Thursday, October 16, 2025

Hand-stitching and Appliqué

Hi and welcome 😊 I hope that everyone in Canada had a good Thanksgiving. The weather has gotten quite cooler - still cool but darn close to cold! It's difficult to predict the weather at this time of year, but I'm very happy that it's mostly sunny while I walk Poppy! 🐕

Hand-stitching Ode to the Goose


I've been working on this piece for a few months. It's been sitting on the side of the dining room table, waiting for me to have a few minutes to stitch. This is what it looked like this afternoon. 

Ode to the Goose as of this afternoon

Ode to the Goose - so far

Last month I thought I had finished stitching the Canada goose. I showed it to JJ and they said that I probably didn't want to just fill in the head and the feet. They were right - so I've started filling in the body. That doesn't really bring me joy, so I'm working on everything else first!

The background of the piece is a vintage handkerchief with a narrow lace band. I added neutral scraps and started moving things around. Here was my first attempt. I take pictures because they seem to be more objective than looking at the piece.

Throwing a few things at the piece

It's at this point that I thought about the focus of the piece, which is the Canada goose. I removed what wasn't relevant and then using the tracing of a picture I took this summer, I stitched over the paper. It's not my favourite way of transferring an image but it was the best one since I was stitching over several different fabrics.

This August the Out-of-the-Box (OOTB) fibre artists met at a local park. I took many photos of the geese - I have never been that close to so many of them! There are other photos (see Related links) but this is the one who is the star of my Ode!

Star of Ode to the Goose

Stitching the goose following the image on the tracing paper

Starting to get there

This is what it looked like before my holidays. 

Figuring out what to keep and what to stitch

This is the evolution of the piece so far. Until it's finished, anything can happen! 😁 On the bottom right, I've added the stems of bullrushes. I want them to be fluffy - so I'll have to figure that out. These are the kinds are challenges that I love!

The evolution of the piece - so far!

I'm still working on the Pink Turtlehead flower piece. It's almost done but I'll wait until it's finished to post it. You'll be seeing it next week, just before the Fall Fling Show. I'm also hoping to have Ode to the Goose done for the show. The handkerchief is 8" x 8" so I plan to hand quilt it a little and then mount it on a canvas. In theory it should work!🤞

A Fourth Bloomers Block

I'm following Denise's Bloomers Sew Along. I'm on my fourth block - I love it! I sort of made this one up from two different blocks. 

Fourth block of Bloomers SAL

What I learned
  • I always find it daunting to start a new piece, especially if I'm not sure where I want to go with it.
  • As you saw, I went through my odds and ends and started playing around. I knew that it would be mostly neutral but I did want a bit of colour.
  • Once I started stitching the goose, it was easier to see where the piece should go. It wanted a pond, a path, and a sky with a cloud. From there, it was mostly playing with stiches.
  • There will be a lot of background stitching but I have to ensure that I don't overwhelm the goose - it's the star of the show!
  • After adding my photo to a linking party, I realized how much I need to stitch in the Canada Goose. Right now it's disappearing into the background (except for the black!) That should help motivate me 😉 
  • I'm happy with my latest Bloomers block. I think that I'll need at least a couple more to make something interesting. I also want to experiment with EPP hexies soon!
Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You may want to check some out, after you've linked up below! Bloomers Update,  Monday MusingsSew & TellPut your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday, 

Free Motion Mavericks


Welcome to week 553 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was a very productive week! Thanks so much for joining the party! Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. 

Donnalee is in the Fall spirit and making a lovely falling leaves runner. What great fabric! Now we know why she wanted to keep the black pumpkins - that runner is really great!

Donnalee is finishing up a falling leaves runner

Donnalee's lovely pumpkins in black

Gwyned will be showing her Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2022, How Does Your Garden Grow?, during her upcoming Cohasset Open Studios. 

How Does Your Garden Grow? by Gwyned

Kat from Scrapbox Quilts is making more Lil Bear Hug Quilts. She's quilting them using a mix of FMQ and walking foot. Here are a few - you'll want to check out her post to see them all!

Lovely Lil Bear Hug quilts, quilted by Kat

Walking foot work by Kat

Love that FMQ by Kat

Quilted by Kat - almost orange peels!

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts has a lovely new quilt on the cover of Quilter's World! Milo is a layer cake friendly quilt that was quilted with squiggly lines using the walking foot.

Details of Preeti's Milo quilt

Preeti's latest finish - Milo!

Gail from Quilting Gail made this amazing Switchback bag using a ByAnnie pattern. Gail quilted the fabric using the walking foot. 

Gail's new Switchback bag

Brenda from Songbird Designs gave us a peek at the quilt she's making for her next blog hop project. Have a look at the pumpkin that she FMQ. We're looking forward to seeing this project soon!

Pumpkin FMQ by Brenda for an upcoming blog hop

Brenda also made a bag designed ByAnnie. It's the On the Go 2.0 Bag. She quilted it using a serpentine cross hatch using the walking foot. What a gorgeous and useful bag! You'll want to see the details of her bag on her post.

Brenda's On the Go 2.0 Bag 

What eye candy! It's now your turn to share😊

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thursday, October 09, 2025

More of the Pink Turtlehead Flowers

Allô and welcome 😊 I hope that you've had a good week. In Ottawa, we had lots of sun, even humidity, but after yesterday's poring rain, fall seems to be here. It looks like the trees changed drastically overnight. 🍁 The cold to freezing night temperatures may have something to do with it. It's all very beautiful. 

The pink turtlehead flowers art piece


Last week you saw the beginning of the pink turtlehead flowers art piece. I was able to work on it a little. I like it much better and it's coming along nicely. I'm even looking forward to my next piece using fabric coils. Here's what it looks like now.

Pink turtlehead flowers

Before it got dark outside, I pinned the fabric to the canvas and took some pictures outside. It makes such a difference in the colours. It was also good to see how it's coming along at the edges after being pinned to the canvas. As I had mentioned, I had used a running stitch to very loosely mark the sides. Now I'll be able to use this photo to ensure that the sides are nicely covered.

Here's another photo that I took of the pink turtlehead flowers while on another walk. I guess what I love about this flower is the contrast in the greens of the leaves and flower, and those gorgeous pink petals.

Pink turtlehead flowers

I don't have much more to share, so here is another photo of the art piece.

Pink turtlehead flowers - photo taken in the back yard

Last but not least, Poppy chilling on the couch as I work on the piece.

Poppy chilling

What I learned
  • Once I unstitched the coils from the top left side, it became obvious that I just needed to add more leaves to the piece.
  • I've been making the fabric coils as I watch TV - it's the perfect place to do these, now that it's cooler outside. When I stitch the coils onto the background fabric, I listen to a podcast or an audiobook. 
  • I haven't had much time to work on this piece but it will be finished for the Out Of The Box (OOTB) Fibre Artist's Fall Fling sale. 

Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking to many fun linking parties. Why not check some of them out after you've linked up below? 


Free Motion Mavericks


Welcome to week 552 of Free Motion Mavericks! Thanks for linking up. Since I missed a few weeks, I've decided to feature projects from the last two weeks that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. I'll start with the most recent.

Donnalee finished two lovely pumpkin placemats. Aren't they cute? We may be seeing a few more of these soon!

Donnalee's pumpkin placemat

Another of Donnalee's pumpkin placemat

Gwyned Trefethen has been busy learning how to use her new Bernina 990. She used it to embroider 3 practice pieces. She then put those pieces together to make a runner.

Gwyned's runner

Here is one of the practice blocks that she embroidered and then FMQ. She quilted around the leaves and flowers, then micro quilted in tiny loops.

Gwyned FMQ around the leaves and flowers
then micro quilted in tiny loops.

Kat of Scrapbox Quilts finished three lovely Lil bear hug quilts. The quilt tops were donated and she finished and then quilted them.

Quilted by Kat with a diagonal crosshatch

Quilted with a double diagonal crosshatch by Kat

Kat quilted this one with an overall spiral circle

Gail of Quilting Gail made this gorgeous quilt using Island Batik fabric line, Splish Splash. Gail "used Silly Moon’s 4″ Beanie to create the orange peel flowers in the neutral squares. Each short and each long strip was quilted differently" with rulers and FMQ. "There are swirls, loops, circles, feathers, flowers, hearts, squares, ribbons and many many more." You'll want to check out her post for the closeup photos.

Gail's quilt using Splish Splash fabric line

Closeup of the FMQ by Gail - as seen from the back

Melva took one of her first quilts from the cedar chest to place on the guest room bed. It was a cross-stitched wild rose quilt, made with 7 cross-stitched panels. Melva quilted it as a quilt-as-you-go, long before she knew what that was. 

Melva's first quilt - a cross-stitched wild rose quilt

A closeup of the cross-stitched panel by Melva


It's now your turn! 😊Sorry for the mix up - I managed to put 12 pm as opening instead of 12 am. It's all fixed. Let's party!🎈🎉🥳

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Friday, October 03, 2025

Textured Pink Turtlehead Flowers

Hi and welcome! 😍 I'm so grateful that you kept the linking party going without me. I'm way behind on reading, commenting and replying but I will get there. 😊 Here's what I've been working on since I've been back. I watched the latest TextileArtist.org Stitch Club workshop and quickly got hooked. Our teacher, Julia Wright, makes textured and sculptured landscape fragments with strips of coiled fabric.

Pink Turtlehead Flower


As I walked Poppy this summer, I started taking pictures of interesting flowers in the neighbourhood gardens. The pink turtlehead flower intrigued me and I thought that it would make an interesting art project some day. After watching Julia Wright's workshop, I decided to give this flower a try.

Pink turtlehead flowers

This is the flower part of my piece. You can see the fabric coils that make up the image - it is a bit abstracted but the flowers, pods, leaves and stem are all there. I worked this part in a 12" embroidery hoop until it got too large. I'm working to cover an 8" x 8" canvas. 

The flower part of the piece

After that, it becomes more difficult - how to cover the fabric with coils and still make some sense. This is what it looked like when I first started this post. After considering it overnight, I decided to remove the green coils on the side. I think that the flowers are curved and that the almost straight green coils didn't fit in.

The flowers so far - with outline of leaves to be filled in

I've kept the leaves and the flower buds that are underneath. At this time, I'm thinking that more leafy shapes would be best....we'll see!

The latest photo of the piece

You can see around part of the piece the running stitch that outlines how large it needs to be. It's a very rough outline and there will be coils sticking out over the frame.

Making the Fabric Coils

The process of making the art starts with creating coils. I went through my scrappy strips for fabric that could be wound into these coils. Here are a few photos to give you an idea of the process.

I started off with a scrap of fabric (it's actually green). I ripped it up into strips, but only about a half inch from the edge. I did this for the whole piece of fabric. After that, I coiled the fabric with sewing and hand-quilting thread that I probably won't use to quilt with. Using irregular fabric strips creates bumps in the coils that add texture to the piece.

Fabric scrap
Fabric scrap ripped into sections

    










Rolling up the fabric into coils using thread

Coil of fabric, bound with
thread













What I learned
  • Julia Wright uses this technique to make abstract landscapes. I'm not sure how my piece will end up - there are a lot more details than there would be in a more linear landscape.
  • The background fabric, where I removed the coils, is a bit messy, but it'll be covered again with coils, just in different shapes.
  • At first I found it difficult to use scrappy strips to make the coils - as a quilter I want to sew them together! But I've gotten over it - I still have so many 😉
  • Making coils to then use in the art is time consuming but it is very meditative and enjoyable. I've been making most of my coils outside in the back yard while keeping an eye on Poppy.
Poppy keeping the yard free of animals!

Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Why not check some out after you link up below? Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2025,  Oh Scrap!, Slow Sunday Stitching, 


Free Motion Mavericks


Welcome to week 551 of Free Motion Mavericks! I'm back home but getting over a cold and have no energy. I intended to feature your projects this week but I'm already very late in posting. Things should be back to normal next week. 

Since I was late to post, the party will be open until the Wednesday night 😍

It's your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thursday, September 25, 2025

Embroidering Mercury Retrograde

Hi and welcome 😊 I finished the Mindful Stitching project that I mentioned in a mid-July post. At that time, I had completed the tree and its roots. The background is an eco-printed linen fabric from a while back. When I shared this project, it was pretty traditional - now it's more metaphysical.

Mercury Retrograde - Strong Roots Required!


I love the picture below - the light behind the piece makes it so dramatic! 

Mercury Retrograde - Strong Roots Required is finished

The photo below, taken on the cement deck, shows some of the details better. The very top of the piece is a pocket made of white and sparkling tulle and contains a variety of thread. It was meant to be ethereal.

The next section in orange-brown is embroidered using chain stitch. The yellow section coming out of the door includes many different yellow thread in running stitch layered with tulle. The rays of light end at the heart located near the top of the tree. 

Mercury Retrograde - Strong Roots required!

As I mentioned in my original post, "I used a double and single chain stitch for the tree, and the feather stitch for the roots. I chose these stitches after watching Mirjam Gielen's branching video on Patreon. She's a great teacher and uses stitches in a very creative and organic manner." 

The beginning of my Mindful Stitching piece

Sketch of the branching of the tree and roots

What I learned
  • I found it difficult to keep going after finishing the tree and the roots.
  • Part of it was that I loved it and didn't want to "mess" it up!
  • I knew that I needed a door with light streaming through...but what else?
  • After using tulle in the stitching of the light, I thought that it could be used at the top of the piece to give it an ethereal quality. 
  • I don't often use my sketchbooks but drawing the branching of the roots and the tree really helped me get a feel to embroider it.
  • It's been a real joy to embroider on my eco-printed fabric. I have quite a large piece that I'll be able to cut up and stitch on.
Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Why not check some out after linking below? Monday Musings, Sew & Tell, Put your foot down, Beauties Pageant, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2025, Off The Wall FridayPatchwork & Quilts,  Slow Sunday Stitching

Great news! Mercury Retrograde - Strong Roots Required was featured by Denise at Put your foot down

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 550 of Free Motion Mavericks! I hope that you'll be linking up below. I'm on vacation so I'm sorry that I can't feature any of your projects this week. If I can, I will be visiting but it depends a lot on whether or not my data works as promised!😉

Please party without me 😍. I'll be back soon! 😀


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter