another nice surprise - for me this time - I came home to see that my YD had assembled my new bookcase for me - the next stage of my cave makeover! It's actually has deeper shelves than a normal bookcase so it is perfect for my magazines. 25 years of magazines got to go somewhere!!

The bookcase fits in the wardrobe in my cave so I can close
 the doors and not be embarrassed by all the mags I have!!

As you can see, my weekend has got off to a great start!! I am hoping for more creativity this weekend so watch this space!!
Hope you all have a happy weekend too, thank you for stopping by,