Sunday, April 27, 2014

Hidden Messages


I volunteered to do the machine quilting on a small quilt our guild made, that goes to cancer patients in the hospital when they have chemo.  They put it on to keep them warm.  



I did a loopy carefree stitch and as I was quilting I thought it would be fun to put a few surprises on the quilt.



It took me a long time to get good at writing with my machine, but now I can just go at it, and I love to put little messages in my quilts=)







When I finished that, I continued to work on my giant 3D flower I am making!  It is going to be a modern flower quilt!



Now if you would like a bit of creative inspiration, check out this great TED talk.


Monday, April 21, 2014

Two Finished!


I finished my black and white quilt  a month early for our guild's president's challenge.  I used embroidery thread to quilt it, two strands, and quilted it horizontally and vertically.   The black thread does not show unless you look really close.  Only my coloured threads show which is kind of cool.

  The fabric is cotton left overs, the batting is bamboo from Pellon and the screening is when I broke our screen as I ran through it to answer the phone as I didn't see it=)


Do you know what is coming next? The 'Undie Quilt'!  I probably should think of a better name for it, but that could prove a bit difficult, I mean it is underwear=)


I did a stipple stitch to quilt it in white thread and chose not to quilt the underwear so that they would pop out a bit more.




 The embellishments are Riley Blake Fabrics, the batting is bamboo from Pellon and the fabric is from Trend-Tex Fabrics. What do you think?  


Sunday, April 13, 2014

Look Who Is A Craftsy Writer!



Yep, been sitting on that little secret for about a month now=)   I was so surprised then elated when I got asked to be a Craftsy Writer on their quilting blog!

If you haven't heard of Craftsy, it is this amazing online site that hosts online classes, patterns, projects, and blogs on anything craft related such as sewing, quilting, beading, cake decorating, crocheting and so on.  It is simply amazing.

Here is my very first post.  It is on free-motion quilting stitches.   Now that is a subject I am familiar with.

Echo Free-Motion Quilting

Unless otherwise specified under the picture, all the photos/projects are mine=)

I am so excited for this new adventure!  Go and check it out and let me know what you think.



Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Black and White


Remember I told you my dilemma with my black and white quilt for our guild's president challenge?


How I could not sew the screening under my machine because it just grabbed it.


I came up with a solution.  I decided to use embroidery floss and hand quilt it in lines throughout the quilt.  I used a dark grey as the main colour, and then splashes of the other colours throughout the quilting.


I think I will do a few vertical lines as well.


The grey literally disappears into the quilt.  You can only see it when it comes through a coloured square.



What do you think?




Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Quilted Luggage Tag Tutorial


It has been a long time since I have done a tutorial, and thought it was high time I did one. In the past couple of years I have found myself in airports frequently waiting for my luggage. I usually put some pompoms or ricrac on my luggage and hope it doesn't come off, so I can identify it on the merry go round when it comes off the plane.

Recently I decided that perhaps I could make up something a little different yet still noticeable.  I came up with luggage tags.



They are fast, easy, fun to make and great to give as gifts.


 Supplies for one:
two 6” squares of fabric, I used Riley Blake's Pepe In Paris, Twice as Nice and chevrons 
one 6" piece of batting ( I always use Pellon's bamboo batting)
two 5” pieces of velcro (hook and loop)



Instructions:
Layer the two 6” squares of fabric right sides together and place the piece of batting on top.
Stitch around the sandwich, ¼” seam allowance leaving a 2” opening on one side.
Turn right sides out and stitch the opening closed.
Quilt a few lines across the middle of the luggage tag to hold all three layers in place.
Pin one piece of the velcro on bottom of one side. Stitch around perimeter of velcro.

     Flip over and  attach the other piece of Velcro at the top edge centering it, and stitch around it.


      


Now you will always recognize your luggage when it comes off the conveyor belt. 

Once I made one, I got a bit carried away and made 6 more=)


This is Amanda Herring of The Quilted Fish fabric line 'Twice as Nice'.


Doesn't the chevron look just dreamy?