Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Pink Turtlehead Flowers Finished

Allô and welcome😍 I'm so happy to share with you my finished coiled art piece. It was so much fun to make and I'm trying not to make another, simpler one because I have so many other things to do. But you know that "Resistance is futile", right? 😉

Pink Turtlehead Flowers coiled piece finished

I finished the piece shortly after publishing my previous post. Although the coiling and stitching part was finished, I still needed to attach it to the canvas. That's a job that I don't love because it demands more precision than I can usually manage. It came out OK. I stretched it as best as I could and then stappled it down to the canvas. I did learn a lesson which I'll share below.

Pink Turtlehead Flower

Now I need to add the hanging wire to the back - another of my least favourite parts. If I wasn't showing it, I would just leave it as is since I hang these light canvases on a thumb tack or small nail.

The piece will be for sale at the Fall Fibre Fling coming up this weekend. I'm not sure that I want it to sell, so I won't be sad if it doesn't...but if it does, I'll just have to make more 😁

Pink Turtlehead Flower reaching for the sky

Pink Turtlehead Flower among my favourite yard decorations

Pink Turtlehead Flower - photographed outside

Fall Fibre Fling 2025

What I learned

When I was putting the piece onto the canvas, I wish that I had cut the excess fabric a little. That would be best done while the piece is attached to the canvas with thumbtacks. It would probably have been a little more even.
I used the pinking sheers to trim the fabric. As I mentioned, from the back, it's not great but OK. At least it looks good from the front!
It would be nice to make a smaller landscape piece - this is what Julia, our teacher, was demonstrating. I have 5" and 6" embroidery hoops that would be perfect. I eventually plan to make the piece withing the hoop and then leave it there. It's really easy to paint the hoops if necessary - even I can handle that! 😀
This technique is perfect for travelling - all you need is enough strips, lots of thread, a background fabric (possibly in a hoop), scissors and needles. That's about as easy and compact as it gets!
I've also discovered another technique from TextileArtist.org's Stitch Club that I'm making obsessively - weaving on paper. Another easy, small technique with infinite possibilities. If you have Instagram, you can check out my first pieces here.

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 553 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was a very productive week! Thanks to everyone who linked up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting

Gwyned Trefethen is getting ready for her Open Studio tour. I'm sure that it's going to be wonderful! She has finished FMQ and squaring up her 2024 Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt. What an amazing finish! We're looking forward to seeing closeups once it's bound.

Gwyned's FMQ and squared off
2024 Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt

Kat of Scrapbox Quilts has finished a lovely panel wall hanging Kat FMQ lightly around and in all of the elements and borders without adding a filler in the cream background. We're also looking forward to seeing the complimentary runner!

Kat's Tossed Leaves wall hanging

Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting has been very productive with her lovely Christmas Cardinals wall hanging. She has also made more holiday runners. You'll want to check out her post.

Vicki's Christmas Cardinals panel wall hanging

Details of the quilting on Vicki's Christmas Cardinals

FMQ Turkey runner done by Vicki

Denise from Quiltery made two gorgeous bags ByAnnie. The large one was both quilted and then machine embroidered. Check out her post for more pictures and info!

Denise's lovely quilted and embroidered bags ByAnnie

Sandra Walker of mmm quilts shared with us her Tropical Twist quilt. It's a gorgeous finish and you'll want to check out her post for more yummy photos and closeups!

Sandra's lovely Tropical Twist

Details of Sandra's FMQ on her Tropical Twist quilt

It's now your turn!😊

Thursday, October 16, 2025

Hand-stitching and Appliqué

Hi and welcome 😊 I hope that everyone in Canada had a good Thanksgiving. The weather has gotten quite cooler - still cool but darn close to cold! It's difficult to predict the weather at this time of year, but I'm very happy that it's mostly sunny while I walk Poppy! 🐕

Hand-stitching Ode to the Goose

I've been working on this piece for a few months. It's been sitting on the side of the dining room table, waiting for me to have a few minutes to stitch. This is what it looked like this afternoon.

Ode to the Goose as of this afternoon

Ode to the Goose - so far

Last month I thought I had finished stitching the Canada goose. I showed it to JJ and they said that I probably didn't want to just fill in the head and the feet. They were right - so I've started filling in the body. That doesn't really bring me joy, so I'm working on everything else first!

The background of the piece is a vintage handkerchief with a narrow lace band. I added neutral scraps and started moving things around. Here was my first attempt. I take pictures because they seem to be more objective than looking at the piece.

Throwing a few things at the piece

It's at this point that I thought about the focus of the piece, which is the Canada goose. I removed what wasn't relevant and then using the tracing of a picture I took this summer, I stitched over the paper. It's not my favourite way of transferring an image but it was the best one since I was stitching over several different fabrics.

This August the Out-of-the-Box (OOTB) fibre artists met at a local park. I took many photos of the geese - I have never been that close to so many of them! There are other photos (see Related links) but this is the one who is the star of my Ode!

Star of Ode to the Goose

Stitching the goose following the image on the tracing paper

Starting to get there

This is what it looked like before my holidays.

Figuring out what to keep and what to stitch

This is the evolution of the piece so far. Until it's finished, anything can happen! 😁 On the bottom right, I've added the stems of bullrushes. I want them to be fluffy - so I'll have to figure that out. These are the kinds are challenges that I love!

The evolution of the piece - so far!

I'm still working on the Pink Turtlehead flower piece. It's almost done but I'll wait until it's finished to post it. You'll be seeing it next week, just before the Fall Fling Show. I'm also hoping to have Ode to the Goose done for the show. The handkerchief is 8" x 8" so I plan to hand quilt it a little and then mount it on a canvas. In theory it should work!🤞

A Fourth Bloomers Block

I'm following Denise's Bloomers Sew Along. I'm on my fourth block - I love it! I sort of made this one up from two different blocks.

Fourth block of Bloomers SAL

What I learned

I always find it daunting to start a new piece, especially if I'm not sure where I want to go with it.
As you saw, I went through my odds and ends and started playing around. I knew that it would be mostly neutral but I did want a bit of colour.
Once I started stitching the goose, it was easier to see where the piece should go. It wanted a pond, a path, and a sky with a cloud. From there, it was mostly playing with stiches.
There will be a lot of background stitching but I have to ensure that I don't overwhelm the goose - it's the star of the show!
After adding my photo to a linking party, I realized how much I need to stitch in the Canada Goose. Right now it's disappearing into the background (except for the black!) That should help motivate me 😉
I'm happy with my latest Bloomers block. I think that I'll need at least a couple more to make something interesting. I also want to experiment with EPP hexies soon!

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 553 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was a very productive week! Thanks so much for joining the party! Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.

Donnalee is in the Fall spirit and making a lovely falling leaves runner. What great fabric! Now we know why she wanted to keep the black pumpkins - that runner is really great!

Donnalee is finishing up a falling leaves runner

Donnalee's lovely pumpkins in black

Gwyned will be showing her Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2022, How Does Your Garden Grow?, during her upcoming Cohasset Open Studios.

How Does Your Garden Grow? by Gwyned

Kat from Scrapbox Quilts is making more Lil Bear Hug Quilts. She's quilting them using a mix of FMQ and walking foot. Here are a few - you'll want to check out her post to see them all!

Lovely Lil Bear Hug quilts, quilted by Kat

Walking foot work by Kat

Love that FMQ by Kat

Quilted by Kat - almost orange peels!

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts has a lovely new quilt on the cover of Quilter's World! Milo is a layer cake friendly quilt that was quilted with squiggly lines using the walking foot.

Details of Preeti's Milo quilt

Preeti's latest finish - Milo!

Gail from Quilting Gail made this amazing Switchback bag using a ByAnnie pattern. Gail quilted the fabric using the walking foot.

Gail's new Switchback bag

Brenda from Songbird Designs gave us a peek at the quilt she's making for her next blog hop project. Have a look at the pumpkin that she FMQ. We're looking forward to seeing this project soon!

Pumpkin FMQ by Brenda for an upcoming blog hop

Brenda also made a bag designed ByAnnie. It's the On the Go 2.0 Bag. She quilted it using a serpentine cross hatch using the walking foot. What a gorgeous and useful bag! You'll want to see the details of her bag on her post.

Brenda's On the Go 2.0 Bag

What eye candy! It's now your turn to share😊

Thursday, October 09, 2025

More of the Pink Turtlehead Flowers

Allô and welcome 😊 I hope that you've had a good week. In Ottawa, we had lots of sun, even humidity, but after yesterday's poring rain, fall seems to be here. It looks like the trees changed drastically overnight. 🍁 The cold to freezing night temperatures may have something to do with it. It's all very beautiful.

The pink turtlehead flowers art piece

Last week you saw the beginning of the pink turtlehead flowers art piece. I was able to work on it a little. I like it much better and it's coming along nicely. I'm even looking forward to my next piece using fabric coils. Here's what it looks like now.

Pink turtlehead flowers

Before it got dark outside, I pinned the fabric to the canvas and took some pictures outside. It makes such a difference in the colours. It was also good to see how it's coming along at the edges after being pinned to the canvas. As I had mentioned, I had used a running stitch to very loosely mark the sides. Now I'll be able to use this photo to ensure that the sides are nicely covered.

Here's another photo that I took of the pink turtlehead flowers while on another walk. I guess what I love about this flower is the contrast in the greens of the leaves and flower, and those gorgeous pink petals.

Pink turtlehead flowers

I don't have much more to share, so here is another photo of the art piece.

Pink turtlehead flowers - photo taken in the back yard

Last but not least, Poppy chilling on the couch as I work on the piece.

Poppy chilling

What I learned

Once I unstitched the coils from the top left side, it became obvious that I just needed to add more leaves to the piece.
I've been making the fabric coils as I watch TV - it's the perfect place to do these, now that it's cooler outside. When I stitch the coils onto the background fabric, I listen to a podcast or an audiobook.
I haven't had much time to work on this piece but it will be finished for the Out Of The Box (OOTB) Fibre Artist's Fall Fling sale.

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 552 of Free Motion Mavericks! Thanks for linking up. Since I missed a few weeks, I've decided to feature projects from the last two weeks that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. I'll start with the most recent.

Donnalee finished two lovely pumpkin placemats. Aren't they cute? We may be seeing a few more of these soon!

Donnalee's pumpkin placemat

Another of Donnalee's pumpkin placemat

Gwyned Trefethen has been busy learning how to use her new Bernina 990. She used it to embroider 3 practice pieces. She then put those pieces together to make a runner.

Gwyned's runner

Here is one of the practice blocks that she embroidered and then FMQ. She quilted around the leaves and flowers, then micro quilted in tiny loops.

Gwyned FMQ around the leaves and flowers
then micro quilted in tiny loops.

Kat of Scrapbox Quilts finished three lovely Lil bear hug quilts. The quilt tops were donated and she finished and then quilted them.

Quilted by Kat with a diagonal crosshatch

Quilted with a double diagonal crosshatch by Kat

Kat quilted this one with an overall spiral circle

Gail of Quilting Gail made this gorgeous quilt using Island Batik fabric line, Splish Splash. Gail "used Silly Moon’s 4″ Beanie to create the orange peel flowers in the neutral squares. Each short and each long strip was quilted differently" with rulers and FMQ. "There are swirls, loops, circles, feathers, flowers, hearts, squares, ribbons and many many more." You'll want to check out her post for the closeup photos.

Gail's quilt using Splish Splash fabric line

Closeup of the FMQ by Gail - as seen from the back

Melva took one of her first quilts from the cedar chest to place on the guest room bed. It was a cross-stitched wild rose quilt, made with 7 cross-stitched panels. Melva quilted it as a quilt-as-you-go, long before she knew what that was.