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!♥

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!✒

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!♥

Machine Quilting

I started quilting the Granny's Hankie quilt. I used the walking foot to stitch in the ditch around the blocks and along some of the borders.

I have free motion quilted a few of the blocks,

quilting my version of McTavishing.

I am using Tre Stelle #60 thread for the first time. It is lovely and fine, sews beautifully. I bought it from Tristans - luckily for me this size spool (2000yards/1830meters) only came in black.

I also made a few more Winding Ways blocks. I am making this quilt is sections - the reason for the tape. This is a fun one to make.

Today I was cleaning my sewing room (this picture is of some things in a cabinet - an owl pincushion I won last year from Heirlooms by Ashton House, and some Temari balls that I made a few years ago).

I have been getting ready for an appliqué class that I am teaching tomorrow. They will be making my mug rug pattern.

 My posts now have Print Friendly added back to the bottom of them (I guess I lost PF when I changed my blog. Luckily I have a son in computer science at university to help me figure out the HTML code!). If you have never seen Print Friendly - it allows you to print only the portions of a post that you want - without all the extra stuff. You can click on the little logo at the bottom of a post and it will open up a little screen for a preview of a PDF - you can then delete photos and sections of the post - it is to save paper. You can also use Print Friendly for any page on the web - it is a great idea!

I also just noticed that there is a box I can check when I add a link, so that it will open up a new page - how come I never noticed that before?!

We have been having lovely weather and it makes for beautiful frosty mornings.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!♥

Friday Night Sew In Results

I added the last border on the Granny's Hankie BOM last night.

The only change that I made from the pattern was to switch the fabric placement for the corner nine-patches (otherwise it would have looked like a four patch in the corner and I thought that it should match the sashing).

I can't believe that the quilt top is finished! It is a monster 102" square (yes, DH and DS are complaining, standing on stools behind it - what would I do without them!). Now I have to figure out how I am going to quilt it - that will wait until the new year.

I also did a bit of work on a piece of Romanian Point Lace. This is my own creation, and I will post the pattern once I have finished it.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!♥

Finishing Some BOM

I can't believe that almost a year has gone by on some blocks of the month I started in January! It seems like yesterday.

This one is the EQ 2011 BOM. I can't show you the whole thing just yet, but it is all finished. It is a 35" x 41" wallhanging. The blocks are 6" each, and were fast and easy to make.

I am adding the final borders to the Granny's Hankie BOM. I will finish the borders up tomorrow at the Friday Night Sew In. It is going to be such a large quilt, the blocks are 16". The appliqué blocks were lots of fun to make, and I am so pleased with how the whole quilt is turning out.

BOM's are such a fabulous way to make a quilt (I am thinking of designing one for the new year).

Yesterday I made two pillow cases for my sons, as stocking stuffers for Christmas (Shhh!) - I am sure pillow cases are what all young men want!! I attended a demonstration at the Victoria Beach Quilt Show this summer on how to make "Sausage/Tube" pillow cases - it seemed like a wonderful idea that I had to try it. It took me less than an hour to make these two. Here is a great tutorial for them I found on You Tube.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Catch Up

My new computer has been in the shop for a week (hopefully all the problems are fixed!), so this is a long post - amazing what can get done when I don't spend time on the computer!!

I finished off the Dresden Plate quilt last Sunday (it is in my guest bedroom).
The quilt is 95" square. The fabric is Boutique by Chez Moi (for Moda) with Kona ivory solid for the background. I used Hobbs Tuscany Wool batting. The thread is Aurifil 50WT (in pink and ivory).

I had left lots of room for quilting. It is the first time I have quilted so much on a quilt, and with a plain background. The DP's are about 11" and the blocks are 14".
I free motioned feathered wreathes between the Dresden Plates. They are echoed and the centres have pebbling (like the dots in the fabric centres of the DP's). The Dresden Plates are quilted in the ditch around them and the centres. I also quilted a loose flower/feathered wreath over the DP's. There is my form of McTavishing (great link with video) in the background.

I did a serpentine feather border around all the DP's and then perpendicular parallel lines to the border.

 The 2" squares in the border have a continuous line quilted on every side (I found it really hard not quilt more that the recommended 1/4" away from the seams at the centre - but got lots of practice).

The outer most line I quilted after I had attached the binding (thanks for the tip Wendy), so that the quilting would look even.

The only marking I did on this quilt was the lines for the feathered wreathes (using various size lids and a Hera marker - just leaves an indentation in the fabric), plus I also marked the centre of the serpentine feather border

It is all quilted on my home sewing machine (Husqvarna 870 Quilt). I like to bunch the quilt when I quilt. It was a real pleasure to quilt.

I usually vacuum out my machine after I finish a big project - for this one I did it twice. It always amazes me how much lint accumulates.

I worked on some blocks of the month too -

The November Hop to It one (machine appliqué).
For December Hop to It BOM Joan picked block #2.

The December EQ BOM.

Now that all the blocks are finished I am working on the final project (we are not given instructions for that and have to create something on our own).

These are the borders for the Granny's Hankie BOM (Novembers instructions). They went together so well, the instructions are wonderful.

I did change the pattern slightly -

The pattern called for 4 1/2" squares (mine are black) for the corner blocks, but I didn't like the results, plus it was different from the picture.

So I changed them to 5 1/2" squares, now it looks like it is supposed to.

I finished knitting a hat,

and started on a piece of Romanian Point Lace (the pattern is one I designed).

Finally!! this last picture shows all three quilts that are on the guest bed now! My first large quilt that I quilted on my sewing machine (Spanish Steps), the first large quilt I hand quilted (Orphan Block), and my last quilt that I machine quilted.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!♥