Thursday 30 June 2011

Off to the Philippines

The little quilty pictured below is off to the Philippines. My brother and his family are leaving Sat. for one year, to work with OMF, a missions organization there. I wanted them to have something I made, on their kitchen table.



The pattern is from a book that my daughter-in-law gave me, by Malka Dubrawsky called "Fresh Quilting", fearless color, design and inspiration. Her use of colour and techniques are amazing. If you want something to stretch you to use bright fabrics and not be too concerned about precise measuring this is the book for you. I would definately make this again. Have got to start collecting more brights!

The quilty is 20x30. I free motioned with a type of swirly design. I used precisely measured 5 inch blocks. Not ready to guesstimate size of blocks just yet. It was the first thing I made using my new dream machine, Pfaff
quilt expression 4.0. Still getting the kinks out (my kinks, not the machines!). It is amazing to use.

Happy July 1st!

Watch out for todays blessings!

D


Tuesday 28 June 2011

My new toy!

Want to share a pic of my new toy. My amazing husband surprised me with the instruction manuel in an envelope, the day before my B-Day. We went immediately to pick it up. That was Sat, today is tues and I haven't really had a chance to do anything yet!. Hopefully today.


It is 4.0 quilt expression from Pfaff. It has the bigger throat space and a ton of amazing features. Also my other machine was a Pfaff so all of those attachments fit on this new one. My favorite feature of the Pfaff machines is the built in IDT, so no walking foot is required. Pretty much the only time I dont have the IDT engaged is when I am freemotion quilting. I find it even helps with piecing or straight sewing of any type.

My sister is visiting for a week and I  taught her to do english paper piecing. Her thing is painting with water colours so her quilt would be a drawn design using fabric hexies as her "paint". That is one thing I love, getting someone thinking in fabric.

Remember to keep your eye out for todays blessings!

D

Thursday 23 June 2011

More of the baby deer!

I was sitting in my usuall place by the window this morning when the mother deer went running across the lawn. A couple of minutes later I spotted the baby. He was cautiously walking in the direction that his mother went. He came close to the back step when I opened the screen door. Maybe he thought the noise was his mother.





So cute eh?

I am also posting a couple of pics of a little runner that I completed. Peter and I were traveling in PEI a couple of summers ago and I bought this fabric then. The pattern is out of "McCall's Quilting" June 2009, designed by Ann Webber. I used the runner to practice machine applique. I used a button hole stitch I have on my machine. Then I machine quilted "plumes" over all and a swirly thing in the tight spots. Patsy Thompson has amazing tutorials and free downloads for every type of feather and many other free motion designs which I love. I have been drawing some for practice and then trying them for real on practice "sandwiches" and other projects.




Can't really see the button hole stich. I used thread that is the same color as the fabric.


In the pic below you can see the "plumes" pretty good. 




It is exciting to try different machine quilting designs. It does take lots of practice though, which can be frustrating. I am also trying out different threads. Have not come to any conclusions. I have ordered a couple of different ones, but dont know when they will get here with the mail strike. Some quilters are using polyester now, so I want to try that. There is no end to the possiblities!

It is sunny here today, so am planning to be outside. The irises are in their full glory!

Watch out for today's blessings!

D

Saturday 18 June 2011

Is that the sun?

Well it IS the sun, trying very hard to stay out. It is a bit warmer though, so that is good. Dry enough to mow the lawn. Thank you to my sweet husband!

Here is a picture of a strip quilt top I have been working on. It is made  from two jelly-rolls by Moda called "Portabello Market". The fabrics are amazing. As is, it measures 68x79. I cut most of the strips into pieces because I didnt want many full stips. I wanted it to look scrapy. I sewed the pieces of strips, of varying lengths, which I didnt measure, together with a diagonal seam into one huge long strip. Measured the first strip 68" and sewed the next strip to that measured one. Sometimes I added a strip to the bottom and sometimes I added a strip to the top.  I read somewhere that when sewing strips together you must sew left to right and then right to left so the rows will not bow. That seemed to work well. I kept adding strips until the long strip was used up. If I make another one I would make it narrower so it could be a bit longer. I plan to add a border or maybe two. I haven't decided yet. It was a quick and easy quilt top to make that is for sure.


Here is a close up so you can see the fabrics a bit better. You would not have to use a jelly-roll. Cut strips 2 1/2" of varying lengths from stash fabrics. It took eighty WOF strips for this one. Fat quarters would also work.




Give it a try!

Happy quilting!

Donna

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Baby Deer!




While I was using my computer this morning, a mother with her brand new baby walked by my window! What an amazing blessing! You could tell the baby was new because his walk was still very wobbly. I scrambled for the camera but it was too late. All I got was a fuzzy backend picture as they walked out of the yard.






I am working on a couple of different projects. Practicing free motion skills on a quilt pieced by my sister about 20 years ago. I am trying some of the designs that Leah Day shares on her website. It is worth a visit or several visits. She is very talented. The yellow and green squares are two of her designs.

 


This picture is the back of the quilt so you can see the feathers I quilted.



The starfish is my design and there is one in each corner of the quilt on the border. The background and all the rest of the border is quilted with an "S" shape. (sort of) ;)


Thanks to my niece Sophie for helping me set up my blog. Don't know if I can figure it out with out her, but I will try.

Happy quilting!
Donna