Finished Quilting Projects

Sunday 30 August 2015

Post Vacation Sunday Stash Vol.3

The summer is just flying by! Of course, my favourite season is coming. I absolutely love the fall. The leaves are changing colours, the nights are a bit cooler and it's the perfect time of the year to do some walking.

Here's some eye candy for you all.

Shopping Day August 14, 2015 on the Sewing Vacation.

From top left to bottom right:
  • In From The Cold by Kate Spain for moda
  • Posy by Aneela Hoey for moda 
  • Apple of My Eye by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake Designs
  • Giggles by Me & My Sister Designs for moda
  • Water Garden by Jane Dixon for Andover Fabrics
  • YLI Machine Quilting Sunrise Thread
  • 100 - 1" Hexagon Paper Pieces
  • Science Fair Quilt Pattern - I love this pattern and finally found the courage to buy it!
  • Bridget Handbag Pattern
  • Candy Dish Pattern

Saturday 29 August 2015

FMQ Practice Turned Into a Bag

I decided I wanted to make a bag that calls for pre-quilted fabric. Since I wanted to practice my FMQ, I decided why not make my own pre-quilted fabric. I purchased Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters last year and absolutely love this book! So easy to understand and you can just pick it up and try out a design.


I decided to try out the basic swirl shown here:


So I drew out the design in a scribbler and filled the whole page. Then I prepped a practice sandwich. And finally prepped the fabric that I selected to make the bags....alright I will admit, I was starting to feel terrified at this moment. What about if I messed up and ruined the beautiful fabric that I picked out?! Deep breaths was my mantra at this moment. So I worked up the courage to finally start....then I couldn't stop....So I finished the full piece and was quite happy with myself. Sure there's mistakes and I had the top thread break on me a few times! But in the end, I was happy and proud of what I accomplished.

 Outer Piece of the bag
 Inner Piece of the bag

I started to relax about half way through and just worked my way through it. I paused a few times to make sure I didn't sew myself into a corner. If you haven't tried FMQ yet, I definitely recommend trying this design out. And you should definitely check out Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters. And remember to breathe!


Close-Up

Then came cutting out pattern pieces for the bag....I almost didn't want to cut the fabric....crazy I know. But I just wanted to run my hand over the quilting for a while......I ended up having enough to cut out a medium and large bag.



Love those Swirls!

Here's one bag all finished :)



The only problem I had was trying to get that 1/4" bias to cooperate! I had to seam rip a few times...but I'm still happy with the end result. Now to attempt Bag #2....



Update on MMQG and EMQG Pillow Swap

With a bit of chaos on my vacation, I am a bit delayed in writing this blog post. I received a very sweet comment last weekend on my Pillow Love blog post. The comment was from Stacey who received the pillow I made for the swap :)

I always wonder if what I make finds a "good" home. I know all you creative people out there feel that way too! You put so much into making a project that you just want it to be loved. I was so happy when I read Stacey's comment. And she also attached a picture for me.





It was great participating in this swap and even better when you meet new people through it! The pillow Stacey made was actually my favourite at the swap. The beautiful hummingbird she made was just incredible! Check out the pillow she made :)





Thursday 27 August 2015

Additions is Finished :)

Well I finished the Additions baby quilt yesterday evening. It was too late to take pictures. And today is quite cloudy and foggy here. So I took a few indoor ones to show the finished quilt :)




I used my walking foot to quilt this one. I quilted horizontally and vertically approximately 1/4" from the sashing strips seams on each side. I really like how this came out. I wasn't sure when I was doing the quilting how it was going to look but the bigger picture really impressed me. I'm still working on the tutorial but it's coming along. I may try to make another one following my directions before I publish it...or rope my sister into test driving it for me :)

So after this was complete, I decided I wanted to make a pouch for my Wonderclips. They have always been in the original packing.


And I also have two cases of 50 clips! I definitely don't need any more. So I found this tutorial online from Pile O' Fabric. I dug out my bin of Fat Eights and smaller than a Fat Quarter pieces, and picked some fabrics from there.


Her tutorial calls for Fat Quarters but my Fat Eights worked out perfectly. Then I picked a zipper out of my zipper bin...
There are also buttons in there just in case you were thinking I had way too many zippers ;) I do have a lot but it's nice to have some at home when I decide to start a project on Sunday when the fabric stores are closed :(

I didn't use glue on my zipper. I just pinned it like I normally do. And I also skipped on a few other things in the tutorial. I just wanted a quick pouch for my Wonderclips. So here's the end result.



This little pouch fits 200 WonderClips! And there's still room for more! I also used one of the plastic containers that the WonderClips use to be kept in, for all my presser feet :)


So it was a win-win today. I sewed and organized a bit ;)

In the last few days, I also made my Flying Geese for the Midnight Mystery Quilt-A-long hosted by Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs.


I am trying to be productive this week and use my stash :) I've only made one fabric purchase this week. Which is pretty good since I am on vacation! I'll post about that one when I receive it in the mail :)

I also started English Paper Piecing this week too. Progress pictures to come!

Sunday 23 August 2015

Post Vacation Sunday Stash Vol.2

It's time for the post vacation Sunday Stash vol.2 post. This was the very next day from Post Vacation Sunday Stash Vol.1. You can read about that post here :)

Now onto the good stuff....

Sewing Vacation Week - Aug 12 Purchases

From top left to bottom:
  • Waterfront Park by Violet Craft for Michael Miller Fabrics. I had a small Fat Quarter of this and absolutely loved it. When I seen the bolt, I knew I needed some!
  • Urban Zoologie "Foxes" on a Brown background by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman.
  • Some Fat Quarters - Hothouse Flowers by Mo Bedell for Andover Fabrics, Papillon "Petite Fleur" by Greta Lynn for Bernartex, Spot On in Tangerine by Robert Kaufman, and Comma by Brigitte Heitland for Zen Chic for Moda.
  • And the Mini Binding tool. Absolutely love the Binding Tool so I'm sure I'll love the Mini just as much!
I also received my Sew Sisters Bargain Lovers Club package this week :) And bravo to Sew Sisters! Finally getting back into the gorgeous bundles I know and love! I can't wait to make these into a quilt pour moi!


Saturday 22 August 2015

Additions Quilt Top

I had a chance today to finish my quilt top that I started to design last weekend. It is a pretty quick quilt. I have been writing up the tutorial for it. However, I did get caught up in the making process and forgot to take a few pictures :( So I'm hoping that the pictures I do have will help explain my directions. Here's a picture of the quilt top :)






It's a bit different for me. I can't put my finger on what it is but definitely different than what I usually make. I'm not sure if I feel like it's more modern than traditional or just the fabrics used. I still like it but definitely a change for me.

So I'm hoping to have this baby quilt spray basted tomorrow. I'm not sure what I'm going to use for the backing yet. I'm going to take a peek through my stash and see what I can come up with. I want to keep this quilt gender neutral since I'm planning on gifting it to parents who are expecting in the fall. I'm hoping they will like it. It was quick and fun to make. I also used Fat Quarters which is wonderful since I have quite the stash of them! And this quilt could easily be modified to be larger or smaller.

Well I am off to hunt in my stash for a backing for this baby! Hope you are all having a great weekend :)

Tuesday 18 August 2015

The Design Process

Well after putting away all my fabric purchases from vacation, I was motivated to use some of my 5" x 10" precuts in my stash. I had cut up a second set of 5" x 10" rectangles while making the Modern Lattice quilt. Originally I was going to make another Modern Lattice baby quilt but I decided I wanted to do something different. I searched and couldn't find a pattern I liked so I decided to make my own :) I'm still going through the finer details and making a few mistakes along the way but I am hoping to make a tutorial on this sweet little quilt. Here's a sneak peek.....

 Those 5" x 10" rectangles

And fabric #2 :)

I'm hoping to have the top close to finished by the end of the week so I can share it :)

Hope you're having a good quilty week!

Julia

Sunday 16 August 2015

Post Vacation Sunday Stash vol.1

After returning from my sewing vacation, I started to unpack all my new additions to my stash....I may actually have a problem....I visited fabric stores 5 out of 7 days....Oh it was soooo bad but ohhh so goood!

So I've decided to post one shopping day of my vacation, for the next 5 Sundays. You can read about my sewing vacation here :)

Here's a shot of my new additions....


Here is one day of shopping.........Aug 11 to be exact ;)


It was a "light" day ;)

From top to bottom:
  • "Sphere" bundle by Brigitte Heitland for Zen Chic for Moda 
  • "Sphere" yardage Pattern #1540 
  • Medium blue stripe print
  • Riviera Handbag pattern which I made a handbag from some newly added fabrics to my stash. You can read about the handbag here.

One shopping day stash share done, four more to go!

I also picked up this gorgeous little teapot perfect for brewing tea in.

It's sort of fabric supplies....used to keep me awake to finish a project :)

I'm linking up with Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash #139

Head on over to see some drool worthy Sunday Stash posts!


Saturday 15 August 2015

Every Good Thing Must Come to an End....

I have just returned from my sewing vacation....and what a beautiful time it was! So many exciting events happened. First and foremost, there was lots and lots of sewing....and lots of fabric shopping. I'm going to be posting the stash purchases over the next month. There is just too much fabric and I will become overwhelmed if I try to do it all in one post......here's a shot of my new additions :)


I may have went a bit overboard on the purchasing of fabric....And believe it or not, there's actually some fabric missing. I bought some fat quarters to use for some projects that I was working on in the past week. So come back tomorrow for a Stash Sunday post ;)

I love going away for this sewing vacation. I always pack way too much but I don't like to not have enough projects to do. Or if I'm missing a notion that I need or would like to use. Maybe next year, I can be a bit more organized....I didn't have a chance to really think about what to take for the week since work was a bit busier than normal for me.

Here's a few shots from the week:


The kitchen table is a sewing center.

The cutting and ironing space.

My mom worked on a Swedish Weave project for the first part of the week.


My sister worked on a few WIPs.

Christmas Wall Hanging

Her first quilt. The quilt top was completed last summer on our sewing vacation.

So happy that she was able to finish her first quilt on this trip! It is beautiful!


I worked on assembling some blocks, finishing a few Mystery Blocks, a name tag and making a new handbag.

I had 33 blocks for a Whispering Lake quilt in my WIPs pile so I decided to try to make the other 67 blocks during the week. I packed purple, blue and green fat quarters from my stash to cut and sew to make those 67 blocks. Happy to say I have 100 blocks to make a future quilt top :)


I love purple ;)

Look at that stack!

Between making those blocks, I switched gears and worked on my Fat Quarter Shop Mystery Block #9.
The beginning....


And the end....


Next was a name tag for my guild meeting. 
 I don't remember the last time I embroidered. It wasn't too shabby.

I also put a zipper in mine so I could store my MMQG member card and a little bit of fabric shopping money ;)

Next was my Mystery Block #10....

So many 2" squares!

Mystery Block #10 - Check!

On Thursday, we traveled to Halifax for my guild meeting. It was my very first meeting. Sadly living over 3 hours away doesn't allow me to go to meetings :( But when I found out that the Maritime Modern Quilting Guild meeting was going to be the same week that I was away in Wolfville, I couldn't resist the opportunity to go! Check out all the awesome fun that we had on the MMQG blog. If you're ever interested in attending a meeting, contact the guild. I can promise you, you won't be disappointed!
I also received my pillow cover from the swap that we did with the Edmonton Modern Quilting Guild.

When I opened the bag, I knew my hubby would love it! Beautiful fabrics! I haven't had a chance to buy a pillow for it yet....you would think I would have with all the shopping I did this week!

After having lots of laughs and more than enough sewing motivation at the meeting, when I returned to the cottage I started working on the Riviera Handbag by Pink Sand Beach Designs.

The Exterior Pocket


The Exterior Piece

The Inside Lining.

And the Finish :)


I absolutely love this bag! Definitely a favourite! And the pattern was great! Two thumbs up for the pattern :)

Well it was an excellent week that went by way too fast! I hope you all had a great quilty week!

Julia