Thursday, October 29, 2026

A Finished Square Dance Baby Quilt on I Quilted This!

Hello and welcome 😃 I hope that you're doing well and enjoying the Fall. I managed to finish Square Dance, the first of three baby quilts for JJ's friends. I always want to keep it simple when FMQ but I can't help myself! So here is Square Dance in all of its glory. 😍

Square Dance Ready for a Baby!

It's done! I really love this pattern, it was perfect for showcasing pretty fabrics. I used Kona cottons for the blocks and then novelty fabric in the centre using fabric that depicted things that the parents love to do - there's adventure, pickle ball, dinosaurs, Star Wars, etc. Of course there's a lot of just very cute baby fabric. JJ helped me design the quilt. They have a wonderful sense of colour 😊

Square Dance baby quilt

As you can see from the photo, I made a scrappy binding for the quilt. I just ensured that the binding fabric wasn't against the same colour in the quilt - otherwise it disappears and looks off. I machine quilted it using white Bottom Line thread. It's not the best job I've ever done but I was able to fix it so that it's respectable.

The last thing that I did was FMQ the centre blocks with the same Bottom Line thread. I used a FriXion pen when possible to draw the stencil, and chalk pen on dark fabric. It's pretty difficult to see, but here's the adventure square that is FMQ. The next image shows the stencil.

A lovely sun stencil for the centre squares

The sun stencil used

Since I took the time to share with you most of the blocks, here are the ones that haven't been posted yet. You can see better if you enlarge them by clicking on the photo.

This block was FMQ with ice cream at the top and flower chains for the rest.

Ice cream at the top and flower chains

FMQ with flowers

Geometric FMQ and birds!

Fun designs from Lorri Kennedy

The glamour shot

The back of the quilt

What I learned

I love FMQ, until I'm fed up! Unfortunately the quilt finish and the fed-up feelings often don't synchronize!
I will have to try to remember, for the next baby quilt, that simple quilting can be elegant and lovely. I don't need to go crazy with every quilt 😁
I wasn't very happy with my machine binding - I'll have to be more mindful for the next one.
As I looked at the quilt after taking pictures, I realised that I haven't FMQ one of the centre blocks! I'll get to that tomorrow, as well as prepare the label.
This quilt was my October OMG (and September's). I'm thrilled that it's finished and will be gifted to JJ's friend and her baby.
I've been working on my October Quilter's Cove house - it's almost done but I still need to quilt it. Please come back on Saturday for the linking party 😍

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.

Viridian from Viridian's Blog finished a jellyroll quilt UFO from 2021 called Three at a Time by Moda. She stitched it in the ditch.

Viridian's latest finish, Three at a Time

Kat from Scrapbox Quilts quilted up a baby top donated through Heartstrings group. Kat backed it with a fleece fabric and quilted it using a circular grid.

Kat backed and quilted a baby donation quilt

Diann from Little Penguin Quilts made another placemat with the scraps left over from the previous two made last week. The placemat got a very cute penguin backing - what's not to love!

Diann's third scrappy placemat

The back of Diann's scrappy placemat

Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting made two very cool Valentine's runners. I love those unusual shapes!

Circular Valentine's runner

Serpentine Valentine's runner

It's now your turn 😍

Thursday, October 22, 2026

Fall Fling with OOTB and I Quilted This!

Hi and welcome 🌞 It's been an amazing fall weather week. We are busy getting things ready for the Out Of the Box (OOTB) Fibre Artists' Fall Fling Show & Sale. No, it's not the royal "we" it's the Andrée and JJ "we" 😍. We're both participating this year and looking forward to it.

Fall Fling 2026

It's that time of the year again. OOTB is having its Fall Fling. JJ and I will be volunteering on Saturday from 10am to noon. Hope we see some familiar faces there 😊

Free admission -
donations accepted for the Ottawa Food Bank

Here is JJ's (my youngest child) Frankenstein's Heart tote bag. JJ loves all things gothic and spooky - this is very much in their style. JJ has been embroidering for several years now and just learned to do beading. I'm looking forward to sharing some of their work with you as they are finished. 😍

We had the photoshoot outside this afternoon with the tote bag against the brambles in the backyard.

"It's Alive" Frankenstein's mended heart, appliquéd,
embroidered and beaded by JJ

The other side - "It's Alive" Frankenstein tote bag by JJ

This week I lined the bag - it's a really well-made cotton bag and was easy enough to line!

The inside of the lined tote bag

My two small art pieces will also be at the show.

Backyard Senses

Water and Light

We are also having a small themed exhibition about the sea/ocean. I'll be bringing in my "Islas Canarias" art quilt. I thought I had more sea related art but I guess they've all been given away 😉

Islas Canarias travel art quilt

What I learned / What I've been up to

Getting art ready for a show can be a lot of work. There are always a couple of hours involved in placing the hanging wire, getting the forms and tags ready, etc. We'll be dropping off our pieces Thursday morning and then going to visit Poppy. Yay!!!
I've been working on the Square Dance baby quilt. I'm putting together the scrappy binding and then I'll be FMQ the centre squares. It'll be ready for next week - the last Thursday of October and ready for the October One Monthly Goal (OMG).
Some of my Quilter's Cove QAL blocks are getting FMQ. It's amazing how the FMQ adds to each block. I'll be sharing my progress on Saturday, October 30th at the Quilter's Cove QAL linkup party. Needless to say, I also have to create and FMQ my October house 😁

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.

Diann at Little Penguin Quilts participated in the Fall Fortnight Placemat Blog Hop and made two very lovely quilt-as-you-go placemats. You'll want to check out her post for more details!

Two lovely QAYG placemats by Diann

Terry from On Going Projects wrote a post about the quilts that she submitted in the Quiltfest Northwest Quilt Show. Two of her quilts won ribbons and she included the judge's comments on all of them. You'll want to check out her post. Here are the two quilts that won ribbons. Congratulations Terry!

Dash by Terry won a ribbon

Grow by Terry won two ribbons!

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts created another beauty, Let It Shine, that was published in the Quilter's World Winter 2026 Issue. You'll want to check out her post.

Preeti's Let It Shine

Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting finished a UFO with some FMQ stippling. She also appliquéd her bunnies on the runners that she had quilted last week. Too cute!

Lovely UFO quilt finished by Vicki

Cute bunny runners by Vicki

Gail of Quilting Gail finished FMQ a mystery runner that she and her sister had started. Gail quilted her runner with LOTS of pebbles in the background, some lines using the Rocket ruler and even used a fancy stitch on the binding that looks like pebbles. Very cool! Check out her post for more details.

Look at all those pebbles, lines and fancy stitching on Gail's runner!

Gail's Mystery Runner

It's now your turn!😍

Thursday, October 15, 2026

Slow Stitching Projects and I Quilted This!

Hi and welcome 😎. I hope that you're all well as the weather turns to fall. The local birds and squirrels are sure busy getting ready for winter. If the rain stops, I'll be outside again, at least to have my morning coffee. So here's what's going on.

Mindful Slow Stitching

A couple of weeks ago it was the fall Making Zen event. There's always at least one project that I gravitate to. This time is was making a smallish pouch. The class was offered by Kate Ward, the host of the event. Here's my jean pouch.

Jean pouch created based on a Making Zen class

Everything is stitched on with raw edges showing (the jean fabric and the strips), I used perle cotton for most of the stitching.

Pouch full and ready to take with me

The back of the pouch, closed with two coiled pieces of fabric

I added a scrappy binding at both ends so that it's a little tidier. The only raw edges that show on the pouch are the side edges of the top closure.

The pouch holds my magnifying glasses and my scrappy needle case.

I created the needle case in last year's Making Zen event. The link is in Related links below.

Not-so-Daily Stitching project

When I was reading Diann of Little Penguin Quilts' post on her daily stitching, I had written a comment and Diann replied that she now had time for daily stitching... which made me stop and think that I do have time, if I make it a priority! Well, it hasn't been daily but I have been having fun resuming my stitching of these little squares. I will often do a few at a time. Here is my latest as a nod to fall.

Fall tree - I like using my fancy silk and linen thread!

I used this stitching time to try out some new thread. I went to a yarn store and bought two balls of Lana Gatto, linen yarn from Italy. It's a beautiful linen that is made like embroidery floss, in that it can be separated in strands. I stitched a couple of squares to try it out.

Trying out two blue Italian linen thread

My problem with not-so-daily stitching is that I often am not inspired to stitch something interesting. So I did make an effort for these blocks.

Playing with linen and silk thread

Trying out different stitches

I have found inspiration from other stitchers who do daily stitching, like Diann and Karen Tucker (see links below). Diann's pretty tree was my inspiration for my fall tree above.

Tonight, before finishing this post, I stitched a new block, playing with two colours, making wonky lines and then threading both the running stitch and the chain stitch. The final row is whipped chain stitch.

Playing with threading and whipping stitches in two colours

What I learned

I discovered that I could stitch my pouch when travelling and visiting. That made the visit so much better.
I've started another project with a larger piece of denim (from a shirt). I kept the larger piece together because I'm not sure that I want to do yet. I've stitched fabric strips on the wrong side at one end. Since JJ and I have been watching the Great British Sewing Bee, I added some ruching as well as pleats. It's cool to add other types of texture on the piece.
At the other end of the jean fabric, on the correct side, I'm stitching up some great dressmaking fabric scraps that my sister-in-law gave me. I just love stitching things up 😍
As I mentioned, I often have no idea what to stitch for my not-so-daily stitching project, so I'll be visiting other daily stitchers for inspiration when it's not coming to me! Thanks Diann and Karen 😊
If you're wondering about Square Dance baby quilt, it's almost done! All of the coloured blocks have been FMQ. Now to add a little something to the centre squares and then the quilt square up and bind. I should have it for you next week. Yay!

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.

Preeti from Sew Preeti Quilts finished an improv quilt to help her de-stress. It worked and she got a lovely quilt too! It's called Monsoon. You'll want to check out her post for details and more pictures.

Preeti's Monsoon quilt

Gwyned Trefethen finished FMQ and embroidering her Rainbow Scraps Challenge quilt, Cats in the Attic.

Gwyned's green Cat in the Attic

An almost finished quilt - Cats in the Attic

Vicki from Vicki's Crafts and Quilting has been very busy. You'll want to check out her post to see it all, but here's a wall hanging and runner that she's made.