Back on Track

My sewing machine is back and I'm on a role! I've spent a good part of my week on holidays quilting. I had really missed doing free motion quilting (FMQ). The good news - my girlfriend's baby quilt is done, only a year later!

Here are some pictures to remind you of the project. It's a Row House Creations pattern called Fox in a Box. You can read more about it in this June post.

At the very beginning, cutting the fabric

Chevy overseeing the project

All the Appliqué is done

This is where I left off at the end of June. The quilting didn't get done as quickly as I expected since I had to take my sewing machine in for a tune up. 

The first thing I worked on when I got my machine back was William's quilt. As much as I didn't really enjoy making it (nothing to do with the pattern, just my preferences), it really is a lovely quilt.

Fox in a Box

Here's where I started having fun!

Race car 

This first FMQ design is the race car. Follow the links under the images to Lori Kennedy's tutorials.

Baby Bird with a variation of Modern Leaf  

In the empty square, I FMQ Lori's baby bird with some branches and fruit.

Kite, an apple with a worm and a house

The tree is FMQ. At the top there is a kite and a flower; at the bottom, an apple with a worm and a house.

The back of the tree block

Here is what the same tree block looks like in the back!

Quilted, washed and ready to go!

What I learned:

• The best part of the project was the FMQ I did once I finished stitching-in-the-ditch. I had a blast quilting interesting designs that would appeal to a child. There is a bird, sail boats, a fish, an apple with a worm, a sun, a kite, a car and a couple of flowers. 
• Many of the designs are based on The Inbox Jaunt's Free Motion Quilt Tutorials by Lori Kennedy. Thanks Lori!
• Although I have three large quilts to make with deadlines in the next three months, I`m going to have to make time to play with FMQ. 

I have linked to the following Linky Parties. See what others are working on!
Can I get a Whoop Whoop?  Off the Wall Friday, MOP Monday, Fabric Frenzy Friday, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Fabric Tuesday, Linky Tuesday, Free Motion Maverick.

What a treat - this post was featured on Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story! Have a peak...

Another Baby Quilt

Fox in a Box by Row House Creations

Last week I made a baby quilt. It was easy since I designed it to include the things I love; some colour, very few blocks made from foundation paper piecing and a lot of FMQ.

However, I have a quilt that I've promised to make for my friend Sonya. Since I made her two other babies a quilt, I had to make one for the third child. I had seen a beautiful quilt at the show-and-tell part of our Guild meeting. I googled for a baby quilt with foxes and sure enough, found the pattern. It's a Row House Creations pattern, called Fox in a Box. Sonya loved it so I ordered it.

All the triangle and background pieces cut out

It took me a few months to find the right fabrics and then a day to cut the fabric. Cutting fabric for the whole project is not something I usually do. I generally cut my pieces as I go along but I knew that everything needed to be cut before I started.

I slowly worked on the piecing, but I didn't get far. It's a good thing that I took it with me at the quilting retreat. I was able to piece most of the various geese blocks there. Unfortunately I didn't work on it when I got back to home and reality.

The last two weeks have been incredibly productive (quilting wise - nothing else!), and after finishing a totally unplanned baby quilt, I started feeling very guilty about not finishing the Fox in the Box quilt. I think William will be one year old soon - it's past due!

The background is almost done - while Chevy supervises!

Here are the boxes, without borders or appliqué. There was no way Chevy was letting me take this picture without her. She wanted attention since I've been quilting too much!

Ready to sew on the appliqué

The next day, the foxes and tree are ready to be appliquéd. Some minor glitches in putting the foxes together, but it all worked out. Last night I finished appliquéing all of the pieces. It just needs to be sandwiched, basted and then FMQ. Should be ready in a week or so!

What I learned:

• When picking out a pattern, I need to work more to my strengths - that means less piecing and minimal appliqué. I hope I remember this when I'm caught up in the beauty of the quilt pattern!
• It turns out that I didn't place a couple of the large square-triangles in the right spots. My son noticed it right away, but only after it was all sewn together. I could call it creative design or rather a sign of my human imperfection. I can definitely live with that.
• I was very careful about cutting the appliqué pieces correctly, although they are on solid fabric, so it wouldn't have made a difference. What I wasn't careful about, however, was placing the fusible webbing on the correct side of the pieces. Oops! The placement of the foxes isn't the same as the pattern, but really, it worked out fine. This one I'll call a creative design :-)

I'll be joining up a few quilty parties. Check out what everyone is doing!
Design Board Monday, Fabric Tuesday, Freemotion by the River, Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social, Main Crush Monday! Needle and Thread Thursday, Fabric Frenzy Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop! and Off the Wall Friday

Quilting in the Bush

The view from our sewing room

I've spent the last four days quilting in the bush, at a retreat with friends. It's been fabulous. It's only about an hour from home. I took 3 vacation days and am spending 5 days quilting. In that time, I prepared one meal. We each make one of the meals for Thursday to Saturday. On Sunday we eat leftovers and then leave in the early afternoon.

Some of the ladies are energetic and take daily walks - not easy since the area is full of hills. It's also black fly season - and I'm considered a delicacy, so I've mostly stayed indoors except for a few photo shoots and to put my feet into the river:-)

Wednesday
My first day was productive. I finished a batik lap quilt top that I had started a year ago, and I put the sashing and borders on my Applique Inside the Lines UFO.

Batik Lap Quilt Top

I was so impressed with the first batik lap quilt I made that I bought more Charm Packs to make some quick gifts. I couldn't understand why I didn't have enough charm squares (5") to make this quilt until I read my original blog post - it takes 3 packages and I only bought 2! I was able to add more squares from my stash. Hopefully they will behave when the quilt gets washed since you can't pre-wash pre-cuts.

For this quilt, I used 2 packages of North Country Trail Batiks Charm Pack by Holly Taylor for Moda.

North Country Trail
Batiks Charm Pack 

The Leaves project is from the book, Applique Inside the Lines by Carol Armstrong. I've actually written about this project in a couple of posts. In the March 2014 post, I wrote about embroidering the first red leaf at work during my lunch break. I finished the last of the three leaves in June 2014 while embroidering in the car on a road trip...and the finished leaves sat in a pretty project bag until this week.

When I looked in my stash for sashing and border fabric, I quickly decided on a beautiful batik of green, blue, gold and red in a cathedral windows print. Unfortunately this image doesn't do it justice. I hope that the final picture when it's done (not 4 years from now!) will be better.

The Leaves with sashing and a border

Thursday
It spent part of the morning making lunch and then tried to start on a Sew Together Bag. I was obviously not in the right head-space because every piece of fabric I cut was wrong! You may know that I really don't like measuring and following a pattern, so I can't say that I was surprised but I am better at it some days that others.

Background of the landscape art quilt

Finally I broke down and started a new landscape art quilt. I was really hoping to only work on WIPs this week, but everything I brought require measuring and following instructions. Fortunately I had brought a dozen solid Kona fat quarters with me. I decided to cut strips, between 1 and 2 inches and see what I could do. While looking at the results one of my retreat buddies suggested that the dark brown could be a dock. That's when the project fell into place.

Here's what it looks like after a couple of days of playing with it. I've only pieced the bottom section, but this will be the background to the landscape art quilt, very loosely based on the view from our quilting room.

I will piece all of the strips together and then add fabric details to the background. There's not much of a sky in the picture but since it's one of my favourite parts of a landscape art quilt, I decided to add one. I have a lot of time to change my mind about all of this, but this is the first rough sketch.

Inspiration for my next Landscape Art Quilt

Fox in a Box

Friday
It took me 2 days to finally start relaxing. I worked on another WIP (Work in Progress). This is for my good friend Sonya's third child. I've posted about Alexandre's quilt but I can't find any mention of Charlotte's quilt. I'll show all three once I finish this one. I've almost finished piecing the flying geese blocks. I still have a way to go but I'm now encouraged to finish it - so there's hope that William will get it before his first birthday, maybe!

What I've learned

• I know that I can measure, cut and follow instructions - but my ability to do so is much better when I'm well rested.
• It would seem that I can't stay away from creating new landscape art quilts. Next time I go to a retreat, I'll make sure to pack for one!
• Thursday night I couldn't sleep, so I came down and sewed a bunch of scraps together. It was very relaxing and I slept well after that (and a peanut butter, honey and banana sandwich).
• It's been great to be able to spend time writing this post. Now it's time to get back to my projects.

Do you get a chance to get away to quilt with buddies? Tell us about it in the comments section.

Check out the many quilty projects: Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story, Main Crush Monday, Freemotion by the River, Let's Bee Social and Fabric Frenzy Friday.