"Enjoying Alaska" on Free Motion Mavericks

Hi and welcome. It's been a busy and very hot week here. Other than taking Poppy out for short walks, I've been staying indoors (estivating) where it's cool. When there is humidex in the middle of the night, you know that it's hot!😓😎 

"Enjoying Alaska"

I started this piece during my holidays in Alaska. It's always tricky making something other than a scrappy quilt when travelling because odds are, you don't have all of the fabrics you need. I did use a batik that I bought in Alaska that worked beautifully, but the second one, not so much. Since I'm always up to a challenge, I thought that I could make it work. Maybe you'll think that I did, but I decided that I didn't like it and changed it this morning - that's why this post is later than usual!

"Enjoying Alaska" 

Here is the photo that I used as inspiration. The water and the forested hills were simple enough to do, but those snow-covered mountains gave me a really hard time - mostly because of the fabric I used as background.

A lovely view of the mountains from the ship

Here are a few pictures of the evolution of the piece. I cut and pinned all of the fabrics onto a white background. I really hoped to transform that lovely print into a mountain. I did stitch all over it but I'm not sure that I succeeded. 

Original fabrics - starting to stitch

When I got home, I zig-zag stitched around the green fabrics.

Slowly creating the mountains

Mountains almost done

I got to this point last night and I didn't like it. It's not bad but I'm not a fan of those long embroidery stitches. I slept on it and still wasn't happy with it this morning, so I took out some of my hand-dyed gray fabric and stitched over the snow-covered mountain.

My first attempt at the snow-covered mountain

I covered the mountain with the gray fabric and then added some hand-dyed green fabric at the bottom. I FMQ the snow-covered mountain with gray thread, then used three different green thread to stitch over the green fabric. I blended the areas between the gray and the green.

Final stitching of the snow covered mountain.

It's pretty amazing how many hours it took me to stitch the original snow-covered mountain and then only about 2 hours to cover it up and FMQ it.

To finish off the piece, I added some facing. I used fabric that my girlfriend had brought me from Alaska last year to face the top and bottom. I faced the sides with strips of fabric and then placed the top and bottom fabrics to cover the back. 

Making the facing with different fabric.

I hand-stitched the top and back fabrics at the sides. I didn't stitch the two fabrics together since they are both finished and you can peak between them to see the original back of the piece.

Back of the piece with the batik fabric showing

A glamour shot against the rocks

"Enjoying Alaska" among the flowers

What I learned

• It's important to challenge myself. 
• Challenges are easier when they're made of fabric - you can always remove or cover them up if you change your mind 😊
• I like the thought that there's a secret, more primal mountain below the gray layer of the snow-covered one that we see. 
• There are several textile artists who use those large stitches, They make lovely art, but for some reason, it's just not my thing.
• I love the contrast of texture between the hand-stitching and the free motion quilting. It's great to be able to use both in a piece.

Related links

• Alaska and a Quilt Show on Free Motion Mavericks, June 14, 2024

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Why not check some of them out, after you've linked up below! Sew & Tell, Put your foot down, Needle & Thread Thursday, TGIFF, Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Midweek Makers, Beauties Pageant, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2024, Oh Scrap!, Off The Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, 

Project details

"Enjoying Alaska"

based on a picture taken off the coast of Alaska

Material: commercial cotton scraps, Alaska batik and hand-dyed fabric.

Techniques: hand-stitching, machine stitching, free motion quilting

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 492 of Free Motion Mavericks! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. 

Gretchen finished the largest of her quilts. It's a beauty called Dots & Dashes that she quilted-in-the-ditch.

Gretchen's  Dots & Dashes 

Kat from Scrapbox Quilts finished a UFO into a lovely dresser scarf. This was part of a FMQ whole cloth row by row designed by Jeanne Harrison in 2019. I checked out Jeanne's YouTube channel - there are a lot of gems there. Thank Kat for introducing me to Jeanne's work.

This whole cloth FMQ dresser scarf was designed by Jeanne Harrison and made by Kat

Details of the dresser scarf 

It's now your turn 😍

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Final update on Traveller's Blanket

Hi! This is my last update on my Traveller's Blanket because the next time you see it, it will be done 😊 

Background stitching (quilting!)

It's been a long time in the making, but my Traveller's Blanket is nearly finished. Just a few more hours of stitching (or quilting). After that comes the difficult part - squaring it off, somehow binding it (or maybe a facing) and finally a sleeve to hang it up.

Traveller's Blanket - just a little more quilting 😊
Click on the image for a close up

This will be my second finished piece for an exhibition by Fibre 15 that will be held in June at the artPontiac Stone School Gallery in Shawville, Quebec. You'll be hearing more about it as I get my pieces ready!

Here are more details of the stitching.

The right side of the blanket was finished first

The middle of the blanket is mostly stitched

The left side of the blanket still needs stitching.

As  you can see, my stitching is rather organic. I hesitate to call it quilting, even if technically it is, because my stitches are not remotely even, or spaced or the same colour, so organic! 😊

Here are a few pictures of the stitching process. Mostly I echo stitched around the shapes but every once in a while I needed to shake it up! Since this block had lots of triangles, I used a chalk pencil to mark triangular stitching lines.

Marking stitching lines

Stitching a triangular pattern around the block

I radiated the stitching from this hexie.

Radiating stitches

What I learned

• It's been a long process but I've loved most of it.
• When I start changing my stitching pattern, it's because I'm bored! 
• I love that the stitching is a big part of the piece by adding texture and colour without overwhelming it.
• I'm nervous about blocking it because I know that my piece isn't square. I will probably have to re-stitch a bit of it, but I plan to mark it first and then undo the stitching so that they can be properly knotted. 
• I will also have to strengthen some of my original stitching. A couple of the hexies are coming off, as well a the sea shells. Once I finish handling it so much, I'll check and secure all of these.
• If all goes well, this piece will be finished by the end of March.😊 
• In Related links below, I've added the links to my posts - from making the meditation blocks to working on the Traveller's Blanket.

Related links

• Stitching the background (quilting!)
• Traveller's Blanket Update, December 6, 2021
• Attaching the meditation blocks onto the blanket
• Updates on Slow Stitching projects, October 11, 2021
• Update on my Traveller's Blanket, September 28, 2021
• More learning with the Traveller's Blanket, May 19, 20920
• Making the meditation blocks
• More slow stitching, meditation style, January 19, 2020
• ArtPontiac

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. I hope that you'll check these out. Remember that Muv is hosting Free Motion Mavericks this weekend, so go link up - I did! Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Finished or Not Finished Friday, Peacock Party, Patchwork & Quilts, Slow Sunday Stitching, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2022, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, 

Traveller's Blanket Update

I've been doing a lot of slow stitching, mostly on my Traveller's Blanket and then posting on Instagram. There have been lots and lots of hours pleasantly spent stitching and now quilting it.

Quilting the Traveller's Blanket

The last update on my Traveller's Blanket was October 11, 2021. I was showing you my daily stitching on the #100dayschallenge on Instagram. At the time I was up to day 37/100. On Day 39, I started quilting the background of the right top corner of the piece. This picture was taken about a week ago.

Slowly quilting around each piece 

Here is a close-up that was taken a few days after.

Stitched top-right corner

I'm doing all of the quilting with sewing or quilting thread. Most of them are King Tut Superior variegated thread. I love the look of it although you can mostly see the changes in colour when you're up-close.

It turns out that I have lots of this type of thread 😊

At one point I got bored of making straight-ish lines, so I quilted a swirl. Because the centre was puffing up, I added a few French Knots. 

A quilted swirl and French Knots

Right now I'm working beneath the hexie, which is at the right bottom corner of the piece. 

Stitching the bottom right corner

Here is the difference between looking at the thread colour from the front of the hand-dyed fabric, vs the back of the quilt on white fabric. The pictures above and below were today's (Day 64/100) Instagram post.

This is the back of the blanket, with the
variegated thread against the white background

What I learned

• I'm really enjoying the quilting part and I usually listen to an audiobook at the same time. Last week I listened to many of them. It was very Zen.
• Of course I did get bored and did some stitching in a swirl. It went well but since there is so much going on in the piece, I don't think that I should do that too often. 😊
• It's also difficult to post just plain stitching on Instagram so I try to include the shapes around it. They are quite popular - it must be all that yummy colour :-)

Related links

• Updates on Slow Stitching projects, October 11, 2021
• Update on my Traveller's Blanket, September 28, 2021
• Quilting & Learning - What a Combo on Instagram

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties (now that my WIFI is up again!) Check them out and see what's happening out there in quilt land😊 Patchwork & Quilts, Monday Making, Design Wall Mondays, Put Your Foot Down, Needle and Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?,  Peacock Party, Slow Sunday Stitching, 

Christmas at Throwback Thursday

Welcome to the last Throwback Thursday of 2019! We've had some wonderful linkups and walks down memory lane. 😊 I'm also hosting Free Motion Mavericks (week 258), so please link up here.

Throwback Thursday

I made both of these Christmas placemats during a quilting retreat a very long time ago - before FMQ (free motion quilting).

This first one - the mittens placemat, is as simple as it gets. Four pieces of fabric sewn together and a pair of mittens appliquéd to one of them. I used a zigzag stitch for the mittens and then hand quilted some of the obvious lines, such as the tartan, the trees and around the blocks and mittens.

Mittens placemat

Last year, I noticed that both placemats were in need of some loving care. I sewed inside the mittens to stabilize them and then FMQ some snowflakes within the large white block. You can see the details below. 

Adding some extra stitches and FMQ snowflakes

I made this doggy placemat for my daughter. I believe that it started with the block on the bottom left. From there I made an easy strip block and a half triangle block. I appliquéd the dog onto the large white block.

Doggy placemat with a pieced block.

I hadn't even hand quilted this placemat because my friend had used decorative stitching around each block. However, that really wasn't enough to keep this piece stable after many years of washing and use. So last year I quilted in the ditch of the block and then added a lot of FMQ in all of the other areas of the placemat.

FMQ more snowflakes in the background

These are very obviously some of my first quilted projects. I love that they have served us well. They come out every Christmas to be used by my daughter and I. The boys said that they didn't need a Christmas placemat - as if it was about need!

I've really enjoyed partnering with Sandra at mmm! quilts on hosting Throwback Thursday. Unfortunately, this is all of the pre-blogging quilts that I have, so I will leave Throwback Thursday's linky party back in Sandra's very capable hands. Thanks Sandra for sharing this fun linkup with me!

Linking parties
I'll be linking up this post to several great link-ups. Why not see what's going on? Monday Making, Colour and Inspiration Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Put your foot down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday, Finished or Not Finished Friday, Friday Foto Fun, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Peacock Party,


Throwback Thursday (TBT) Link-up for December

Hi! I'm hosting Throwback Thursday (TBT) for Sandra at mmm! quilts this month. Link up your pre-blogging projects below.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Hand-quilted pillow on Throwback Thursday

Welcome to Throwback Thursday (TBT) link-up for October. I'm co-hosting for Sandra of mmm! quilts this month. I hope that you can join me in showcasing your pre-blogging era quilts.

Hand-quilted pillow

This pillow was one of my first hand-quilted projects, possibly around 2006. The front has a thin layer of batting and is hand-stitched in the ditch and outlines three butterflies. I made it during a class at our local quilt shop, Quilty Pleasures.

Hand-quilted pillow

 It has been well loved by my daughter and it matched the quilt that my mother made for her.

Hand-quilted butterfly motif

The fabric is quite faded but it washed up well. I just noticed that some of the quilting on the butterflies has come off. I'd better fix that!

October's One Monthly Goal (OMG)
Since this is a short post, I'm including my October OMG, which will be a pillow by the end of the month😊. I don't generally make pillows (these would be my only two) but I'm eager to start free motion quilting my Kingfisher Quilt. I had extra diamonds cut from the background batik, so a pillow will let me try out the motif I have in mind for the project. Hopefully the FMQ will work out - but either way, it should be a pretty pillow.

The front panel of the pillow-to-be

Pillow to match the
Kingfisher quilt

Hopefully the FMQ will work out - but either way, it should be a pretty pillow.

Related links

• Kingfisher Stitch-Along quilt top finished, August 31, 2019

Linking parties
I'll be linking up this post to several great linky parties, including, of course, the One Monthly Goal hosted by Patty of Elm Street Quilts. Let's go check them out! Moving It Forward, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put your foot down, Midweek Makers, Slow Sunday Stitching, Peacock Party, Beauties Pageant, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Finished or Not Finished Friday, What I Made Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Making, and Free Motion Mavericks with Muv.

Throwback Thursday (TBT) Link-up for October

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Pretty in Purple for Throwback Thursday

Welcome to Throwback Thursday (TBT) link-up for June. I'm co-hosting for Sandra of mmm! quilts this month. If you're looking for Free Motion Mavericks, click here!

Pretty in Purple Lap Quilt

This was one of my first quilts, made when I was still quilting by hand. Those half-square triangles (HST) were all individually cut and sewn!

It's really incredible how the quilting world has changed 😊

Pretty in Purple

This is a very scrappy quilt, made of fabrics from dresses, my favourite purple curtains, and even my mother's pillow cases since they had the perfect teal for the flower leaves and stems.

The quilt pattern came from an insert in a Fons & Porter magazine. I couldn't find it, but I'm sure that I've kept it....somewhere. I followed the pattern except for the appliqué. I'm not sure what was in there but I substituted the flowers from another pattern.

Pretty in Purple lap quilt

That's a lot of HST!

Quilt Show at the Navan Chursch

All hand quilted

What I learned

• I know that I didn't make anything else with HST until I found out that there were easier ways to make them!
• I haven't used this quilt much because it's only 42" square. It's also rather fragile - my seams were not always great and some of them have pulled apart.
• This quilt was shown at a quilt show in the Navan Church.
• I did buy a wooden quilt rack so once I sand it, Pretty in Purple will at least be on display.

Linking parties
I will be linking this post to many fun link-ups. Let's see what else is going on in the quilting world!
Monday Making, Moving It Forward, What I Made Monday, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday, Finished or Not Friday, Friday Foto Fun, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Oh Scrap!, Slow Sunday Stitching,

Throwback Thursday Link-up

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

No Such Thing As Too Much Pink

Did you know that there is "no such thing as too much pink"?  That's the name of this quilt, and here's the story...

This was many, many years ago and was one of the first quilts I made.

I had gone through the fabric that I had inherited from my mother. There was quite a lot of pink fabric, so I went shopping for more fabric to make the quilt. This was the first time that I realised how many different shades, tints and tones of pink there were. Since my mother's fabric was a few years old, I found it difficult to find fabrics that would play well together.

A lovely pink quilt

It was that evening that I told my friend that I had discovered that there were too many pinks! Very seriously, she said that "there is no such thing as too much pink!" I had no idea that she liked pink! That's when I knew that this quilt was for her 😊

There are many different pink fabrics in this quilt.

This quilt is a disappearing nine patch, and I remember that I loved making it. At that time, all of the quilts I made were hand quilted. I put lots of love into that quilt for my friend.

What I learned

• I learned that there is no such thing as too many pinks!
• Disappearing 9 patch is a pattern that I should re-visit. It looks more complex than it is. 
• I'm really impressed with my choices of fabric, even back then 😊.
• I love those fabrics and I still have a little bit of many of them.

Linking parties

I've managed to miss a few of Sandra's linky parties at mmm! Quilts, so I'm really glad to link-up this special project on Throwback Thursday! I drafted this post right after I missed the February link-up :-) I will also be linking up to many fun link-ups so let's see what everyone is making.
Needle & Thread Thursday, Midweek Makers, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Let's Bee Social, Friday Foto Fun, Finished or Not Friday, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward, What I Made Monday,

Best of 2018

It's almost over. Unbelievable! I'm always fascinated by time - how it rushes by and then slows down to a crawl. I still think that the best super power ever would be to stop time whenever I wanted to. Just me, so that I could quilt, rest and sleep more😊 Oh well, back to reality.

Here's to 2018!

Here's to time well spent doing what we love, and time to reflect on what we learned.

Slow stitching

There was a lot of quiet hand-work, much of it done while listening to audio-books. I practiced my embroidery, did some hand-piecing while on vacation, and lots of English Paper Piecing (EPP) throughout the year.

Kingfisher Stitch-Along

Hexie Runner

Islas Canarias

Symphony in Stem Stitch

#100hexies100days2018

What I learned

• I learned that sharing projects on Instagram is a lot of fun!
• It's possible to free motion quilt (FMQ) around embroidery - and quite effective.
• Extensive practice will give results - my stem stitch is proof - not perfect but better.
• FMQ motifs work very well as embroidery designs.
• Slow work can be meditative, or a great opportunity to listen to a book! I am very, very grateful to my public library.

Making art quilts

There are many reasons for making art quilts such as the Art with Fabric Blog Hop, catching a glimpse of something that moves you or making something for a special someone.

Morning Has Broken

Clover at dusk

Funky Mountain LandscapeArt Quilt

A White History of Art

Connections & Intersections

What I learned

• I don't always need an excuse to make an art quilt, but it helps.
• I love the Art With Fabric blog hop and making art quilts for the Out of the Box artist group.
• I'm really proud of the work that I've done on these art quilts. I feel like I've learned so much about art and design.

Lots of Free Motion Quilting (FMQ)

I practiced my FMQ this year by participating in a FMQ Challenge with Angela Walters and then actually quilting a few UFOs (UnFinished Objects) and other projects.

Charming Baby Pattern
Make Modern magazine, Issue 21

Rudbeckias and swirling leaves

Batik Lap Quilt 3

Street Art My Way

Leafy Meander

Scrappy Triangle Baby Quilt

A mix of FMQ designs based on
Angela Walter's FMQ Challenge

What I learned

• I love practicing FMQ because it really pays off.
• It was great to get a few UFOs completed.
• Creating a pattern for a quilt was much harder than I expected. It was really great experience and Make Modern magazine was wonderful to work with. I'm not sure that I want to do this again, but I'm really glad that I had the courage to do it. ✔ It was on my list of quilty things to do. 

Making Squirrels and Minis

In the second half of the year, I made more minis as gifts and cuddle quilts for charity. It's nice to work on small projects that don't take too much effort or time. Squirrels are always fun to make since they're unplanned!

Selvage Love Pouch
A Squirrel Project

Comfort Cuddle Quilts

Our House

Diamond Mini

Laptop Case
A Squirrel Project

Bear Mini with a broken leg

Loon Mini

Extended-border binding tutorial

Birthday Bear Mini

Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt (WIP)

Postcard from Sweden Quilt top

What I learned

• Squirrel projects or DrEAMi! (Drop Everything And Make it!) are lots of fun and great distractions. It's also nice to work on something unexpected, and for me, usually small and quick!
• I decided this fall to make minis instead of buying cards. A great idea if you actually plan it!
• After two QAL, I've finally finished my Postcard from Sweden quilt top. I wanted to make it because it's beautiful and would give me a great opportunity to practice my FMQ. I am slowly learning to practice my FMQ on small quilts that require less piecing.
• I'm not very interested in making traditional quilts any more, and even those are only lap size. I started another neutral quilt for a friend. I have to stop offering to make these!
• This year I created a tutorial for making a binding by extending the border. ✔ This was another item on my quilty to-do list.
• In September I totally over-extended myself by participating in both the Our House blog hop and the Blogger's Meet and Greet Event. I managed to make my house quilt and my posts but really didn't get to enjoy reading everyone's posts and replying to comments. I'm going to try very hard to avoid these situations, but it's hard since there are so many great events to participate in! 

I hope that what I learned may have helped you learn as well.

Thanks so much for joining me on my quilting and art making journey. I hope that we keep learning together.

I wish you all the best in 2019!

Linking parties
I will be linking to many linking parties, including the Best of 2018 Linky Party with Meadow Mist Designs. Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social, Friday Foto Fun, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Silly Mama Quilts - Finish Up Friday, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday, Finished or Not Friday,