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!♥

Mug Rug Class

I taught an appliqué class today.

These are the mug rugs they made (my mother made a wall hanging for AAQI because she already had a mug rug that I made from the same pattern). The mug rug pattern and tutorial are here.

Every one did such a good job and it was a wonderful day. I hope they all enjoyed this method of machine appliqué and try it again.

This picture was taken at the end of the day - there was heavy fog all day, something that is very unusual here.

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!♥