Showing posts with label Bloomers Sew Along. Show all posts

Thursday, July 23, 2026

Getting Things Done and I Quilted This!

Bonjour and welcome 😊 It's been a very busy time here, and not all quilting related. I am happy to say that I did manage to get many things done (but it's never as much as I'd like!) I took a road trip with Lise this week to Almonte. It wasn't as we planned but it was awesome and good to get away and spend time together. I bought some antique lace that I hope to use for art, hopefully soon 😍. Let's get on with it, since it's already Thursday!

Blue Skies in the Rainbow Neighbourhood

After fixing an oops last week, I wanted to quilt something substantial on the Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt, so it was blue skies time. It wasn't without its minor frustrations but the top third of the sky is done. After considering my options, I went with a wave/meander. That's a good thing because my Jag really didn't want to play nice with the Bottom Line thread. I'm not sure that I could have FMQ anything more intricate.

Yellow house with FMQ blue sky

Blue house with FMQ blue sky

Orange house with FMQ blue sky

I'm sorry for the quality of the pictures. Soon we'll have the whole thing photographed in great light (when it's done!)

Summer Hexie Sew Along

I've been making more hexies for the Summer Hexie Sew Along with Mad About Patchwork. I'm not exactly following the order of making thing but close enough! Here they are so far. I really wanted to see if the fabric I had chosen would play well together. I would say that they do! 😁

Three single and two double flowers

I've got many more hexies prepped to stitch together so it is coming along well.

Bloomers Sew Along

I remembered that I wanted to sew more hexie flowers for the Bloomers SAL. I've prepared two more batik hexies but haven't stitched them to the pink backgrounds yet. Here are the five hexies and the flower blocks beneath them. They are hanging on my design wall, to which I added extra side panels so that I can hang wider projects.

Five Bloomer blocks with hexies

I'll be finishing two more hexies to attach to the other blocks. I still need to make one more flower block since it's easier to make the wall hanging with 8 blocks than 7.

Mémère's Placemat

I've been stitching while watching videos. Here is what I've added to my grandmother's placemat.

Feather stitches

Variations on the blanket stitch

I'm not in love with the blanket stitches but not sure I'll be ripping them out, It'll depend on my mood the next time I work on it. At least perle cotton is easier to rip out than floss!

Plans for the rest of July

Finish FMQ the Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt

First row: finish grass and details in the yards and houses
Second row: finish sky, pond/park and the last house
Third row: finish night sky, yards and house details

Make the teal house for the Quilter's Cove QAL
Make the Blue Jays appliqué and attach it to the t-shirt
Continue sewing together hexie flowers

What I learned

About that oops moment - I managed to quilt the batting to the backing when first quilting the orange house. I was hoping to just remove the batting without the stitches but the area was too large. So I removed the stitches and batting and re-quilted the side roof. It all went well, just time consuming.
Except for having problems with the white thread, I've been quilting with cotton and polyester thread without issues. I wanted to FMQ the sky without it standing out as much so I used a lovely Bottom Line light blue. I switched needles hoping it would help, but it didn't. I'm surprised that I've been quite patient, stopping when the thread misbehaves, removing it and then continuing. I have noticed that if I slow down, it happens less, so that's what I'm doing.
It's so weird since I wasn't able to use cotton thread to FQM my son's quilt but now it's the opposite. We'll call it a temperamental Jag moment and get on with it. I only have part of the second row of sky to FMQ. I'll switch to a cotton thread for the night sky.😁
I'm having so much fun sewing my hexies now that I've found the right fabric. It's lovely to sew them when I don't have the energy to FMQ.
There are 5 double flowers to make, three clusters of four flowers and then two clusters of three flowers. That's doable by mid August.
I'm really happy with the hexies for my Bloomers SAL but I'm going to try to wait until the Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt is finished before making the last flower block and sewing everything together.

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 😊.

Kat from Scrapbox Quilts used blocks from her parts department (orphan blocks) to make two Lil Bear Hugs quilts. They're so cute! There is also another potato chip block quilt. Some kids are going to be thrilled! Kat quilted these in different ways - you can see that more from the backing.

Orange & teal Lil Bear Hug quilt by Kat

Teal & orange Lil Bear Hug quilt by Kat

Potato Chip Lil Bear Hug quilt by Kat

Terry of On Going Projects finished FQM her Sashiko project. You'll want to head over there to read all about it!

Terry's Sashiko rose project

Here are Terry's lovely FMQ details

Diann from Little Penguins Quilts is working on her Quilt-as-you-go (QAYG) patchwork hearts project. There is always lots to figure out in a QAYG. You may want to read Diann's post to see what needed to be done!

Diann's lovely QAYG patchwork hearts

Sandra of mmm quilts released her Diamond Baby quilt pattern and made another version using primary colours, which she called Bright Spark. Check out her post for more details and the pattern.

Bright Spark by Sandra

Gwyned Trefethen's quilt, How does your garden grow?, will be on exhibition with the South Shore Art Center next month. This is an opportunity to see this beauty in person.

Gwyned's How does your garden grow? quilt

Margo at MY Quilts and Crafts spent a long time figuring out how to quilt her latest denim quilt. It looks like it's coming along. Here's a peek at the quilting so far.

Margo is finally quilting her latest denim quilt

It's now your turn 😍

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Another Week Already? and I Quilted This!

Bonjour and welcome 😊 I'm surprised that another week is over! It was a very busy weekend with Father's Day, my son's birthday, National Indigenous Peoples Day and the Summer Solstice. We celebrated and it was awesome!😀

More FMQ Houses

I have more quilted houses to share with you. As you can see in the first image, I had the purplish pink thread out. I still have the blue star block side to stitch.

Pink house quilted

Pink house at night quilted, along with the lawn and walkway

Lawns and flowers have been quilted on two of the night houses

I took out a lighter green thread and started FMQ more of the yards. Below is a reminder of what the quilt looks like. I've now quilted houses 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 except for the rooves. The front of house 4 is quilted and most of the lawns and yards of the first three houses, as well as those of 6 and 7 are quilted.

There are small details on most houses that still need to be FMQ, like windows and doors but that will come as I keep quilting.

A reminder of what needs to be quilted on the Rainbow Neighbourhood Quilt

June's OMG

Finishing the stitch-in-the-ditch for the Rainbow Neighbourhood Quilt was my June OMG. I've done most of the stitch-in-the-ditch and then went on to FMQ 6 of the 8 houses. Yay for me! 😎

July's OMG

Sorry to be re-using this post to link up to July's One Monthly Goal. The Rainbow Neighbourhood Quilt needs to be finished by July 31st to be gifted the next day 😍 It's going to happen.

Slow Stitching

I couldn't help it, I joined the Summer Hexie Sew Along with Mad About Patchwork - a store located on the outskirts of Ottawa.

Wednesday I spent most of the day outside in the backyard. It was pure retirement heaven.

Stitching hexies (EPP) outside

Bloomers with hexie

I haven't decided yet what fabric I'll be using to make the hexie flower ring. I tend to go scrappy but maybe my scraps could match in style or colour? They have to be different, otherwise I'll get bored...and we can't have that!😁

While I'm playing with hexies, I'll keep making hexie flowers for the Bloomers SAL that I started last year with the Quiltery. I have two hexie flowers made. Here's one of them.

What I learned

The FMQ of the houses and yards is going well. In one stitching session I can get a house and a little more done.
I'm really trying to keep the FMQ simple since I want to get it done! I just can't help it though. It's impossible for me to use an all-over design on a quilt that has so many different fun elements. That is why I learned to FMQ 😍
It looks like the rain will be back tomorrow afternoon, so I'm going to try to spend the morning outside. At the very least I can have my first cup of coffee there 😊
I'll be preparing a bag for my hexies so that I can easily take them with me.
This weekend is the last one for June. That means that I'll be hosting the Quilter's Cover QAL on Saturday. I've got and idea, fabric and an initial layout. Wish me luck!

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.

Terry of On Going Projects finished quilting her Kaffe Challenge for her guild. The quilt, Dash is quilted using a meander in the colourful Kaffe fabric and arch lines in the solid dashes.

Terry's Dash quilt for a guild Kaffe Challenge

Lots of texture in Terry's Dash quilt

A quilter at Based on a True Story has finished a gorgeous baby quilt after finally getting a machine that quilts properly! I'm so glad that she's back on her quilting journey. Her Dogs in Sweaters quilt was quilted with paw prints and squiggles, and Dachshunds on the sweaters.

Dogs in Sweaters Quilt

Gwyned Trefethen has had to slow down while her Bernina is in the shop. We can all sympathize. Since she had to slow down, she experimented FMQ a tulip appliqué.

Gwyned's experimenting with FMQ a tulip appliqué

Melva from Melva Loves Scraps is doing a 100 days challenge. She is doing all kinds of creative projects and one of them is making hearts that she will then embellish and give away.

Melva's quilted hearts to be embellished and given away

Brenda from Songbird Designs entered her quilts in her guild's quilt show. Wow! They were both amazing! Her Peaceful Village at Sunshine Coast won two ribbons. We've seen the quilt in progress and now we see it in all of its glory!

Brenda's Peaceful Village at Sunshine Cove

Brenda's Sedona Starburst (and Miss M)

Kate from Life in Pieces finished her lovely Chilhowie quilt, a 2022 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt. She quilted it on her domestic machine with her walking foot using diagonal lines across the centre and straight lines in the border.

Kate's Chilhowie quilt finished on her domestic

Kate's Chilhowie quilt quilted with a walking foot

Sandra from mmm quilts made a third version of her Lyra pattern for her quilt along. It's called Arabian Nights and it's stunning! You may also want to check out the Lyra Quilt Along parade.

Sandra's third version of her Lyra quilt - Arabian Nights

It's now your turn 😍

Wednesday, December 24, 2025

Bloomers and Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays

Hi and welcome! 🎄🎅 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! I'm thrilled that you've taken the time to drop by and read this post. Today is Christmas eve and I know that many people start their celebrations tonight. To my family in Denmark, Glaedelig Jul!

Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays

Christmas/Winter door hanging (2015)

Bloomers SAL

Today is the last day to share our progress on the Bloomers Sew Along. Thanks so much Denise for creating this fun event. It looks like even if we had two weeks to make each panel, it wasn't enough....I suspect that for me, it's never enough!😁

Here it is! I finished 7 panels.

Seven panels of the Bloomers Sew Along

These are the three panels that I finished last night.

The fabric for these flowers were donated by my darling DIL. I once told her that when she was finished with her blouse, to please give it to me. I thought that I would get it in a couple of years, but last year, she gave it to me. 😍Isn't she a sweetheart?

Made from darling DIL's blouse!

This panel was made with batik scraps but I had heard that you can use FMQ to zigzag. I can attest that it's doable, but I would need lots of practice. The stitching is not great, but it's fine when not examined too closely. 😁

Not so great FMQ zigzag experiment

I made the cute bird house panel. I'm hoping to add a bird or two in there. I embroidered it last night but I still have to stitch down the appliqué, with a regular zig zag.😉

Bird house panel

Plans, goals & dreams for 2026 linking party

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, there doesn't seem to be a linking party for 2026's plans - so I'll be hosting one. The party begins December 30th and ends January 10th. Hopefully that's enough time to figure something out! 😀 Check out yesterday's post for details.

Linking party

What I learned

I enjoyed participating in the Bloomers Sew Along. I did try out a few techniques to make my flowers so I hope that it'll look cohesive enough.
I will do one more panel and then figure out how I want to finish it. I really love the hexies so it will probably include those.
I suspect that more time for a Sew Along doesn't make much difference - I'm not likely to finish anything within the time limit!
So, you can use the zigzag stitch while FMQ. The only reason that it might be worth getting good at this, is that you can see so much better when you're using the darning foot. I even tried to do a regular zigzag stitch but using the darning foot. It wasn't any better. I'll have to practice and figure something out so that I can do better appliqués.
Do you like the photo that I used for the button for the Plans, goals & dreams for 2026 linking party? I got to sit in a window seat on my way back from Copenhagen and saw the most amazing sun rise. I will eventually do some kind of art work from the photos. They are all amazing!

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 563 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was a VERY productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts has another published quilt, this one in American Quilter. This lovely quilt is Trillium Trail.