deadlines work!

I finished quilting and binding this just in time. It is Scrappy Star Quilt from Kathleen Tracey's book "Remembering Adelia". Every May there is a quilt show (not juried) at the Historic Park in my city and I always like to put something in. Last year I had 2 quilts one of which I finished up the night before I had to take it there. This year it was the same story.
To add a little stress - my sewing machine started skipping stitches and I could not finish up the quilting on it. A good friend of mine kindly let me finish quilting it on her machine. Mine was way overdue for servicing. Maybe I will learn from this lesson and not procrastinate taking it for service. I do sort of use it a lot - lol.

It's not heavily quilted. I did simple straight lines and in-the-ditch quilting for the center.

In the border I did free motion quilted feathers. I've been handquilting feathers on a different project and somehow it comes fairly easily to free motion quilt them on my machine. I`m not a very confident free motion quilter - I'm terrible at stippling or any other design I've tried. With all the repetition my brain must now be programed for feathers :0)
Happy Quilting!!

setting squares

I had a lovely morning of sewing with my guild on Saturday. I pulled out these BOM blocks from awhile back and started making setting squares for them.
There are 16 BOM blocks in all (you can see them all here in this post) I only have 5 setting squares made so I just laid out a few to get an idea of how it looks.
I'm pretty sure I will set them on point but its fun to consider options :0)

It will be a pretty big quilt by the time I get it all together. Why do I let these projects sit so long in the closet??

Happy Quilting!!

I'm halfway!

I finished my 10th block for my Bird of Paradise quilt. There are 20 blocks in all so I'm now halfway.
I didn't make any changes to this block - it was fun and easy to applique. (no bird feet :0)
Tomorrow my guild is having a sew day and I'm going for the whole morning. Yipee! I've dug out another ufo to work on. It almost feels like starting something new - lol.
Happy Quilting!!

it's been a while

It has been a while since I last posted. Soccer season has begun and the evenings are very busy!
I did manage to get one of the feathered sprigs quilted and I am happy with how it fills the space.

Over Easter weekend, while we were away I was able to visit a Quilt Shop in Lacombe. I was so pleased to find this perfect backing fabric for my Bird of Paradise quilt.

I know I am several months away from even having the blocks finished but I couldn't pass it up. It was on sale :0) and check out the birds!

Happy Quilting!!

feathers - a work in progress

I am back at quilting my 4 block applique quilt. I loved quilting the feathers on my 9 patch quilt so I want to include some in this quilt too.
I need lots of practice at drawing them!

This is the space I am trying to fill. In each corner there is this open space that happened as a result of not bringing the vine around the corner.

This branching feathered sprig is what I have come up with so far. I have not decided how I will mark this - probably draw the feathers individually which means all 4 corners will be a bit different. I do enjoy a bit of whimsy in the quilting as I look at antique quilts as much as I love the perfect gorgeous wreaths of feathers in the wide borders of Amish quilts. However it turns out - I'll have lots of fun doing it! :0)

I thought I'd include a picture of the quilted center. The crosshatching is complete and the borders are outlined. I just need to finish up the rather tedious in-the-ditch quilting of the hst border and I'll be on to the feathers :0)

Happy Quilting!!

one more bird block

I finished another bird block for my Bird of Paradise quilt. This block was easy and fun to make. I have 9 blocks made now - I thought I'd lay them out for a look. They are in no particular order. I'd better tackle one of the more challenging blocks next - If I leave them all to the end... it won't be good :0)

I am having so much fun making this quilt!! Each block is so interesting and different.

I also finished the hand quilting project from the class I took. I want to make it into something - I'll have to think about it for awhile. Now I can get back to my 4 block applique quilt. I'm ready to start quilting the borders now - yeah!

Happy Quilting!!

spring break

I haven't had a lot of time for sewing lately. We've had some company and the kids had a week off from school for spring break. It felt more like winter break some days - spring is slow in coming in Alberta. So this is what I was busy making one afternoon. The kids and I built this enormous snow fort in the school field nearby. We had lots of fun :0) I finally managed to take a hand quilting class. I was doing a few things wrong and have now learned a better way to quilt.

This is the project from the class - I've nearly finished it. Don't look too closely at the stitches :0) It will take some time and practice to get shorter stitches again. It is now so much easier on my hands - I love it!!

Happy Quilting!!