Thursday, August 13, 2026

A Finish and I Quilted This!

Hi and welcome 😊 I hope you're enjoying (or tolerating) the August weather. Thanks for dropping by. Today I have a finished baby quilt. It's been in the works for a while and I finally stopped agonizing about the binding and just got it done!

Orange Scrappy Baby Quilt Finished

The quilt is made of scraps that I got from my DIL's mother. She made a lovely quilt for her granddaughter but didn't want the scraps (can you believe that? 😲) I was quite happy to oblige - there were some nice big pieces in there, enough for another baby quilt. You've seen me make it and FMQ quilt it and now it's done.

Finished and washed - Orange Scrappy Baby Quilt

I made some very simple blocks, mostly the wonky snowball variety. My first post about this quilt was from July 2025, so it took a little longer than a year. Way to go me!😍

Glamour shot with the phlox

It was nice this week so I took some glamour pictures in my backyard. You can see some of the good parts of the yard 😁.

The very yellow scrappy backing of the quilt

The quilt in my favourite part of the yard

As I mentioned above, I've been thinking about the binding for this quilt since I finished FMQ it in April of this year. Should I got with a yellow or another colour? I didn't have enough scraps from the quilt for a scrappy binding and the yellow backing is just too bright. Finally I decided on a brown and found the perfect one in my stash. It was the brown/orangish porcupine in the fabric that decided it. Let's face it, the binding needs to match something - so a cute porcupine will do.

Note - technical details that can be skipped!

Since I was in a learning mood (patient and curious), I decided to push myself to do a good machine binding. I've done them before but they weren't very good, so this was a learning moment. I used a 2¼" side binding (I'm adding this for my records.) I realised that I believed that the binding needed to be flush with the quilt fabric underneath it, with no extra space inside the binding. That's why the back of my binding was always wider than the front and couldn't be neatly stitched by machine. I'm not sure how clear this is, but I ended up lining the back of the binding just beyond the original front stitch line. This mostly worked. I did fix a few spots where I missed the edge of the binding but it was much better than I usually do.

Binding needs to slightly cover the stitch line

The corners are not always easy to stitch, so when re-stitching it, I used a glue stick to keep the corner in place to stitch it. It worked wonderfully!

Gluing down the corner to stitch it well

What I learned

When in doubt about the colour of the fabric to use for the binding, match an element of the quilt - it should work.
Taking the time to think about how I was putting on the binding and what was going wrong helped me get better at sewing the binding by machine. It was time well spent. Hopefully I'll be able to practice and get better!
The tip to myself for future machine bindings is to take my time and concentrate on each step.
I'm hoping to spend some quality time in my studio this weekend and finishing the Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt. Then I'll be able to practice on another binding 😀

Related links

An Orange Scrappy FMQ Finish, April 02, 2026
Quilting a Scrappy Quilt and I Quilted This! February 26, 2026
Orange Scraps and a Baby Quilt, July 02, 2025

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You may want to check some out after linking below.

I Quilted This!

Welcome to the I Quilted This! linking party that celebrates quilting on a domestic machine or custom quilting on a long-arm. Feel free to link up and share any recent project, even if you're not quilting it!

Here are the posts that included FMQ, ruler work and walking foot quilting last week. Thanks for linking up 😊 and consider grabbing the button.

Terry from Ongoing Projects quilted her Stars and Stripes Guild Challenge. She shared pictures of the quilting, but we'll have to wait until October for the reveal!

Terry using a combination of thread to
quilt straight and curved lines

Terry quilting straight lines on her Stars and Stripes

Diann of Little Penguin Quilts finished this sweet Christmas in July table topper. Here it is. You'll want to go and read the post for more details.

Diann's Christmas in July table topper

Gail of Quilting Gail made a test quilt based on Brenda's new pattern Tilt-a-Whirl. You'll see Brenda's quilt below. Gail made her quilt in low volume colours. Gail used Silly Moon rulers Turkey and Charming to quilt it.

Gail's test version of Brenda's new quilt pattern, Tilt-a-whirl

Details of Gail's quilting of Tilt-a-whirl

Vicki from Vicki's Crafts and Quilting quilted and finished two quilts! The first is a pineapple quilt with large stippling while the other was made using a jelly roll and quilted with large freehand feathers. Check out these two beauties!

Vicki's pineapple quilt with large stipling

Vicki's jelly roll quilt with freehand feathers

Brenda of Songbird Designs has a new pattern out for a new fabric collection. The quilt pattern is Tilt-a-whirl which you saw earlier.

Tilt-a-whirl by Brenda

Brenda also made this great Funky Tulip runner which she quilted using FMQ and rulers. Brenda used the new fabric line. You may want to check out her post for more details.

Brenda's Funky Tulip runner

It's now your turn 😍

Thursday, August 06, 2026

Blue Jays Fan and I Quilted This!

Allô and welcome😎 My son and DIL went to Toronto to see a Blue Jays baseball game last weekend. As I've mentioned in a previous post, my DIL asked me to make her a Blue Jays t-shirt, so here it is.

Blue Jays T-shirt

Here is the t-shirt on dear Sarah.

Sarah is now ready to see the game!

I'm afraid that I forgot to take a picture of the finished appliqué, once it had been sewn on. Here is the appliqué before it got machine satin stitched.

Blue Jays appliqué ready for its satin stitch.

This is the photo that I sent Sarah before I stitched it. She asked that it be moved to the right, closer to the two flowers on her t-shirt.

Sarah asked me if I could make her this t-shirt she saw on Instagram. It's from instagram.com/studiomooi.ca/ and was posted October 25, 2025 if you want to find it. I'm afraid that it took me this long to make it but it was just in time for them to see the game last weekend. Sarah chose the fabric - it really is cute!

Rainbow Neighbourhood Quilt

I've gotten far with the Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt but didn't get it finished for our friends' 40th wedding anniversary. I just can't do all nighters or quilting marathons any more. I really am getting older (and some would say wiser). In the afternoon before the party, I just sent our friends a quick picture of the quilt. Here it is.

Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt on Saturday morning

Once the pressure of finishing the quilt was gone, I even managed to FMQ a lot of the centre panel with the lake and park before leaving for the party. Three weeks ago I posted the list of things I needed to do by the end of July. It didn't all get done, but here it is. I've added the final steps in finishing the quilt and what's left is in red.

Plans for the rest of July/August

Finish FMQ the Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt

First row: finish grass and details in the yards and houses ✓
Second row: finish sky ✓, pond/park and the last house
Third row: finish night sky, yards and house details ✓
Cut and bind the quilt

Make the teal house for the Quilter's Cove QAL ✓
Make the Blue Jays appliqué and attach it to the t-shirt ✓
Continue sewing together hexie flowers ✓

I'll be linking up to the August OMG (One Monthly Goal). This quilt will get finished!!!

Playing with Watercolour on Fabric

I know that I don't want to learn to paint but I do want to learn to add watercolour to fabric for stitching. This was my first attempt and I love it!

After watching a few videos on watercolour painting, everyone said that having a good (expensive) set of paint was worth it. So, a few months ago I was in a paper shop in the Ottawa market area and bought a small set of very fine watercolour paints. Everyone was correct - the pigments are so much stronger and easier to work with. I didn't prep any of my fabric although everything is always washed when it come in. I will iron them to help set the paint. I'm not planning on using them for anything that needs to be washed, so they should be OK.

My clean up fabric, a vintage doily and white fabric

What's happening in the back yard!

I couldn't resist sharing this with you. I bought a corn feeder for the squirrels but the corn that comes with it are not available, so I dehydrated my own corn. It took the squirrels one day to eat it all up. I'm now dehydrating more!

Squirrel eating the dehydrated corn on the cob

What I learned

The Blue Jays t-shirt appliqué went well. My satin stitch is not great but good enough. One day I'll practice some more - it's the only way that I want to raw-edge appliqué.
When making the appliqué I ended up using the white fabric as a background and sewed every piece on that. That really helped since I just cut around the finished logo once I was done.
I am getting older and can't handle stress well (I never could frankly!) So not finishing the quilt on time for the party was not a big surprise. I really need to pace myself.
As I mentioned, once the pressure was off, it was fun to keep FMQ it again.
I know that the last part of the FMQ is the fiddly parts - flowers, details on houses, etc. That means that I need to be patient and accept the thread changes required.
I did have more tension problems and they were with one type of less expensive cotton thread. I'm now avoiding them for this project.
I'm so happy with my watercolour painted fabric. I remember the lady on the video saying that the paint dries lighter, but I don't think that this is the case with the expensive paints. They look as vibrant as when I painted them.
I'm hoping that this fabric will inspire me to stitch up something cool!

Related links

Blue Jays logo on instagram.com/studiomooi.ca/
Getting Things Done and I Quilted This!, July 23, 2026
Slow Progress and I Quilted This!, July 16, 2026
How to add Watercolor Paint to Fabric for Slow Stitching by Jo Mo

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties, particularly the August OMG. You may want to check some out. Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday, Beauties Pageant, TGIFF, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2026, Oh Scrap!,

I Quilted This!

Here are the posts that included FMQ, ruler work and walking foot quilting last week. Thanks for linking up 😊 and consider grabbing the button.

Gwyned Trefethen has done some thread painting but it's very time consuming. She's glad that she can now use her machine embroidery with her thread painting. She shared with us a few of her early thread painting pieces. Here is Spring Chorus.

Spring Chorus, thread painted by Gwyned

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts shared with us this very lovely quilt called Boxed In. The quilt is in the Summer 2026 issue of Quilter’s World. Unfortunately it was shipped out but never made it back. That's such a shame. Sent the quilt some good vibes so that it makes its way back to her.😍

Boxed In by Preeti

Close-up of Boxed In by Preeti

It's now your turn!😍

Thursday, July 30, 2026

Linking party for I Quilted This! and A Quilter's Cove QAL

Today I Quilted This! and A Quilter's Cove QAL is joining up for a linking party. I would have posted them separately but the only thing that I have to share is my latest house in the Quilter's Cover. So please join the linking party for both.

Aqua Fairy House

The colour of the month for July is aqua - you know, like teal and all of its variations. This time, I wanted to make a fairy house.

July's Teal Fairy House block

As I was designing this block, I wanted to add large foliage to contrast with the Fairy. When looking in my stash, I found this amazing background of large flowers. That meant that I didn't have to add lots of large flowers to go with it.

Teal house before the window attic border

This week I've had very little energy to FMQ the Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt. I'm glad that I started thinking about and making the Fairy house before the energy all ran out!

What I learned

I know that I don't do well with deadlines but this is worse than ever. Oh well, I decided to FMQ the very large areas of the quilt as well as the border blocks so that I can trim and bind the quilt before the party. If it's not bound, it will be trimmed so that it's more presentable. Then I'll bring it home and finish it in August.
For the Fairy house, I just grabbed teal scraps and made the top of the house and then the bottom. As I mentioned above, I went into my stash to find large foliage fabric to add around the house. That's when I found the perfect background of large flowers.
I then added the attic window border.

Related links

A Quilter's Cove QAL, main page on Kat's blog
Converting House Blocks to Quilt-As-You-Go and I Quilted This! July 02, 2026
A Pastel House in Quilter's Cove QAL, June 27, 2026
An Orange House in Quilter's Cove QAL, May 30, 2026
A Pink House in Quilter's Cove QAL, April 27, 2026
A Fun Red House for A Quilter's Cove QAL, March 28, 2026
A Quilter's Cove QAL for February, February 28, 2026
A Quilter's Cove QAL Link-up and SAHRR, January 31, 2026

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You may want to check some out before linking up below. Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2026, Oh Scrap!

I Quilted This!

Here are the posts that included FMQ, ruler work and walking foot quilting last week. Thanks for linking up 😊 and consider grabbing the button.

Gwyned Trefethen felt like playing so she made this lovely rabbit quilt. You can see the FMQ on both sides of the quilt. The pretty pops of pink flowers are great.

Year of the Rabbit by Gwyned

The stitching from the back of the grass and rabbit by Gwyned

Sally of Painted Thread finished FMQ this lovely sage baby quilt. Here are a couple of photos. There are FMQ waves in the diamonds and loops in the white. Sally stitched in the ditch with her walking foot and that helped her figure out what designs to use for the rest of the quilt.

Sally's Hundred Acre Wood baby quilt

Details of Sally's quilting of Hundred Acre Wood

It's now you turn! 😍

Linking party for I Quilted This!

and July's A Quilter's Cove QAL

Thursday, July 23, 2026

Getting Things Done and I Quilted This!

Bonjour and welcome 😊 It's been a very busy time here, and not all quilting related. I am happy to say that I did manage to get many things done (but it's never as much as I'd like!) I took a road trip with Lise this week to Almonte. It wasn't as we planned but it was awesome and good to get away and spend time together. I bought some antique lace that I hope to use for art, hopefully soon 😍. Let's get on with it, since it's already Thursday!

Blue Skies in the Rainbow Neighbourhood

After fixing an oops last week, I wanted to quilt something substantial on the Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt, so it was blue skies time. It wasn't without its minor frustrations but the top third of the sky is done. After considering my options, I went with a wave/meander. That's a good thing because my Jag really didn't want to play nice with the Bottom Line thread. I'm not sure that I could have FMQ anything more intricate.

Yellow house with FMQ blue sky

Blue house with FMQ blue sky

Orange house with FMQ blue sky

I'm sorry for the quality of the pictures. Soon we'll have the whole thing photographed in great light (when it's done!)

Summer Hexie Sew Along

I've been making more hexies for the Summer Hexie Sew Along with Mad About Patchwork. I'm not exactly following the order of making thing but close enough! Here they are so far. I really wanted to see if the fabric I had chosen would play well together. I would say that they do! 😁

Three single and two double flowers

I've got many more hexies prepped to stitch together so it is coming along well.

Bloomers Sew Along

I remembered that I wanted to sew more hexie flowers for the Bloomers SAL. I've prepared two more batik hexies but haven't stitched them to the pink backgrounds yet. Here are the five hexies and the flower blocks beneath them. They are hanging on my design wall, to which I added extra side panels so that I can hang wider projects.

Five Bloomer blocks with hexies

I'll be finishing two more hexies to attach to the other blocks. I still need to make one more flower block since it's easier to make the wall hanging with 8 blocks than 7.

Mémère's Placemat

I've been stitching while watching videos. Here is what I've added to my grandmother's placemat.

Feather stitches

Variations on the blanket stitch

I'm not in love with the blanket stitches but not sure I'll be ripping them out, It'll depend on my mood the next time I work on it. At least perle cotton is easier to rip out than floss!

Plans for the rest of July

Finish FMQ the Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt

First row: finish grass and details in the yards and houses
Second row: finish sky, pond/park and the last house
Third row: finish night sky, yards and house details

Make the teal house for the Quilter's Cove QAL
Make the Blue Jays appliqué and attach it to the t-shirt
Continue sewing together hexie flowers

What I learned

About that oops moment - I managed to quilt the batting to the backing when first quilting the orange house. I was hoping to just remove the batting without the stitches but the area was too large. So I removed the stitches and batting and re-quilted the side roof. It all went well, just time consuming.
Except for having problems with the white thread, I've been quilting with cotton and polyester thread without issues. I wanted to FMQ the sky without it standing out as much so I used a lovely Bottom Line light blue. I switched needles hoping it would help, but it didn't. I'm surprised that I've been quite patient, stopping when the thread misbehaves, removing it and then continuing. I have noticed that if I slow down, it happens less, so that's what I'm doing.
It's so weird since I wasn't able to use cotton thread to FQM my son's quilt but now it's the opposite. We'll call it a temperamental Jag moment and get on with it. I only have part of the second row of sky to FMQ. I'll switch to a cotton thread for the night sky.😁
I'm having so much fun sewing my hexies now that I've found the right fabric. It's lovely to sew them when I don't have the energy to FMQ.
There are 5 double flowers to make, three clusters of four flowers and then two clusters of three flowers. That's doable by mid August.
I'm really happy with the hexies for my Bloomers SAL but I'm going to try to wait until the Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt is finished before making the last flower block and sewing everything together.

Related links

Slow Progress and I Quilted This!, July 16, 2026
A Finished Flimsy, FMQ, slow stitching and I Quilted This! June 18, 2026

Linking Parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You may want to check some out after linking up below! Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, Put your foot down, Finished (Or Not) Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2026, Slow Sunday Stitching,

I Quilted This!

Here are the posts that included FMQ, ruler work and walking foot quilting last week. Thanks for linking up 😊.

Kat from Scrapbox Quilts used blocks from her parts department (orphan blocks) to make two Lil Bear Hugs quilts. They're so cute! There is also another potato chip block quilt. Some kids are going to be thrilled! Kat quilted these in different ways - you can see that more from the backing.

Orange & teal Lil Bear Hug quilt by Kat

Teal & orange Lil Bear Hug quilt by Kat

Potato Chip Lil Bear Hug quilt by Kat

Terry of On Going Projects finished FQM her Sashiko project. You'll want to head over there to read all about it!

Terry's Sashiko rose project

Here are Terry's lovely FMQ details

Diann from Little Penguins Quilts is working on her Quilt-as-you-go (QAYG) patchwork hearts project. There is always lots to figure out in a QAYG. You may want to read Diann's post to see what needed to be done!

Diann's lovely QAYG patchwork hearts

Sandra of mmm quilts released her Diamond Baby quilt pattern and made another version using primary colours, which she called Bright Spark. Check out her post for more details and the pattern.

Bright Spark by Sandra

Gwyned Trefethen's quilt, How does your garden grow?, will be on exhibition with the South Shore Art Center next month. This is an opportunity to see this beauty in person.

Gwyned's How does your garden grow? quilt

Margo at MY Quilts and Crafts spent a long time figuring out how to quilt her latest denim quilt. It looks like it's coming along. Here's a peek at the quilting so far.