Having Fun! & My 1000th Post!

I finished a few things recently.

This quilt is the Laundry Basket Quilts Mystery Quilt 2021 (all the patterns are still on the blog).

I finished all the blocks in the summer of 2021 and put it all away (busy with outside activities at the time). I finally pulled it out to sew the blocks together, and was pleasantly surprised that 2021 me had even stacked and labeled all the blocks ready be sewn!

I quilted an 'organic' feather design around the border, echoed it on one side, for the star in the centre I quilted 1/4" from the seam lines, and then quilted a meander to fill in the rest of the quilt.

The batting is wool. I used Connecting Threads Essential Pro for the machine quilting (top and bobbin).

It was the first time I quilted the border before quilting the centre, and it was just fine.

For this next project I used little scraps - squares cut 1+1/4".

I used the walking foot to quilt it (with a thin layer of cotton batting).

Started by adding a few rows of the decorative stitch that looks like hand quilting (invisible thread in the top, that pulls up the bobbin thread every few stitches), then the rest of the rows were stitched with Invisafil 100wt thread. I washed and machine dried the little quilt because I wanted it to look like an old quilt that had been cut up (without cutting up an old quilt).

I made a chair pad for a small chair that is a perfect size for my old Raggedy Ann doll to sit.

I used to cover my sewing machine with a small quilt, but now my sewing machine has a cone holder attached on the back, so I had to make a little quilt cover with a cut out.

Once again this one was made with pieces from the scrap bin.

For fun I tried out different free motion quilting designs.

I also made a little pincushion using an old canning jar lid (a "Gem" size) and tiny hexagons (link - I used a website to print off the size of hexagon paper I needed - 0.6" for this one). The pincushion is filled with crushed walnuts (when you buy a bag of lizard litter at the pet store it fills lots of pincushions!).

I finished weaving another table runner. A simple overshot pattern with commercial yarn for the warp and plain weave weft, and some handspun wool for the pattern weft.

I knit another Sophie Scarf - this time out of commercial yarn.

Plus I finished spinning some more flax (maybe now it is linen?).

This one is really fine - thread, for weaving.

I think Molly must wonder why Maggie doesn't play ball with her, she always tries to share it with Maggie. Molly is wearing her Sophie Scarf.

 All the best!♥︎

New Wallhanging

This month I made a wallhanging using more pieces of cross stitch that my Dad stitched.

The wallhanging is about 28"x35". 

I made this one for my parents.

 

I free motion quilted it with Essential Pro thread from Connecting Threads.

I used a layer of cotton and a layer of wool batting so the wallhanging would be flat but puffy. I just stitched in the ditch around the pieces of embroidery.

The cross stitch designs are from the book Repertoire des Motifs by Valerie Lejeune.

Photos from around-

No wind.

Fall colours.

A couple of Yellowlegs in the pond (right edge).

Wrong end of a skunk

We scared a fox.

All the best!♥︎

Finished Quilting!

 I am so pleased to have finished quilting my Mother's quilt.

The pattern is Verdant Valley by Vicki Stratton. It is 52" x 65".

I quilted with Bottom Line thread in the top and bobbin. I think my Mom stitched in the ditch with it too. The backing is plush, and the batting is Hobbs Tuscany Silk (she glue basted the quilt).

In the beginning the thread was not co-operating, so I put a thread net over the cone and that really helped.

The quilt is echo quilted, and I just followed along with the edge of the free motion quilting foot.

I am always impressed with how the back of a quilt looks when I use a plush or pinky backing.

Free motion quilting this was my One Monthly Goal for January! Done ✔️

All the best!♥︎

Quilting and Pets

Free motion quilting on my Mother's quilt is going well.

I think I am finished with the centre, now I have to figure out what to quilt in the border.

Our pets-

 Miss Maggie

Miss Molly

All the best!♥︎

Free Motion Quilting

 My Mother was really pleased that I had started quilting her quilt.

Since it is an Hawaiian style quilt I figured that it would look best with echo quilting, I am just trying to work out exactly how much I can do.

woodpecker on the peanut feeder

All the best!♥︎

Start of a Sweater

I finished spinning the fibre that I had drum carded a couple of weeks ago.

I ended up with about 457g, 1640m of a DK weight yarn.

I am really pleased with how this came out - it is well blended but you can still see individual colours and fibres (local wool mixed with silk and yak).

I started knitting a cardigan with the yarn. The pattern is Storm Mountain by Heidi Kirrmaier.

It is a top down, seamless cardigan (the above photo is a good representation of the colour).

I also machine quilted a little lap quilt that my Mom had made for a friend - it is a log cabin with appliqués cut with the Rose of Sharon die on the GO! fabric cutter.

We have had very cold weather recently but today my oldest son and I couldn't resist the fresh snow and went snowmobiling (that's me coming out of where the pond is - our skating rink is filled in with snow now).

All the best!♥︎

Seems To Be A Theme

I have finished a few things recently and they are all red - it just happens to be my favourite colour.

I made a few pillows to go on my bed along with my new quilt, and the whole cloth anniversary quilt I made a few years ago. The two pillow shams are just sewn out of rectangles of fabric, with a layer of batting for support, and a little flange stitched around the edge.

The little cushion is a piece of cross stitch on linen, with a fabric border and matching binding.

The larger pillow is a piece of fabric with free motion quilted feathers - 

I started by marking and stitching the feather 'stems', plus the tips of the feathers,

and then stitching in all the 'lobes' freehand. These are 'Bump-Bump' feathers. I used a layer of cotton batting with a full layer of wool batting on top.

I added parallel lines for the background - you can see a few of the lines that I marked with a Hera marker as a guide for the angle. Super quick and easy to make!

Here is how they all look on my bed. When I made my anniversary quilt the plan was to have it as a backdrop for other quilts, and I love this more formal look.

I also finished knitting a red vest using some hand dyed, hand spun merino and silk. It is light weight and perfect for this time of the year (more details on my Ravelry page if you are on Ravelry).

For a change I started a scarf using some green/blue hand dyed, hand spun yarn. This is a free pattern on Ravelry called Waves of the Atlantic by Deborah Wilson. It is an easy knit, and all the magic is in the blocking.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥︎

New Pillows

I decided to take a little break from quilting the Circa 2016 Medallion quilt and make some new pillows (I even repurposed some old feathers pillows and a down duvet to create the insides - quite the mess! I have 2 more covers to make). 

I decided on really simple designs. Here is what I did -

This one is about 8"x16", made with 21, 2" half square triangles (I cut 3" squares to make the HST, trimmed to 2+1/2"). I added a 1+1/2" border around the blocks.

For the appliqué I chose simple circles (even the leaves are circles with points). I used the invisible machine appliqué technique for the appliqué.

The free motion quilting was really simple too - continuous curves in the dark triangles and stitching in the ditch around the appliqué pieces, and border. I used 100wt thread for the appliqué and free motion quilting for both pillows.

This one started with a 6" log cabin block (made with 1/2" 'logs' - from cut 1" strips). I bordered it with a small 3/4" (cut 1+1/4") border and a 3" border.

More simple circle appliqués.

For the free motion quilting I stitched in ditch around the logs, small border and appliqué pieces. The large border was quilted with irregular, parallel lines. This pillow is about 14" square. Both pillows are finished like a regular quilt with a binding (cut at 2+3/4" to accommodate the thickness of the added backing), and they have button closures. Most of the fabric for these pillows is by Jo Morton.

The other day our little visitor was enjoying some sunshine.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!♥