Quilting and other Things

Its has been a very successful month for quilting.  The Moondance top is finished :) and I'll get the binding made this weekend.  I'm starting to think about how to quilt it and which top to work on next.  I have a few smaller items on this years UFO list so will probably choose one of those. I made such good progress on this in January because I went with four friends to a quilt retreat for a week.  Our lockdown rules limit indoor gatherings to five.  It was such a wonderful time to get a way and be with friends and do something I love.  I also got a lesson on how to make a journal with reclaimed paper which was fun. Late last year I ordered 7 fat quarters from Spoonflower to make a panel One Block Wonder.  I used a digital art piece I created last year called Tempest in a Teacup.   I had used the design helper to choose which piece might work well as a One Block Wonder.   I was amazed at how fast the order came.  From the gui...

January has been a very productive month quilting wise.  My goals were to finish the blocks for my Long Time Gone class, finish the components of Abstraction and as a bonus complete the top and to finish my Poinsettia block. These were my Longtime Gone blocks.  We needed to make the two bow tie blocks and the three blocks with flying geese.  All were completed well before the class so I was pleased.  I haven't cut out the pieces we were assigned for next month but that will come soon. The components for Abstraction went together very quickly and I was thrilled to finish the top.  The binding is also made.  A lady from my guild gave me a quilting suggestion which I rather liked.  I'm still considering the quilting.  I think this may end up waiting until I can get out to the long arm studio.  We are currently under lock down so it will be another month at least. Finally, the December block from Kathy K Wylie's workshop is now finished.  I ...

I did get my homework done for the long time gone class. I even got a start on the assignment for the January class. The first picture was December's work. Afterwards we discovered the layout diagram for the top left block had two mistakes.  Those corners got taken apart and the half square turned. January's class needs the bow tie blocks and a whole bunch of flying geese. The bow ties are finished and the components are all cut for the flying geese.    The guild offer a two evening workshop via zoom with Lisa Walton and this is my top so far. I wrote more about the workshop here and you can find Lisa's website here The cherrywood challenge did get finished and the pictures submitted dec 11th so now I'm in waiting mode. Sometime in January they will announce the selections I was pleased with how it turned out and looking forward to showing it off.  I’m not sure if it can be shared so I will wait until after the announcement of their choices  Linking up...

One of the good things about having guild meetings via zoom, instead of meeting in person, is  having speakers from anywhere.  In October, our speaker was Lisa Walton  from Australia.  After the meeting, there was enough interest, that our Workshop coordinator arranged for us to do her Fantastic Fusion workshop via zoom.  Two Thursday evenings this month we had a zoom workshop with Lisa.  The piece is a very abstract piece.  After the first evening, I had three or four "blocks" made.  Over the course of the week, more fabric got prepared and I made some more blocks and during the second workshop, I started playing around with the layout.   By the end of workshop, this is where I had reached.  There is still not fused into a top but I think it will get fused in the new year.    My intention at the beginning of the workshop was to use this a background for a project I want to make.  I'm not sure if this will be the...

My goal this month was to finish appliqueing the other 16 triangles required for my Common Bride quilt.  When the first 8 were finished, I added them to the 4 from last month and put them up on the design wall.   When the last eight were finished, I added the corners to the design wall. Last week Elaine had a sit and sew day at her house so I took the quilt with me to add the triangles to the centre.   My star blocks turned out slightly small so I knew I'd need to add a small strip to make the triangles fit.  So first I pieced the three triangles for each side border.  They all turned out to be 51 1/4 inches -- I was thrilled with the consistency.  I spent some time making sure I cut the strips correctly and then added the triangles.  They all fit beautifully.  The corner triangle pairs also turned out consistent and fit very nicely. I'm thrilled with how this top is progressing.  One last border t...

In November 2015, I went to a guild workshop taught by Al Cote to make a quilted rug .  Its been waiting for me to quilt, wash and face for a while.  It was on my goal list last year and didnt get finished.  This month, it my goal.  We received the last two parts of the guild mystery instruction last night.  Getting caught up and staying caught up was my goal in January so this month I have that top to finish and some slab block to make for the CQA Quilt Bee as well.  Linking up with Patty's One Monthly Goal

On Friday night, my sister and I went to Paint Nite at the Aquarium.  She got the more experienced apron -- her choice, she picked two aprons out of the bag and handed one to me.  More Experienced Apron Inexperienced Apron Over the course of the evening, we painted an underwater scene with two turtles.  We sat at tables and each had an little easel, a paper plate with the required paint colours, some brushes and a red drinking cup with a bit of water.  The evening started with us making a promise to enjoy ourselves, not moan, groan and complain and to NOT drink from the red cup.  Good idea.  It looked uninviting.  The instructor took us through step by step demonstrating on her canvas.  A bit of yellow and blue on the brush to start and start filling in the canvas.  Table setup; Don't drink from that!;  Painting started; Getting messy Water finished; rocks added; underwater life added; turtle begun At the e...

The guild speaker and workshop teacher this month was Al Cote . The class was on making a quilted rug. On Saturday we layered up the fabrics and trimmed it down to the size of the batting. Did some doodling then stitched lines and started removing fabric. I meant to take a photo before I started the removal process but forgot. So this is taken after the first round of removing fabrics and part way through the second round. Near the end of the afternoon he had everyone put their project down on the floor for admiring. It was a fun day and we certainly had a great collection of rugs in progress.  It was a really fun day.  Karen came too so it was even better because I got to stitch with my sister. The next day I continued removing fabric stopping every once in a while to throw it on the floor and look at it to see how it was looking. By the end of Sunday, this is how it looked. I still have a few pieces to remove before continuing with the quilting and final s...

This month the guild speaker was Elizabeth Dillinger . On Saturday she taught her Zen Free Motion quilting class. I had been on the wait list but got a call on Monday that there was a spot for me. It was an excellent day. In the morning we learned about setting up our machines and practiced some skills -- some free motion and some thread painting for drawing lines and where to look. After lunch we started in on a practice piece. She provide a larger floral print sandwich and we quilted/thread painted a flower then did some embellishments. All to add dimension to the flower. She's an excellent teacher and speaker. This is the practice piece. I forgot to take a photo before I touched it so this is after some work is done. I've started to do some marking on this flower in pencil but on the whole its how the manufacturer printed it. This one I've started to prepare. This one is stitched and then had ink and glitter added. I came home with several page...

One of my favorite quilts is a one block wonder.  I look for the at quilt shows and love to see the original fabric and what it came become when chopped into matching 60 degree triangles. I bought the first book a few years ago and some flower headed pins the book recommends.  Last spring I bought a fabric to make myself a one block wonder quilt.  Its was a shinny fish fabric Its been sitting on the corner of my cutting table or in a box on the shelf ever since waiting for me to get a round to it.  Earlier this year, the guild announced a One Block Wonder workshop in May with Maggie Butterfield Dickinson  So I signed up.  Yesterday was the day.  In the morning we cut our six matching sections and got everything pinned and lined up nicely.  Then trimmed edges and cut strips.  I took a 60 degree triangle I bought for a workshop with Jackie Black many years ago.  I was thinking this was the first time I've used it since that worksho...

This month's guest speaker at the Mississauga Quilt Guild was Judith Peckham. On Saturday she taught a thread painting workshop. I worked on a chickadee. Here he is so far. Ready for a little stitching along the tree branches, then borders and quilting. He's 8.5 x 11 inches at the moment. Both the chickadee and tree stump are created with the thread painting. I think this photo from the other weekend would be a fun candidate for this technique