Finished Granny's Hankie!

I am so pleased to have finished the Granny's Hankie Quilt! The quilt came out to 98" square with the quilting. Can you hear my son behind the quilt complaining  - "Stop making such big quilts Mom!" - my husband and son are standing on stools with their arms up - the quilt is floor to ceiling.
This was a 2011 block-of-the-month from Denise Russart at Just Quilting. Thank-you so much the wonderful pattern Denise!

My sister was kind enough to let me take a picture of the quilt on her queen size bed (because I don't have a bed big enough - yes, another quilt for the closet, or as my brother says - to cover the lawn tractor).

Now for some details on the quilting -

I quilted in the ditch around all the blocks and all appliqué pieces, and then did  "McTavishing" in the block backgrounds. I "pebbled" the centre circles of the blocks (because I thought they were too puffy).

I free motion quilted the sashing with perpendicular lines, and the yellow inner border is quilted using the walking foot. I thought that the straight lines contrasted with the curves of the other quilting. I kept the circles in the thin black border plain because they complimented the appliqué pieces.

I quilted a meandering feather in the black "connected garages" and McTavished the red background.

The outer border (the yellow/red/yellow one) was quilted with a design from the amazingly talented Judi at Green Fairy Quilts - she kindly gave me permission to copy one of her designs (mine is no where near as nice as the original seen here, but I am so pleased with how it turned out. There is so much stitching in this border - each side used 2 bobbins of thread!).
Borders are a great place to try harder quilting designs if you quilt on a domestic sewing machine - it is just easier to quilt borders.

The corner nine-pathces have feathered wreathes because that is one of my favourite designs (and I try to add them where ever I can!).

This is some of the thread that I used. The black is a 60Wt thread from Tre Stelle - there was 2000 meters on that spool, and the red almost empty spool is Genziana 50Wt thread (also Tre Stelle) - only 1300 meters on that spool (I had to start using Aurifil in the bobbin because I knew that I wouldn't have enough red thread). I used different colours of Aurifil 50Wt thread for around the appliqué pieces. I found the Tre Stelle thread a bit lintier than Aurifil (the thread I normally use for quilting), but I really liked quilting with the 60Wt thread.

The batting is wool (Hobbs Tuscany). The quilt started out 102" and is now 98" square. I used a white Clover pen and a Clover Hera marker for marking the quilting lines. It is quilted on my domestic sewing machine.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!♥

February's FMQ Challenge

I seem to be like everyone else, when I first discovered Diane Gaudynski's style of quilting (for me it was two years ago), the look of my quilting changed for the better. I have both of her books and highly recommend them.

This month's challenge was fabulous. Diane's instructions are so wonderful and I had lots of fun sewing this feather.

I added a couple of other feathers,

and filled the 8" block with echoing, using a lighter coloured thread that matched the background. I used Aurifil #50 thread for the top and the bobbin.

Thanks so much to Diane Gaudynski and Sew Cal Gal for this month's challenge.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥
Sorry about the large watermarks across the pictures - I made adjustments that were incorrect and couldn't change the pictures back.

Two Borders

I finished quilting two of the four borders on the Granny's Hankie Quilt. The small black border has circles (I am thinking of going back and adding smaller circles inside the circles).

I marked the centre of the feathers in the large border with a french curve and a white Clover iron-out pen.

This pen works so well.

With the feathers added I find that this border looks less like a row of garages.

I then added some filler stitching in the red to match the background of the blocks.
I think I know what I am going to quilt in the outer border and the sashing, so I now feel that this quilt is coming together nicely. I find that figuring out what to quilt is one of the hardest aspects in quilting!

We had a bit of a snow storm today and the flock of partridges found shelter under a tree (I have never seen the partridges in a tree, and they tend to run more than fly).

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!✒

A Knitting Finish

I finished knitting a lace scarf. It is 11" x 57". This was a wonderful, easy pattern to make.

The pattern is a free one from Ravelry - Fern Lace Scarf by Knitting Pixie. If you don't belong to Ravelry it is a wonderful knitting/crocheting site that is free to join. There are so many patterns (free, and ones for sale), and it is a great way to search for patterns using yarn that you might have in your stash.

I used one whole skein of Maiden Hair yarn (silk, mohair and nylon) and size 4.5mm needles. I cast on 64 stitches instead of 54 because I wanted the scarf to be a bit wider than the pattern.

I used Addi Turbo Click interchangeable knitting needles for the first time. I bought this set after Gail (Quilt, Knit, Run Sew) mentioned how much she liked her interchangeable needles. Since my knitting needle collection was lacking, I decided to look into interchangeable needles. When interchangeable needles first came out I think there were a few problems, but improvements seem to have been made. I decided to go with the Addi Turbo ones because I like knitting with metal needles and have enjoyed the Addi Turbo ones.
They click together beautifully, and the link was nice and smooth, the stitches never got caught. I bought them online from Camilla Valley Farm (a Canadian company).

Last week I was worried about there only being 11 partridges in the flock that normally had 13. Today 2 partridges were at the feeders - I guess something happened?!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❥

Friday Night Sew In Results

Yesterday I finished the background filler on three of the quilt blocks (17" blocks) of the Granny's Hankie quilt.

The block's backgrounds are now finished. I will add some details to the blocks later.

 I also marked circles in the little black border.

I plan on quilting a meandering feather in the black part of this border, with some filler stitching in the red.
Then I have to decide how to quilt the outer border, the little yellow border and the sashing.

I also did some knitting last knit.

Another successful Friday Night Sew In! Thanks Heidi!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Friday Night

Tonight is the Friday Night Sew In and I have been quilting the Granny's Hankie Quilt, and also doing some knitting.

My sister finished her mug rug (from the appliqué class). She is a beginner machine quilter  and she did a great job!

The partridges are in the yard many times during the day. I assume we always see the same flock, there used to be 13 and now there are only 11 (one is not in the picture).

We recently had snow and all the little tracks are from the partridges - they sure walk a lot.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Mixed Media Art Quilts

This weekend I made a couple of art quilts.

I tried using different types of fabrics and more embellishments for these. They are both around 9"x6".

The background is linen/cotton mix, and the appliqué and binding are raw silk.

I stamped the leaves using So-Soft fabric paint.
I did some free motion machine embroidery on the leaves before applying the appliqué, and added a couple more leaves with stitching.

I used fusible web to add the flower and then stitched all around close to the edge to secure it (free motion using Aurifil #50 thread),

I then added some more free form decorative stitching.

I added some accents with metallic thread (I had to switch to regular sewing because my machine doesn't like free motion sewing with metallic thread - I tried adjusting the tension and changing to different types of needles with no luck)

I added two circles of raw silk for the centre, with the grain of the fabric at 45 degrees to each other,

so that the fringe would be full when I removed the outer fabric threads. I also added a few beads and a button (stitched on by hand).

I quilted around the design and added some leaves using Aurifil #50 thread to match the background.

This one is made with the same background fabric, and similar stamped and machine embroidered leaves.

I also added a picture made from a scan of an old book (Flower Fairies of the Autumn) that I printed directly onto a piece of fabric (using a piece of muslin ironed onto a piece of freezer paper and a regular inkjet printer - photo quality setting).

I added a piece of wool crepe and some decorative stitching with metallic thread,

plus a piece of lace, mother-of-pearl buttons, and some beads.

I always use a stabilizer on the back when I am doing decorative stitching and I tried some "Burn Away" stabilizer for this one. I cut away the excess and then ironed the back until the stabilizer turned brown. It then just brushed off.
I used a thin piece of batting as a stabilizer for the quilt with the yellow flower.

I always start projects like this thinking that they will end up more free-form, organic and "messy", but all my work seems to end up neat and organized! I guess I just have to resign myself to that.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Hop to It Block and Pinterest

 

I finished up another Hop to It block. This is block #1 - Rose Hip Heart. This one had 43 pieces, but whose counting!

Onto some other business (I usually try not to have too much writing on my blog, but sometimes I need to) -

Have you discovered Pinterest?

I found out about it when a friend noticed that it was a referring site on her blog. I then noticed that it was also a referring site on my blog (check your blog stats to see). Even though we ask people to ask permission before using our pictures it doesn't seem to matter. Apparently when you put things out in a public space, they are free for any one to use. Pinterest does link your pictures to your site - which is good.

I do really enjoy Pinterest (although it is a huge time waster), and I see the benefits. It is all pictures (and videos), which are fun, and you can have your own "pin boards" so you can keep track of things that you have seen on the web.

To check to see if your pictures are on Pinterest type in http://pinterest.com/source/your blog address/ to  the address bar (mine looks like this - http://pinterest.com/source/joanne-threadhead.blogspot.com/ ).

Pinterest (and another reason) are why I make sure my pictures have watermarks on them now. I have a Mac, and use the app - Image Bucket (which only cost a few dollars and is extremely easy to use).

That's finished!

Last nights full moon,

and how it looked this morning.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Scrappy Quilt

 My Mother pieced all the Rob Peter to Pay Paul blocks that I cut out with the GO! before Christmas.

I trimmed them to size today. They are going back to her, and she will sew them all together.

The blocks are 7", and the layout is 10 x 12 blocks.

For those of us making the Hop to It Blocks, Wendy picked block #1 this month.

One of the rabbits we see in the yard.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥