October is almost finished and so far I've written very few posts. I did some quilting, lots of planning and listened to many audio books. I'm also totally overwhelmed by the number of comments on my September posts and I hope to answer them....one day, or not. So please know that I really appreciate getting comments, but at one point, I may give up on answering the older ones. Sorry 😔
One Monthly Goal (OMG) accomplished!
My October OMG was to finish a quilt top for a t-shirt and dress quilt for Sonya's daughter. I had very little hope that it would get done, so I am very, very pleased to say that the quilt top is finished and the quilt is about half quilted.
Here are a few of the quilted blocks so far. I'm not sharing the rest of the quilt top yet since I'd like to keep it a surprise 😊 Since I'm planning to make this quilt my November OMG, you'll be able to see it at the end of November, if not earlier.
This first block is a variation of Peas in a pod, designed by Maddie Kertay. You can see my own doodling of it in my FMQ journal. The design is found in 180 Doodle Quilting Designs, page 99. The book is compiled by Karen M. Burns.
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| Peas in a pod |
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Variation of Peas in a pod
FMQ design |
You may recognize this next FMQ design from Angela Walter's Free Motion Challenge Quilt Along that I did last spring. This is the Feather Meander and a lot of swirly variations.
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| Feather Meander and swirly variations |
Finally, I quilted around the dolphins and then FMQ a whole bunch of bubbles.
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| Bubbles around the dolphins |
There is a lot more to quilt, especially since I also want to FMQ inside the sashing, which I will keep simple.
Fabric acquisition for a future project
For the October's Throwback Thursday, I posted a Beatles quilt that I made using a walking foot. In the post, I said that although made for my daughter's room that the quilt had never hung there since I had taken too long to finish it and her room decor had moved on.
Well my daughter, who is now studying art history for a semester in Venice (doesn't that sound absolutely amazing?!) commented that she still wanted a Paddington Bear quilt and would love it even if her room changed. (The link to that post is in Related links below.)
Since I know that she loves Paddington Bear and that she's my number one fan, the day after she posted her comment, I went on the internet in search of fabric. I found these on Etsy and I'm sharing the links below since I had excellent service from both shops.
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| Lovely Paddington Bear fabric |
At this time, I'm thinking of making a large Paddington Bear applique in the quilt centre and then using this and other fabric blocks around it for a scrappy look. This will probably be a winter 2019 project.
More hexies
The 100 hexies in 100 days event on Instagram is now in its eleventh week. Here are the hexies and the pictures for weeks 9 to 11. Since I haven't done as much quilting as I would like, I thought that I would try to put a little more effort in my pictures of these hexies.
Week 9 - Floral
Since the floral theme was all about colour (for me), I thought that I would use the Our House quilt to showcase the hexies I made. Here they are!
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| Floral hexies at Our House |
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| A close-up of the floral hexies with "the two cats in the yard". |
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| More floral hexies in the yard |
Week 10 - Favourite Colours
It's pretty difficult to make me choose ONE favourite colour. Instead, I gathered up some of my favourite colours and made a display with my muse and my Kimono silk thread collection.
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| What a lot of colours - how can I choose just one? |
The quilt under the hexies is a wheel chair quilt that I made for my grandmother. It's the perfect backdrop for wonderful colours.
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| More lovely colours and incredible silk thread!!! |
Week 11 - I Spy
This week's selection is objects that are used in an I Spy quilt. It took me a while to find fabric that I mostly hadn't use on previous hexies. Thank goodness I've purchased a few fabrics recently :-)
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| I Spy hexies on fireman fabric |
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| My absolute favourite is that priceless pink squirrel! |
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| Paddington Bear makes his first appearance. |
Art with Fabric, Fall 2018 Coming Soon!
The Art with Fabric blog hop, hosted by Alida, will be held between Monday, November 5 to Friday, November 9, 2018. My post will be featured on Wednesday, November 7th.
The theme of the blog hop is our favourite colour. I am doing my art piece on the colour white - which is not my favourite, although technically white includes all colours, so technically it could be my favourite :-)
My piece is based on a BBC documentary series called A History of Art in Three Colours. While the first two films were interesting, it's the third one that caught my attention. My piece will feature white and its role in the evolution of art history, particularly in contemporary art.
What I learned
- I tend to practice a lot of FMQ designs on scrap pieces of paper or photocopy paper. When I get one that works well on paper and ink, I'll usually try it on the sewing machine. Generally I know that if I can draw it, then I can quilt it. I then either re-copy these in my FMQ journal or just cut and paste them in the journal. If I didn't keep track of the designs I use or can do, I would never remember what FMQ designs to us!
- The 100 hexies in 100 days event on Instagram has influenced my fabric purchases! I now look for some fabrics that have interesting characters. This is not normally the type of fabric I buy, but they can be very handy to have when making art quilts.
- I've been working very hard on my Art with Fabric Blog Hop piece. It's a fairly complex piece that has been both fun and challenging to make. I'll have a lot more to say on November 7th, so I hope you'll join me.
Related links
- 180 Doodle Quilting Designs, compiled by Karen M. Burns
- Free Motion Challenge Quilt Along update, April 14, 2018
- Throwback Thursday for October, October 3, 2018
- Paddington Fabrics on Etsy from these two shops
- Welcome to Our House, September 12, 2018
- Remembering Jeannette (1915-2013), March 6, 2018
- Art with Fabric Blog Hop, Fall 2018
- BBC History of Art in Three Colours 3of 3 - WHITE
Linking parties
I will be linking this post to the
OMG Finish link-up as soon as it opens. Also check out the other great linky parties going on!
Monday Making,
Main Crush Monday,
Design Wall Monday,
Moving It Forward,
What I Made Monday,
Linky Tuesday,
Tuesday Colour Linky Party,
Let's Bee Social,
Friday Foto Fun,
Finished or Not Friday,
Finish It Up Friday,
Needle & Thread Thursday,
Free Motion Mavericks,
Slow Sunday Stitching,
When I was younger, I used to love to give cards on special holidays or moments. I've grown out of that, probably because I've ended up throwing out too many of them. This year, as the birthday season in my family approaches (September to November is crazy!), I've decided to make minis to give instead of cards. I just think that they are more useful since they can be used as decoration, rug mugs, etc.
Related links
