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Thursday, March 28, 2019

All About Strings Blog Hop and Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to the All About Strings Blog Hop and the Free Motion Mavericks (Week 222) link-up.

All About Strings Blog Hop

I challenged myself to make this string quilt into an art quilt. Here is the journey and result.

I thought that I was making a spiderweb string quilt but the instructions I found on the Internet were not correct and by the time I figured it out, I decided to just keep going.
"Tries to play nice with others" 
The background is a Kona cotton solid. I used two layers of cotton batting for the first time. I really wanted the quilting to show and I figured that this was the perfect mini quilt to test it on.

My favourite part of making this piece was the free motion quilting (FMQ). It was such a great opportunity to find designs and keep practicing. I separated each triangle into 7 sections, leaving a 1" section empty between each FMQ section (sort of).

I searched my FMQ journal for ideas as well as a few of my go-to books. I then practiced some of the designs before starting to FMQ.

Drawing out various designs 
 Here are some of the sections:
FMQ flowers, wavy lines, circles and triangles
Trying out all kinds of FMQ variations

Had to include some feathers!
As I was quilting, I kept thinking of what to do for the "special block" that would illustrate "Tries to play nice with others".
All is quilted except for the "special block"
In the last year, I've fallen in love with hexies. I try to incorporate them into my pieces in all kinds of fun ways. 😊 The "special block" just had to include hexies!

Adding hexies whenever I can!
So, have you figured out why this piece is called "Tries to play nice with others"? It's about being the same, but different; about trying to fit in, without ever really being able to. It's also about celebrating what makes us unique or special!

What I learned
  • Not all quilting instructions one the web are correct!
  • Turns out that a bunch of 45 degree angles make a square!!! 
  • It didn't take me long to decide to go with the flow and create with what I had.
  • It was an piecing oops that determined the title and final look of the quilt. I just had to embrace the design opportunity!
  • Quilting with 2 cotton batting was terrific. I will certainly do that again.
Related links
  • Here is the link to the participants of the blog hop. I hope that you'll take the time to see the great work that everyone has done! 
Linking Parties


Project details
"Tries to play nice with others"


Tries to play nice with others
22½" x 22½"
Materials: Kona cotton and cotton scraps
Techniques: String piecing, free motion quilting, English Paper Piecing








Free Motion Mavericks
Welcome to my week to host Free Motion Mavericks (week 222). I hope that as you read this post as part of the All About Strings blog hop, that you'll take the time to link-up your strings project!

Thank you to everyone who linked up two weeks ago. A special thank you to Gail for linking up her gorgeous runner. Congrats on a great finish! If you didn't see it, you really should check it out!
Gail's lovely FMQ runner

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter
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Sunday, March 24, 2019

Discovering Project Quilting - Chocolate Cravings

Do you know about Project Quilting? I just found out about it through Sherry of Powered by Quilting's post. It's 8:30 pm here and the project needs to be finished and posted by noon Central Time. According to the little countdown clock, I have 16 hours to create a project that is related to "Craving Chocolate".

Project Quilting - Craving Chocolate

As I'm writing this, I'm frantically thinking of what I could finish for this challenge. I don't know if you remember but in the Instagram event, 100 hexies in 100 days, there was a week for "Something Sweet". Here's the picture that I posted and what I wrote about it.
"It was the brown fabric with caramel coloured dots that gave me the idea for this. Doesn't it look good enough to eat?"
Week 12 - Something Sweet
#100hexies100days2018
With this in mind, I am going to attempt to make a completed mini art quilt for Project Quilting. See you soon! (This was at 8:30 pm, just before taking Chevy for her walk)

At 2:30 am, I was quite happy with my results. I had done everything that I could since my sewing machine is in the bedroom and hubby was asleep! It's not a pretty picture since my good light is next to my sewing machine.

Chocolate Cravings - progress at 2:30 am

It was difficult to sleep last night because I was so excited.... so it was even harder to get up at 8:30 this morning.

After feeding the dog, (I still haven't had my coffee yet!!!) upstairs I went to my sewing machine. I have to admit that my brain was rather fuzzy so instead of finishing the edges envelope style, I improvised and finished them with a zigzag stitch. I actually saw some great textile art pieces yesterday that were finished this way. Of course, they were mounted on canvas, but still, it worked 😊

Chocolate Cravings


The proof is in the eating....it was great chocolate!
 What I learned

  • This was too much fun. I know what I'm doing next January - participating in all of the Project Quilting challenges!
  • It would be so cool if I could figure out how to finish a piece before I actually start it so that I could get it right....I'm not sure that this is going to happen, except on major pieces (which I avoid because planning just adds to the pressure!)
  • I really, really need a coffee but it's amazing what I can do without coffee...when motivated!
Related links
Linking parties
This post will be linked to the Project Quilting, Season 10, Challenge 6 link-up. I did it!!!
Off the Wall, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Show Off Saturday, Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scraps!, Brag About Your Beauties, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward, What I Made Monday, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Midweek Makers, Needle & Thread Thursday, Finished or Not Friday,   


I linked up to Sandra's DrEAMi! link because if this isn't a squirrel project, nothing is!
Check out what everyone has made, and make sure to VOTE for your favourite.

Project Details

Chocolate Cravings
Size: 8 ½" x 9 ½"
Materials: Cotton, embroidery floss
Techniques: English Paper Piecing, appliqué, embroidery, free motion quilting





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Saturday, March 23, 2019

All About Strings preview

I haven't been doing many quilty things this week but now that the weekend is here and that I slept in a bit, I finally have some energy to blog and quilt. Thank goodness for weekend!!!

All About Strings Blog Hop

It begins on Monday! I hope that you'll be joining us for this great blog hop hosted by Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks. I can't wait to see everyone's work. I'm sure that they will all be amazing 😊

I've had so much fun playing with my pretty scraps. I'm glad that at some point I decided to clean up my scraps and make strips and squares with them. My box isn't that big but it holds many strips and blocks, more than enough to create this lovely!

I will be posting my strings project on Thursday - so please come back to see the final piece. I challenged myself to create an art quilt that, if finished on time, I could show at Fibre Fling 2019. There is no doubt that it will be finished by Thursday and that it will be in the show on April 5 & 6.
A preview of  my All About Strings Blog Hop piece
The piece is called "Tries to play well with others." Come back and see why!

This week I have to finish my String piece and then add labels and make packing containers for my Fibre Fling pieces. It's going to be a busy weekend and week.


Paint Pouring Fun

Two weeks ago, my artist friend Lyne came to visit. We had a great time talking, eating and of course, making art. This time, I hosted a paint pouring party for my daughter and her friends.

We all chose 3 or 4 colours and then did some paint pouring magic with Lyne's expert guidance. It was a lot of fun. Here are some of the results!

This one is mine - I seem to be in
a purple-pink mood these days!
My daughter used grey, gold, red and blue
I love the way that she didn't cover all of the canvas
It reminds me of an under-sea world.
Doesn't it have an ocean vibe?

Isn't it lovely? I love the yellow peaking through.









These two minis were made
from the leftover paint!

















Free Motion Mavericks

If you've been busy free motion quilting, don't forget to link up to Free Motion Mavericks. It's Muv's turn and the link-up is open until Sunday midnight.

After that, come and link-up with me on Thursday. It's going to be a very busy post since it will include both the All About Strings blog hop and Free Motion Mavericks!


Related links
Linking parties
I am linking up to Muv's Free Motion Mavericks as well as several other cool linkies. Let's go see what's going on! Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Friday Foto Fun, Oh Scraps!,


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Friday, March 15, 2019

Upcoming events

Here are the two events coming up soon in my quilting and blogging life.

Fibre Fling 2019

Once again the Out of the Box Artists' Group will be holding their annual art show and sale, Fibre Fling. If you're in the Ottawa region, come out to see the great fibre art. There will also be art, supplies and wearable fibre art for sale.

Fibre Fling 2019 - April 4 and 5
This year I will be entering these pieces in the show.

My Painted Blue is finished! I'll be writing a final posting about it soon.
Painted Blue
This is my experiment with FMQ and embroidery.
Symphony in Stem Stitch
This was made for last year's Welcome to My House Blog Hop. 
Our House
If I can finish my All About Strings Blog Hop piece by March 24 (the deadline for registering), then a string art piece may be added to the list! 😊

Fantastic News!
My quilt, Our House, sold at the Fibre Fling 2019 show!!!! A grandmother bought it for her new granddaughter's room. It's so awesome to think that this girl will grow up with my quilt. I really hope that she loves it!

All About Strings Blog Hop

I did it again! I couldn't resist joining another blog hop. At least I'm making sure that I only have one going on at a time :-) I can learn!

This fun blog hop is hosted by Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks. 

Do you think that I can create an art quilt with Strings? Come back on Thursday March 28 to find out!

As you can imagine, I'll be busy this week finishing up my Strings Mini Quilt and putting some sleeves and labels on these quilts. 😊

Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking this post to several fun linky parties. Come along to see what's going on! Midweek Makers, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward, What I Made Monday, To-Do Tuesday, 

Update: I linked up Painted Blue at Sarah Goer Quilts' linking party - Show Me Something Blue

You still have a few days to link up to Free Motion Mavericks' link-up. Don't be shy!

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Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Spring is in the air with Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to Free Motion Mavericks (Week 220) link-up.

Spring is in the air!

There is hope! There is a viral rumour that Spring may show up again this year. We are all very hopeful. It's funny to see my friends refusing to bundle up to cross the street to get coffee. Unless it's a blizzard out there, we are acting as if Spring was here 😊

This week I decided to invite spring onto my fabric with some free motion quilted (FMQ) flowers.
I know how to do the FMQ all-over flowers but I wanted to practice some real flowers. I'm planning a pretty baby quilt with a FMQ garden in the centre.

The full image isn't great, so I cut it up into two halves.
FMQ spring flowers - 1

FMQ spring flowers - 2
I researched the web for FMQ tulips. What I found was more of a snow drop (see related links below). I practiced it and from there came up with a pretty good looking tulip. I was pretty familiar with the tulip's leaf since I had just trimmed the dozen I bought this weekend.

Snow drops in spring


Tulips dancing and pansies accompanying them
As I was adding flowers, I took advantage of the empty space at the bottom of the flower bed to FMQ shorter flowers that could be violets or pansies. At this point, I became less specific about the type of flowers that I was drawing, as long as they looked flower-like. 😊

Here are some flowers that I drew based on The Bloom going on in the desert right now! I've included some links below. My plan was to quilt them using different colours, but I got carried away with the grey thread that was on the machine.
Desert blooms
This time the leaves and flowers at the bottom are just experiments. I'll have to look into drawing smaller flowers too!

Finally, at the bottom of the piece, I tried FMQ some lotus flowers and leaves. It would be nice to add a pond in that baby quilt garden!
Lotus flower and leaves in the water
What I learned
  • I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to draw these flowers too much before I got the hang of it. If only I had practiced those lotus flowers!
  • The grey thread looked great on the blue background while I was stitching, but next time I will try something with more contrast so that is photographs better (mistakes and all).
  • It's on my bucket list to see the desert bloom....one day :-)
Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to several great linkies this week. Why not check out what others have made. Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Silly Mama Quilts WIPs, Midweek Makers,  Needle & Thread Thursday, Finished or Not Friday, Friday Foto Fun, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward, What I Made Monday,

Thank you to everyone who linked up two weeks ago. A special thank you to Quilting Gail, for linking up her two finished UFOs. Congrats!. If you didn't see it, you really should check it out!
2 UFOs finished by Quilting Gail


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter
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Thursday, March 07, 2019

No Such Thing As Too Much Pink

Did you know that there is "no such thing as too much pink"?  That's the name of this quilt, and here's the story...

This was many, many years ago and was one of the first quilts I made.

I had gone through the fabric that I had inherited from my mother. There was quite a lot of pink fabric, so I went shopping for more fabric to make the quilt. This was the first time that I realised how many different shades, tints and tones of pink there were. Since my mother's fabric was a few years old, I found it difficult to find fabrics that would play well together.
A lovely pink quilt
It was that evening that I told my friend that I had discovered that there were too many pinks! Very seriously, she said that "there is no such thing as too much pink!" I had no idea that she liked pink! That's when I knew that this quilt was for her 😊
There are many different pink fabrics in this quilt.
This quilt is a disappearing nine patch, and I remember that I loved making it. At that time, all of the quilts I made were hand quilted. I put lots of love into that quilt for my friend.

What I learned
  • I learned that there is no such thing as too many pinks!
  • Disappearing 9 patch is a pattern that I should re-visit. It looks more complex than it is. 
  • I'm really impressed with my choices of fabric, even back then 😊.
  • I love those fabrics and I still have a little bit of many of them.
Linking parties
I've managed to miss a few of Sandra's linky parties at mmm! Quilts, so I'm really glad to link-up this special project on Throwback Thursday! I drafted this post right after I missed the February link-up :-) I will also be linking up to many fun link-ups so let's see what everyone is making.
Needle & Thread Thursday, Midweek Makers, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Let's Bee Social, Friday Foto Fun, Finished or Not Friday, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward, What I Made Monday,

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Tuesday, March 05, 2019

A Mola finish

Funky Flower Mola

It's done! I've spent many hours embellishing the Funky Flower Mola that I started two weeks ago for the Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop. I really enjoyed the embroidery and the beading.

Funky Flower Mola - finished!
After the blog hop, I added another butterfly and embroidery to the top of the piece.

Second butterfly and vines
I also added tiny pink seed beads around the funky flower.
Beading the funky flower

One Monthly Goal (OMG) for March

It's been a while since I linked up to an OMG - so here goes!
I have a mini to make for my son's cubicle! It's going to be the foundation paper pieced Moose by Made by Marney. So far, I've made two bears and a loon. It's now time for the moose 😊
A bear mini
A loon mini














What I learned
  • Adding that many beads takes a long time - although I finished it faster than I expected.
  • I had bought one container of seed beads. I got pretty nervous near the end....there aren't many left. Normally it wouldn't be a problem but I bought these on sale because they were being discontinued.
  • I experimented with some of my daughter's perle cotton and metallic embroidery floss. It's fun to see the different effects they create.
Related links
Linking parties
I will be linking this post up to the March One Monthly Goal (OMG) as well as several other link-ups in quilt land. Let's go see what going on! Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward, What I Made Monday, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Midweek Makers, Silly Mama Quilts WIPs, Needle & Thread Thursday, Let's Bee Social, Off The Wall Friday, TGIFF, Finished or Not Friday, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Main Crush Monday, New To Me 2019,

Project details

Funky Flower Mola
16" x 13"
Materials: Kona cotton, embroidery floss, perle cotton, beads, stones
Techniques: reverse appliqué, appliqué, embroidery, beading


at 10 comments: