Monday, July 29, 2024

Table Scraps and Quilting with Rulers

Hi and welcome! I've finished my July Table Scraps Challenge and took out my quilting rulers to see what I could do. It was interesting and productive 😊 Let me share this weekend's learning with you.

July's Table Scraps Challenge


You may have seen a few preview pictures of my quilting in the last post. It turns out that July's colour was aqua, not teal, although teal is just the darker form of aqua. Anyway there is a little bit of aqua in this piece as well as lots of teal. The theme was butterfly and this was the highlight of the "Butterflies Table Topper".

Butterflies Table Topper

Notice in the image below, the milk can that my girlfriend's painted for me. The fall side matches this month's Butterflies Table Topper.

Butterflies Table Topper matches the fall side of the milk can

For the binding, I used a print of small colourful butterflies on a white background. I wouldn't normally use a light fabric but I'm glad that I did. Yes, a darker aqua fabric would blend in but this is cute and fanciful, just like the runner. Yay for doing something outside of my comfort zone!😁

Butterflies Table Topper and phlox

Here are a couple of detail views of the quilting. This was done with rulers and free motion quilting (FMQ)

Some of the ruler and FMQ

The three butterflies

Quilting with Rulers


As I mentioned in the last post, I knew that I had done some quilting with rulers and taken a course with Silly Moon. I had never posted it. When I found my practice pieces, I remembered why. Although the course was very good, I had problems with the universal darning foot that I had used with the rulers. If you don't get it just right, the tension can be off, which is what had happened. I had also used spray adhesive on my quilting samples and it had left stains. After these trials, I just put everything away!

However, after quilting with the rulers on the Butterflies Table Topper, I did figure out how to adjust the darning foot so that it worked fine. I watched a video on YouTube that suggested that I use a credit card underneath the foot to make sure that it was adjusted properly. The credit card has to slide easily under the foot. It worked!

Adjusting the tension of the darning
foot with an old credit card


Here are some of the samples that I quilted with the Silly Moon Eggie rulers.

Overlapping one Eggie ruler

Using the straight Eggie 6 ruler

Using various Eggie rulers

You can see in the image below some of the ruler work. 
  • At the top, I used a large Eggie (oval) ruler to make two lines and then stitch pebbles between them.
  • Underneath the first butterfly, you can see the overlapping semi-circles and the straight lines over them. I used different sizes of the Eggie rulers and then the straight ruler at the top.
  • For the bottom butterfly, I used the straight ruler to make some of the straight "V" lines. 
  • Finally, to the right of the bottom butterfly, the larger Eggie ruler was used to make overlapping curves. 
FMQ and ruler work in the Butterflies Table Topper 

While looking for my sandwich pieces, I found these four samplers that I made in 2017 as part of the Learning Quilt-A-Long I hosted. For the month of October that year, I made four scrappy samplers and used different batting for each of them. I then quilted, bound them and washed them. It turns out that on these small samplers, there wasn't much difference between them except for the silk/polyester batting, which was so much thinner but fine to quilt on. If you want to read more about this experiment, the links are below.

Four samplers now being used as placemats


What I learned
  • Looking at my sampler placemats, I noticed that my FMQ was possibly better than it is now, several years later. I would attribute that to taking my time back then, as opposed to just doing it now! I do tend to just go for it instead of preparing properly and FMQ carefully. I think that I need to learn to slow my FMQ down.
  • I never thought of using my square samplers as placemats because in my mind, placemats are rectangular. Since joining in the Table Scraps Challenge, I noticed that a few people make their placemats square - so now I have four lovely new placemats. 😊
  • I'm glad that I played with quilting with the rulers. It really is great for straight lines (so I'll keep them handy) but I'm really not sure what else to do with them except for those ovals and curved lines. I suspect that I won't be investing in many more rulers, unless I figure out what else to do with them. If you have any ideas, please let me know!
Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties, including Free Motion Mavericks and July's Table Scraps Challenge. Why not check some of them out? Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, Oh Scrap!, Patchwork & Quilts, Midweek Makers, Needle & Thread Thursday, TGIFF,

Project details

"Butterflies Table Topper"
made for the 2024 Table Scraps Challenge
Materials: commercial fabric scraps
Techniques: scrappy improv piecing, appliqué, FMQ and quilting with rulers
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Thursday, July 25, 2024

Stitching and FMQ on Free Motion Mavericks

Hi and welcome. I've had a great relaxing week by the pool. It turns out that 20 minutes in the pool is all I need, so I'm glad that it's not my pool! 😎 I've read lots of books and am slowly putting stuff away in my studio. It was a good week and I'm slowly starting to get back into the groove. I hope that you had a great week also.

Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) in teal


I've put my teal and other blue scraps together to make a small runner. Here is a preview of the final piece. Despite not having the correct foot, I used a couple of my rulers to quilt these. I also did some FMQ because once the first line is stitched, it's relatively easy to follow it to make the subsequent lines without the ruler.

Teal lines made using a ruler and FMQ

The Table Scraps Challenge for July is actually aqua, related to teal, and the theme is butterflies, so this first block is perfect.

FMQ following the fabric lines

Quilting using an oval ruler and FMQ the centre

I've quilted about a third of the piece. Since July's last weekend is in a couple of days, I'll be posting this finish before next week's post - so keep a lookout for it! 😁

Second Kawandi style quilt finished


I finished my second Kawandi style quilt yesterday. I really love it and it was much easier the second time around. I'm thinking of starting another one, but this time with the scraps organised by colour. The down side is organizing the scraps. That could slow me down....we'll see 😊

Second Kawandi style quilt finished

Here are the two finished pieces.

Two Kawandi style quilts

Here they are as seen from the back. I took advantage of the busy back to hide knots when it was too difficult to slip the needle underneath one of the fabrics. That can happen when you get closer to the middle and fabric pieces all overlap.

Two Kawandi style quilts, seen from the back


What I learned
  • Quilting with rulers using an ordinary darning foot is not easy and the stitching is not as even, but it can be done! 
  • I bought a universal foot to use for the rulers but it's too fiddly. If it's not at the perfect height it affects the tension. I got tired of fiddling around with it.
  • I'll eventually buy the Janome foot but I did want to make sure that I would used the rulers first. This trial did help and I would use the rulers with the correct foot.
  • It's great though that I can stitch with the ruler and then use my FMQ abilities to follow the line. Another way would be to mark the lines with a FriXion pen when it's not on solid dark colours (because they can leave a ghost line).
  • I looked throughout my blog but only found one mention of quilting with rulers. I did take a virtual class through Silly Moon in March 2021 but things were so busy that I never blogged about it. I'll have to find my samples to see how I did!
  • I really enjoyed making this second Kawandi style quilt. 
  • I made sure that my top fabrics were slightly over the edges so that the backing fabric wouldn't show.
  • As I mentioned, the only time that I made a knot at the back of the piece was when it was  difficult to make the knot underneath the top fabric.
  • Using a busy backing helped with the knots but you can't see the stitches as well as on solid fabrics. 
  • Part of the joy of making Kawandi style quilts is being able to use random fabrics as you go. I'm hoping that organising the fabrics ahead of time won't take the fun out of it.
  • A solution to that would be to have a few small piles of fabric sorted by colour and then dipping into them as you go. Since the fabrics are applied from the outside to the centre, this would have to be taken into account. Hopefully it won't be too complicated.
  • BTW, the mosquito netting proved to be great but I'm now trying to figure out how to keep it dry when we get a storm. I did buy some plastic tablecloths lined with flannel but the wind made it useless, so I'll have to attach it somehow. I'll let you know how I do!😊
Related links
Linking parties
Thanks Susan for featuring my pretty butterfly on Midweek Makers!

Free Motion Mavericks


Welcome to week 491 of Free Motion Mavericks. InLinks was down but it's back up. Sorry for the delay! Thanks for linking up this week. Here are the two projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. 

Gretchen of Gretchen's Little Corner has finished quilting "Blooms" another of her smaller quilts. I love the blocks with the hexies 😊! She mostly stitched-in-the-ditch and then inside the centre yellow hexie. What a pretty quilt! 

"Blooms" quilted by Gretchen

Baptist Fans for the borders of "Blooms"

Frédérique finished the first of her two Temperature quilts. This one is for her mother. I just love how she included the weather symbols and legend. She attached the legend with small Velcro dots so that it can be taken down to read the quilt.

Frédérique's unique Quilt Météo (Temperature Quilt) 

Frédérique used some of her pretty machine stitches for the various borders in her quilt. Not only is her quilt pretty but a great reminder of the weather in 2023. From those oranges and red, it looks like the Alps got very hot!

Temperature Quilt with fancy machine stitches

It's now your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
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Thursday, July 18, 2024

R & R at Free Motion Mavericks

Hello and welcome 😊 The heat is giving us a short reprieve and I'm very grateful for that. I've done very little except a bit of slow stitching. I don't even have the energy to clean up my studio to keep going on the projects that I mentioned last week. When my body and spirit say stop - I've learned to listen!

Kawandi style quilting


Since the last Making Zen event, I've been doing some Kawandi style quilting. You may have seen my first piece which I finished while in Alaska. I've started a second larger piece and am trying to avoid the mistakes from the first. I think that it's going well.

Kawandi Style Quilting - second piece almost done

I just have the centre section to finish. I had other fabrics in mind but changed them since they read more like solids, which didn't really got with the rest. Of course the look changes a lot once it's stitched. 

Kawandi Style Quilting - my stitching tray

This is the tray that I keep my supplies on for stitching outside in the back yard. I've kept this project's supplies on the tray, even for stitching inside. It's great to have everything together. I also have a pouch that contains smaller pieces of fabric that I mostly use for hexies. Most of the fabric for this project came from there.

Mosquito proof swing


It's done and I love it! It has been raining on and off so I've spent some time cleaning up the swing. I going to get a plastic tablecloth from the dollar store to cover the seat so that it can stay dryer. There's not much to do about the humidity but at least it's as clean and dry as it can get right now. 

Swing heaven 😊

The view from the swing

I purchased some cute little solar lights on sale and placed them inside the swing. They only had a few hours of sunlight to charge yesterday but they still worked, at least for a little while. It was very pretty! Unfortunately the camera on my phone doesn't do darkness,

The milk can backed with flowers

What I learned
  • For the Kawandi style quilting, this time I was much more careful about my edges. The bottom fabric is not supposed to show from the top and I did that!
  • Getting the centre part done is still not easy but pins and planning helps.
  • To finish off the Mosquito proofing, I added half of a panel and stitched it by hand to one of the edges. For this half-panel, I stitched it top side up (where you hang the curtain) and then pulled a ribbon through it and attached it to the other side of the opening. I then stitched another ribbon where it can be closed. To get in and out, I only lift up the netting. No need to tie it up every time.
  • I'm enjoying pool siting 😁!
  • I've been reading a bit but mostly listening to audio books. I've discovered Audible's Great Courses lecture series (and many are free with the membership). I'm learning about the Industrial Revolution, and Daily Life in the Ancient World among others. It's the best part about going to school - listening to a good lecturer without the homework! Of course I realise that without taking notes and doing homework that I won't retain a lot, but it's entertaining and I'm actually surprised by how much I retain.
  • I am taking the Practicing Mindfulness course and doing the practice. So far so good. 
  • I'm hoping that my sewing mojo will return, but until then, I'm enjoying the R&R.
Related links
Linking parties

Free Motion Mavericks


Welcome to week 490 of Free Motion Mavericks! Everyone else seems to have had a productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. 

Gretchen is still at it - quilting up her smaller quilts on her domestic machine! These two Ladybug quilts are so cute! The yellow-red ladybug quilt wanted to be quilted with cross-hatching. It worked out really well. You can see the quilting more clearly from the back in the next picture. The second Tulabugs quilt was quilted in an "X" design. You can read how Gretchen did this on her post. 

Front of Gretchen's Ladybug and Tulabugs quilt

The back of the ladybug quilts - check out Gretchen's quilting!

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts has a new quilt, Shanvi, in Annie's Perfect Precut Quilts. It's it lovely in the Island Batik fabrics? You can see the publication in the picture below. Congrats Preeti!
Preeti's Shanvi quilt in Annie's Perfect Precut Quilts 

Donnalee of DonnaleeQ made this cute runner for a beginner quilting class. I'm sure that the students will be thrilled with their new skills and runners!

Donnalee's cute runner

Gail of Quilting Gail participated in the Luminous Layers QAL with Sandra of mmm quilts. Gail made two quilts! Gail used FMQ as well as her Rocket ruler for the straight lines. Aren't they lovely, and so different from each other!

Gail's Luminous Layers QAL

The second of Gail's Luminous Layers QAL

It's now your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
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Thursday, July 11, 2024

Mosquito proofing on Free Motion Mavericks

Hi and welcome! I've been so busy getting ready for our Outdoor Exhibition that I haven't done much else. Although I would love to play in the garden, it's been hot and humid, and now raining. I may as well do a little bit of stitching between reading books.

Mosquito proofing my swing


I bought netting curtains at Ikea and created this cover for my swing. It's one of my favourite places in the garden and has an excellent view of my birdfeeder. This was a first attempt and only needs a few adjustments to be mosquito proof. I'll use another curtain to close up the opening and try it out once it stops raining, 

Mosquito proofing my swing

2024 Table Scraps Challenge


Today I looked up the July colour (aqua) and theme (Butterfly) for the 2024 Table Scraps Challenge. I dug out the blue bin and found many aqua and teal scraps. Between other blue scraps and a block that I didn't use for one of the Project Quilting, I've got a pieced top. Looking at it now, that hourglass block might be used to make a butterfly. What do you think?

Aqua and blue scrappy block

Journal making and Panel wall hanging


The other two projects I have for July are for hubby. He requested a journal like I made a few months ago. Apparently it's difficult to find journals that have no lines in them. He uses a few a year for work, so I'll start with one and see how he likes it.

I'll make a fun journal cover with napkins and gifted Japanese paper

Making a wall hanging from the "Healing Waters" panel

What I learned
  • I really over-did it getting all of my pieces ready for the outdoor show. I am now resting!
  • I've read a few books since I finished my outdoor pieces - that's my favourite way to rest. 
  • I'm taking it easy this week and don't plan on getting much done, except possibly the aqua scrappy challenge piece, since that's pure play 😁
  • Next week I'll be house sitting our friends' pool 😎. I plan on bringing books and hand-stitching projects with me! They have a mosquito proof patio so it's going to be awesome!
  • I published a post on Tuesday about the artists and their pieces in the "Impermanence - Éphémère" Outdoor Exhibition. I hope that you'll take a look at their work.
Related links
Linking parties
Great news! My mosquito proofing was features on Put your foot down. Thanks Denise 😊

Free Motion Mavericks


Welcome to week 489 of Free Motion Mavericks. You don't need to be FMQ to link up! Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. 

Gail from Quilting Gail adapted the Sly Fox pattern to make this cute Forest Friends quilt. Doesn't he shine in those Island Batik fabrics? This was made for her guild's Baby Quilt Challenge. Gail did a lot of FMQ and used the Silly Moon “Rocket” for the straight lines and outline quilting. Check out her post to see more details of the FMQ.

Gail's Forest Friends Quilt

Gretchen from Gretchen's Little Corner is still quilting up a storm on her domestic machine. These two beauties, Summer Garden, are going to the local cancer centre. Gretchen quilted-in-the-ditch. I'm sure that they will make someone smile!

Gretchen's Summer Garden quilts

It's now your turn.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
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Tuesday, July 09, 2024

Visit the “Impermanence / Éphémère” Outdoor Exhibit

Hi and welcome! We had our vernissage of the  “Impermanence / Éphémère” Outdoor Exhibition at the Arbor Gallery in Vankleek Hill last Friday afternoon. The weather cooperated, the mosquitos had a good snack, the company was lovely and the art was very cool 😎! If you live in the area, it's worth going out for a ride to visit. 

“Impermanence / Éphémère” Outdoor Exhibit


Seeing textile art among the trees is pretty amazing. It was like going on a treasure hunt. Instead of "X" marking the spot, there were little signs around each art piece. I'm just going to give you a little taste of what's out there. I wouldn't want to spoil your fun if you get to visit!

Anne Warburton's "Birches" is made with pool noodles, sari silk, ribbon, acrylic paint, birch bard, player piano paper, Tyvek, organza and glue.

Birches by Anne Warburton

Olive Jones' "Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Us" is a mix media piece that includes felting, beads and found objects, on a metal garden stand and blue stoneware pot filled with soil.

Olive Jones' Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Us

Here are close-ups of her work.
Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Us
by Olive Jones

Details of 
Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Us



















Lise Perras' "Dream Catcher Mobile" is made of welded metal, recycled t-shirt, beads, feathers, porcupine quills
"Dream Catcher Mobile" by Lise Perras

Lise Perras and "Dream Catcher Mobile"





















Janet Tullock's "The Cosmic Chase: Orion Aims for the Seven Sisters" is made on a nylon sailcloth with spray paint, grommets and strip lighting.

"The Cosmic Chase: Orion Aims for the Seven Sisters" by Janet Tullock

Krystyna Sadej's "Wind Chines, a sculptured installation" made of a hula hoop, metal and aluminum cans, beads and can keys

"Wind Chines, a sculptured installation"
by Krystyna Sadej

Krystyna Sadej






















Caroline Forcier Holloway's Hopeful for the Planet includes mixed media weaving made of jute, tea-dyed cheesecloth, and found branches, set inside an antique window frame.

Caroline Forcier Holloway


by Caroline Forcier Holloway






















Andrée G. Faubert's (me) three seasonal fence art pieces: "Raining Pink Petals", "Squirrel!" and "Essence of Leaves". These all have a water-resistant background fabric with hand-dyed cotton, commercial cotton and upholstery scraps, tule, and half-shells of nuts.
"Essence of Leaves" features Connie ten Bruggenkate's hand-dyed and printed cotton.


Viewing the art at the vernissage with Lise Perras, Olive Jones, and Andrea Belcham, Artistic Director of the Arbor Gallery.

Lise, Olive and Andrea at the Impermanence vernissage

Impermanence - Éphémère Outdoor Exhibit

Related links
Linking parties
I've linked up to the following linking parties: Free Motion Mavericks, Off The Wall Friday, Put your foot down, Patchwork & Quilts, 


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