Quilting & Learning - What a Combo!: cubicle minis

Showing posts with label cubicle minis. Show all posts

Thursday, February 27, 2020

Finished Book Blocks

The Summer Book Club QAL may have finished a while back, but I just finished my last two book block minis. Better late than never - and I'm really happy with them. I think that they will look good in my colleagues' cubicles😊

Mon jardin mini

Patricia requested a garden scene on her book cover, something like the Garden and Pond mini that I finished last fall. There wasn't much room for a full garden but I wanted to put at least a couple of different plants.

Mon jardin

This week, while reading a quilting post, I got sucked into the rabbit hole that is the Internet and ended up at Dover Publications, the company that publishes, among other things, books of images that can be used in art pieces without copyright infringements.

I bought the ebook version of "400 floral motifs for designers, needleworkers, and craftspeople", from their Dover Pictorial Archive Series. This book has some really lovely and uncomplicated images of flowers that are perfect for free motion quilting (FMQ). I used some of their images for the daisies and the forget-me-not on the book cover.

Daisies and Forget-Me-Not

FMQ feathers in the border

I had almost completed Paula's book block (you can read more about it in the post listed in Related links below) but had no idea what to do with the border. I wanted to FMQ something but didn't want it to distract from the book. Finally I settled on FMQ feathers using Kimono Silk thread from Superior Threads. This matching, very fine thread was perfect for the border.

FMQ feathers in the border

Here it is! All finished 😊

Fantastical Book

What I learned

It was so much fun FMQ the borders and the flowers in the garden. The hardest part was deciding what design to use.
As usual, quilting with the silk thread was so lovely.
I'm so happy that I made the time to work on these. I can't wait to give them to my colleagues.
This was supposed to be my February One Monthly Goal (OMG) but I forgot to link up! So, unofficially they are my February OMG😊
Although they are not part of my PHD list, these are two UFOs from last year, so I believe that I finally have two finishes. YEAH!

What's on this week

My next deadline, March 30, is for submissions to FibreFling, the annual show and sale for Out of the Box (OOTB) Fibre Artists group. We are able to exhibit 4 pieces, that were not shown at other OOTB shows. I have a few pieces that I've done since the last show, but I would like to finish my first Exit Strategy piece. I haven't worked on it since my January 5 post - so it's time! My goal is to work on it this weekend and write a post with an update as my March OMG.

Monday, July 01, 2019

Relaxing and Playing

With its deadlines and general busyness, June was a pretty difficult month. I'm glad that the rush is over, but I'm sorry to see spring come to an end. I just love the cool weather and the beautiful early flowers - now it looks like the heat and humidity is back! Oh well, if I can't play in the garden, I'll just have to play indoors with my fabrics 😊

Playing with hexies and embroidery

I've finally taken a little bit of time to add to my embroidery. I'm not even keeping track of the Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) since I won't be catching up anytime soon. But who says that it needs to be done in one year? Certainly not our host, Sharon of Pintangle. I really appreciate her posts laid back attitude, and encouragement.

Page 3 - Buttonhole wheel stitch

I love how there buttonhole wheels play so well with each other. It almost looks like they belongs in the sea. This was my One Thing With Amy post last week on Instagram. I did get it done - now I have to remember to actually post it!

Buttonhole Wheels (week 13)

Page 4 - Feather stitch (in progress)

I started this page this morning, while enjoying my coffee in the back yard. I'm going to play with variations of the Feather stitch.

Feather stitch (week 5) in progress

Page 2 - Herringbone stitch

After not knowing how to proceed with Page 1, I decided to add some hexies to break up the stitching and add a focus to the page. This page contains different sizes of herringbone stitches.

Herringbone stitches (week 6)

Page 1 - Chain stitch

The Chain stitch page may not be pretty but it sure holds many types of chain stitches. There is the Chain stitch (week 1), the Detached Chain stitch (week 7), the Cable Chain stitch (week 14), and the Butterfly Chain stitch (week 15).

All kinds of Chain stitches

Important Notice! I just found out that #100hexies100days2019 has already started on Instagram. I just love looking at everyone's very artfully arranged hexies. It's so much fun. Anyway, I'll be joining in once a week and will write a couple of posts during the event!

Summer Book Club Quilt-Along

I'm participating in the Summer Book Club QAL on Instagram with Kate Basti of Quilt with Kate. I'm only on my second book but it's a really cute foundation paper pieced pattern called Tall Tales. It's very affordable and all proceeds from this pattern benefit the Columbus Literacy Council.

I really love seeing everyone's books on Instagram. They are so lovely.

Here are my two books so far. Instead of making a quilt, I'm making minis (of course!) Most of these will be cubicle minis for my colleagues, friends and family 😊 and the bonus is that these are great to practice FMQ.

This first book was made because it was the first cute fabric that I found.

Bambi book inspired by the fabric

FMQ flowers

"The Earth is Not Flat" book for my son

This second book was made for my son, the science guy in our family. I was going to call it "The Earth is No Longer Flat", but I knew that there wouldn't be enough space on the book spine and of course my son would have argued that the Earth was never flat - and I certainly didn't have space for "The Earth is No Longer Perceived as Flat!" :-)

FMQ stars and planets

One Monthly Goal (OMG) for July

My OMG for July is to finish the quilt top from last year's Kingfisher Stitch-Along,

What I learned

It's good to be playing around with quilting and FMQ.
You may have noticed that I join a lot of quilt-alongs and such but often don't get much done. I ~~really like~~ love to try new things and as long as I keep my expectations small (like minis and occasional posts) then I feel that I've gotten a lot out of them. Each activity, hosted by dedicated people, has lots to offer. I appreciate all of the work that goes into organising these events.
For all of the events that I do participate in, there are many more that I bypass. I'm finally getting to know what I'll enjoy doing and what will end up being just one more obligation....she can learn!

Happy Canada Day!

Saturday, April 06, 2019

Moose Cubicle Mini Quilt

It's a cubicle mini - a little late because I didn't finish on time for the March One Monthly Goal (OMG) but not too late since my son is still working in his cubicle 😊

Moose Cubicle Mini

I've made a few foundation paper pieced minis using Made by Marney's patterns. This is the latest.

A Moose for you

Since I added a border to the mini, I actually remembered to used the Extended-border binding technique. It really worked out well. I stitched in the ditch around the border and then free motion quilted (FMQ) the mini, up to the border. I then flipped the border towards the mini and cut the batting and backing about one inch from the sewn edge of the border.

Cutting the batting and backing

I had ironed the binding so that I knew where to trim the batting and backing. At the bottom of the image below, you can see that the batting reaches to the border (if it's laid flat). Once the batting and backing were trimmed, I flipped the mini over and hand-stitched the border to the back, as if it was a binding. For more details see the link to the tutorial in the Related links below.

The border will cover the back, as if it was a binding.

Here is the mini from the back. The backing and batting have been cut and it's now time to fold the borders over them.

Getting ready to sew down the border

A moose for you

What I learned

I used a different fabric for the bottom of the mini since I wanted it to look like vegetation. Next time, I think that I'll just add an extra piece between the sky and the bottom so that the vegetation doesn't go all the way up to the antlers.
After trimming the batting and backing, I realised that the moose's antlers were not very visible, so I added some FMQ.
Preparing the extended-border was much easier this time than the last.
I used a quilting marking pencil that turned out to not be erasable! I got rid of it, but not before making a mark that won't go away!
I could have made it on time for the March OMG (barely) except that I didn't have two small matching buttons in all of my button stash!
As much as I love linking up to OMG, I'm going to give myself a break this month - I really need to just go with the flow for a while :-)

Thursday, August 02, 2018

Throwback Thursday - cubicle minis

It's Throwback Thursday again at mmm! quilts. You may have seen Sandra's announcement that I will be helping her host the October and December edition of Throwback Thursday. I'm very excited because I love hosting and Sandra is wonderful :-)

Cubicle Minis

From 2009 to 2012, roughly when I first started quilting, I worked on assignment at another department. It was a great opportunity in which I learned a lot and met some wonderful people.

I didn't post any of these minis, but I would have started making them about a year before I started the Quilting & Learning - What a Combo! blog and finished them in my first year of blogging.

It all started with a doll quilt that I made for a colleague's daughter (which I never took a picture of). After that I decided to make a little something for a few of my colleague's cubicles. These three are the ones that I have pictures of.

Roses and butterflies was made for Sharon. She's an ex-librarian and a real sweetheart. I used some of my favourite fabric to make this. I embroidered the bird and butterfly and appliqued the two roses from another fabric in that line. I then added chunky jewelry for some interest. I'm glad that I still occasionally see Sharon at information management (IM) meetings.

Butterflies and Roses for Sharon

I made this for Kara - she was a funny, vivacious person who lost her battle with cancer a few years ago. I don't remember where I got the pattern for this block, except that it was part of a larger quilt that I adapted. The flower was appliqued and I think the stem was couched.

I also made a quilt for her son. I did post that one. If you're interested in seeing it, the link is in the Related links section below.

Funky Daisies for Kara

This mini is the last one I made before finishing my assignment. It was for my funny, charismatic and kind boss, Karl. We all called him "Patron". You can see in this quilt his love of music, mustaches and retro. I added the VW beetles for something retro but I remember that he loved retro appliances in particular. Again, I'm always glad to see Karl at our IM meetings.

Patron mini for Karl

What I learned

I remember making Sharon's mini quilt. I had a few fat quarters from a fabric line that was just perfect for Sharon. Unfortunately I used the loveliest one for the backing. I still remember that lesson! That's why I appliqued a couple of the roses to the front.
I think that the first two minis were hand quilted while Karl's mini looks machine quilted. I would probably have used a walking foot.