Showing posts with label journal cover. Show all posts
Showing posts with label journal cover. Show all posts

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Fall Fling Market on Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 453 of Free Motion Mavericks. I have been busy getting ready for the Out of the Box (OOTB) Fibre Artists' Fall Fling Marketplace. This will be the first one held in the Fall. 

Fall Fling 2023


Fall Fling 2023 - a marketplace

The organisers had a major challenge when they found out a few weeks ago that the location that they thought they had rented, was not available. A new, even better venue was found but the posters and advertising with the old location are out there! We've all been doing our best to spread the word through social media. 

Since this is a marketplace, all of our art work must be for sale. I don't usually make items to sell for the market section of our shows, but this time I thought that I would make a few and see how I do. As I've mentioned in another post, I love all of the things that I've made, so having to bring them back home would not be a terrible thing 😊. However anything that sells can go towards buying new supplies and that would be nice!

FMQ journals and covers


In case you didn't see these last week, here are a few pictures. If you want more details, all of the links can be found in the Related links section below.

2 pink journal covers

Blue and green journal covers with very thick journals within

Hand-made books


I've also decided to put the three little library books in the marketplace. 

Embroidered stitches used for the spine of these lovely little books

Included is the journal with the hour-glass binding made of paper fabric. I haven't written a post about this specific book, but I did include it in the post about my refillable notepad cases, when I talked about paper fabric.

Journal with the hour-glass binding made of paper fabric

Front of the journal made of paper fabric

I have one refillable notepad case in the marketplace.

Refillable notepad case

The inside of the case

Small art pieces


I have three small art pieces for sale. This first one is Squirrel! I realised as I was writing this post that I never did share the finish on my blog. There are, however, pictures on Instagram.

Squirrel! made from gelli printed fabric

My Ephemera 1 piece will be in the show. 

Ephemera 1

Finally, I finished a meditation piece that I started at an Out of the Box (OOTB) playdate that I ran in July. It was very successful and I decided to see if I could stitch the finished piece on a spray painted canvas. I really love the effect. I'll be trying out more of these in the future.

Fly, fly away meditation stitched piece mounted on an 8" x 8" canvas

Since I haven't bought any business cards yet, I created these home-made price cards for the items. Between the snowflake hole and the label, I have affixed the price codes for the sale. Most of these are attached with small safely pins. 

Home-made price cards 

What I learned
  • It always takes so much more time than I expect to get everything ready for a show or sale and this time was no exception.
  • I had fun making the little price cards. I still haven't bought business cards yet.
  • I'm really looking forward to doing some shopping of my own at the marketplace.
  • If you're in the Ottawa area, I'll be at Fall Fling all day Friday. I hope to see you there!
    • Results: It was a lot of fun seeing everyone's art and pieces and of course seeing my peeps! I sold the blue and the green covered journals and the chain stitch little library book. Yeah!!! If you are a reader or you found my blog because you bought the journals, Thanks and Welcome here!
Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Why not check them out after linking up below? Put your foot down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Sew & Tell, Design Wall Monday, Midweek Makers, Off The Wall Friday, Beauties Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts, Oh Scrap!, Slow Sunday Stitching.

Free Motion Mavericks


Last week we had six FMQ link ups. Yeah!!! Thanks everyone for linking up. 😊

Denise at the Quiltery created this beautiful North Carolina Star for the Falling for Accuquilt Challenge. You can check out a close-up of her FMQ here.

Denise's beautiful North Carolina Star 

Margo of MY Quilts and Crafts designed and quilted this lovely modern baby quilt. It's a real beauty. You can find out more about it on her post.

Margo's modern baby quilt

Sandra of mmm quilts has been working on this quilt for many years. It celebrates 150 Canadian Women. Make sure that you read her post and see close-ups of some of the blocks!

150 Canadian Women quilt - 7 years in the making!

Gail had another beautiful finish! She quilted "Splendor" using 3 Silly Moon's rulers. 

"Splendor" finished by Gail

Anja finished FMQ "Blue Skies". This is the first quilt that she has loaded on her new longarm. That is a lovely finish with wavy lines and stippling. It's always difficult to quilt on a new machine. Best of luck!

Anja's "Blue Skies"

Diann of Little Penguin Quilts finished a lovely beach landscape quilt. It was her first landscape quilt, and hopefully not her last. What a great finish and a souvenir of one of her favourite places....I wish I was there too! 😊

Diann's lovely beach landscape quilt

It's now your turn!



You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Thursday, October 19, 2023

FMQ Journal Covers at Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 452 of Free Motion Mavericks. I have finally done some Free Motion Quilting (FMQ), but not on my niece's quilt yet. These were fun squirrels that I pursued for the upcoming Fall Fling marketplace with Out Of The Box (OOTB) Fibre Artists.

Making Journal Covers


The Fall Fling is like our Spring Fibre Fling except that everything on exhibit is for sale. I've been slowly getting ready for this event and am finally ready. Here are my first two finished journal covers.

Blue and Green Journal Covers

The fabric for these first two covers is made by Gunnel Hag, a Canadian textile artist. Every once in a while, I go to her Etsy shop and treat myself to a couple of pieces of fabric. They are always colourful and fun. 

I also bought very thick journals to go in the journal covers. They are as close to a hand-made look as it gets and have lovely scalloped page edges. I also love the fabric that I used for the lining. If they don't sell, I will be very happy to keep them, although I have so many journals already 😁

The inside of the blue journal with one of my favourite fabrics

The inside fabric of this journal is a green ombre with purple, pink and blue dots. I used the dark green part for the lining.

The fun ombre fabric lining with purple, pink and blue dots.

Here are photos that show the FMQ on the journal covers.

The blue fabric was very difficult to FMQ and I should have listened to my intuition when it told me that I shouldn't follow the lines of the diamonds. It's a good thing that I started on one end so that when it didn't work out, I moved over and quilted in a spiral. It also helped that I used dark blue thread, so it doesn't show up much.

FMQ the diamond patterns in a spiral shape

Front of the journal cover

Back of the journal cover

I did, more or less, follow the shapes in this crazy ribbon shaped fabric. I started with a turquoise/brown variegated thread that looked quite good. About halfway through, I stitched around the brighter yellow/green with a bright lime green thread. I then finished up with the original variegated thread. 

The FMQ on the green journal cover

The front FMQ of the journal cover

FMQ the pink journal covers


For the next two journal covers, I chose one of my own hand-dyed pink fabric. 

Two pink journal covers

For the first journal cover, I FMQ it with just the top fabric and batting. I've done this before without an issue, but this time, there was a huge drag. I even checked to make sure that I had lowered the feed dogs. Yup, they were down, so for the second cover, I added a backing fabric. That really helped.

FMQ pink fabric with a meandering flower

FMQ with the batting at the back

For something different on the second journal, I did some vertical FMQ. In the image, you can see my practice page. I went through my FMQ journal to find some designs that would be easy to do vertically.

Vertical FMQ designs with practice sheet

Here are my two FMQ journal covers.

First pink journal cover with Meandering Flowers

Second pink journal cover with vertical designs

When I did my second pink journal cover, I remembered to stitch my label before I put the whole thing together. I was so proud of myself, until I realised that I had sewn it inside the journal cover! It's a good thing that I was able to fold and sew it back out. 😓Aren't the lining fabrics gorgeous?

I was able to stitch the label again so that it peaks out!

Poster for Fall Fling 2023 Marketplace

I have a total of 11 pieces for sale in Fall Fling. Most of them you've seen before, but I will show more of them on Instagram. I'll check to see if I've blogged about each of them. If not, I'll include them soon in a post.

What I learned
  • Making a quilted journal cover is always a little tricky because most journals are not the same size. It's not complicated, but since I am accuracy challenged, I really have to be extra careful.
  • My first journal cover, the blue one, was a little tight because of the thickness of the journal. I thought that I had added extra space for that, but not quite enough. It looks fine, but the green one fits the journal much better.
  • For the pink fabric, I knew that the fabric would be tight, but it did work out. At least this journal is thin, so no extra fabric needed for that!
  • For the FMQ, as I mentioned earlier, I knew that I shouldn't try following the diamonds, but I just couldn't help it. After a few inches, I knew that I needed a plan B - so a spiral it was. It's always a great go-to when you want movement in your design. I balanced the wonky diamonds by adding a few on the other side of the fabric. I was lucky that I had more than enough fabric, so only an inch or so shows up on the journal cover.
  • I'm also lucky that I used a navy thread that blended in well.
  • I feel like I should explain my bizarre thread choice for the green journal cover. I ended up using a turquoise/brown variegated thread because the top of the fabric has some subtle turquoise where the green and blue paint has blended. After making the first journal cover with the blending thread, I wanted a little bit of pop. Adding the bright lime green thread in areas was a good idea.
  • I was so proud of myself for finally remembering to add my label before I sewed the journal cover together. I could have pulled it out, but since the label is quite long, I was able to fold it and stitch it down so that it shows.
  • I love my choices of lining fabric. I believe that it adds a lot to the look of the journal cover.
  • I was also surprised that FMQ without a backing cause so much drag. Adding a piece of fabric as a backing for the second pink journal cover did the trick!
Related links
Linking parties

Free Motion Mavericks


Last week Donnalee's oldest daughter came for a visit and some quilting lessons and practice. How wonderful that mother and daughter have the same passion! Here are a couple of her finished projects.

Table topper and runner by Donnalee's daughter

Gail has been busy pattern testing this lovely quilt for her friend. If you go to the original post, there is a link to the pattern.

Starry Path made by Gail

It's now your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Thursday, January 05, 2023

An Agenda Cover and Update on Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 414 of Free Motion Mavericks. Are you busier than you expected after the holidays? I was anticipating a quiet week in the studio but it's been busy for all kinds of reasons. I hope that you got some quality playing time this week 😊

FMQ an Agenda Cover


It's a new year and since I'm not at my computer every day, I can't live without some kind of agenda. Over the years I've made a few agenda and journal covers and it's finally getting easier. 😎

2023 Free Motion Quilted Agenda Cover

For this year's agenda cover, I wanted to use fabric that I had created, so I started by looking at this summer's sun printed fabric. I really love this piece and it's large enough! Here is how this fabric came to be. 

Day lily leaves, a fern and leaves of all sizes
on a yellow/orange background

Some lovely sun prints


FMQ on the sun printed fabric

I used Christina Cameli's Free Motion Quilted Gifts course on Craftsy again. It was a real pleasure to make, especially since I have extensive notes and experience!

I wasn't sure how to fill in the leaf outlines on the FMQ fabric, so I left them empty and added this year's intention using a Prismacolor pen. It was a lot more effective than if I had tried to free motion quilt the words. You can double-click on the image to see a larger version, but here is my intention for 2023: learn by playing, with mindfulness and contentment. 

Adding my 2023 intention on the front cover

The back of the cover

The agenda with matching fabric for the inside panels

Version 2.0 Update

Need to finish the
Travel Adventure
I had run out of fabric for the binding, so I had to wait until the shop opened to get more of the Kona burgundy. I could have ordered it but I wasn't 100% sure that it was burgundy, so I preferred to take a scrap of the fabric with me. The fabric was purchased this week, washed, pressed and cut! I cut 8 rows of 3" binding and it fit just perfectly 😊(I love it when my math works!)

I watched a bit of a course on Craftsy about bindings and it was very complicated and much more fiddly than I like. I did learn a couple of tips that I'll include below. 

I still have three small sections to finish FMQ. I started last night but my machine was not cooperating - so it's getting a time-out until I do some practice FMQ to get my tension back to normal!

January's One Monthly Goal (OMG)

Totally finishing Version 2.0 is my January OMG. I'm hoping to finish by the end of the weekend....so we'll see!


I didn't get any fun fabric but my daughter and I splurged on some lovely #12 perle cotton. I played with it a little before putting them away 😊

#12 perle cotton


What I learned

  • I took the time to read my post about the last time I made an agenda cover (in April - see related links below). I also found my notes so this really helped the process along.
  • Place binding straight
    and follow the quilt
    As I did the last time I made an agenda cover, I used some of the left over sun printed fabric to make the inside panels. For the middle panel, any fabric can be used. This is a great way to use up fabric that you don't really like, or fabric that you have tons of and doesn't seem to disappear, ever!
  • For the binding, I learned that you should also press your binding once you have sewn it on to the quilt. Since I don't have extra width, this should help me make it wide enough. 
  • I also got a couple of tips about doing the mitered corners for the binding. I didn't realise that if you fold the binding straight out before attaching it, that it will turn out great (see picture since it's hard to describe.) 
  • When you press the attached binding, put the tip of your iron in the mitered corner to sharpen the miter.

Related links


Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun parties. Why not check them out? January's One Monthly Goal (OMG),  Sew & Tell, Design Wall Monday, Put your foot down, Midweek Makers, Needle & Thread Thursday

Project details


2023 Quilting Agenda cover
6¾" x 8¾"
Materials: sun printed fabric, variegated thread
Techniques: Sun printed fabric covered with Pebeo Setacolor light fabric paint, FMQ and sewing







Free Motion Mavericks

Thanks for linking up! We saw many lovely quilts made of 2022. What a productive bunch we are 😁.
Two projects we haven't seen are Frédérique's casserole carrier or sac à tarte and Donnalee's two Christmas runners.

I hope to make a casserole carrier as part of the 2023 Table Scraps Challenge this year. Frédérique used her guide bar to quilt it. That made for lovely straight lines! It's a very useful item to make for yourself or as a gift. 

Frédérique's casserole carrier or sac à tarte


Donnalee's two runners came about because she didn't have enough fabric to make the four blocks required to make a wall hanging. I think that her table runners are a huge success and will make great Christmas gifts next year!

One of Donnalee's Christmas runner


It's now your turn to link up 😊

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Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Conversations Guest Book on Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 384 of Free Motion Mavericks. I'm sorry that I'm a couple of days early, but I will run it until next Tuesday night. The last couple of weeks have mostly been about the Conversations exhibition and today is not an exception. I'm not getting ahead on my son's Version 2.0 quilt - but he's been very understanding 😊 

Another Journal Cover

A few weeks ago I volunteered to create a journal cover for our Conversations exhibit's guest book. I started early, but just finished it about an hour ago! No worries, the deadline is only tomorrow but it was my May One Monthly Goal (OMG) and I'm not missing out on bragging rights!

Conversations Guest Book

The Beginning

A few years ago, I experimented with sun printing. I don't think that I ever wrote a post about it. It wasn't a total flop, I did get one good print out of 3. I learned that you really need to use translucent paint - the opaque stuff just won't take. I did keep my pieces because you never know!

Original fabric with paint

After making my last journal cover, I realised how much the FMQ adds to the fabric, so I thought that I would give this rather messy fabric a shot. I added mostly yellow paint (Colour Vie pigment system) to the mix using forks, circles, etc. I was only going for additional splashes of colour that wasn't purple! I really like how the yellow turned into a lovely gold. It also brought out the little splashes of teal from the original piece.

Painting over the original fabric

I then started FMQ. I drew a straight line and wrote Conversations more or less in the middle of what would be the front cover. See I did learn from my last project and planned the layout a little more.

I listed a bunch of words that had to do with conversations - dialogue, listening, connection, genuine, point-of-view, exchange, generosity, understanding, humility, and talking. I FMQ these in variegated thread, all with some pink and/or yellow in them. 

Some of the FMQ words


Adding fun filler by following the design
or making it up as I go along!

Putting it together

I cut the fabric a few days ago but I've been so tired that I was really stressed about cutting it properly. I had visions of having to start all over....not fun! Anyway, it all went well. Last night I chose my lining fabric, something light to contrast with the dark cover. After work, I started sewing while watching each step of Christina Cameli's Free Motion Quilted Gifts on Craftsy. 

Here's the lovely lining fabric

Here are some pictures of the whole thing 😊


The back and front of the cover


The back of the journal cover

I remembered to add my name tag.

The inside back with my tag.


Conversations Guest Book Mosaic


What I learned
  • I'm really glad that I made a journal cover not long ago for my quilting agenda. I remembered my lessons learned and applied them to this project. Awesome 😎
  • Having played with paint not that long ago also helped me with adding the paint to this one. I felt a little more confident, especially knowing that the free motion quilting would add so much.
  • Planning where the FMQ should go on my journal cover made it easier to quilt and the results are worth it.
  • It's been along time since I've been this busy with creating and blogging. I really appreciate all of your wonderful comments in the last few weeks. I've read them all and will answer them all soon. Thanks for your patience. 
Related links

Linking parties


Project details


Conversations Guest Book Cover
8" x 6" 
Materials: Original fabric painted with Pebeo Setacolor (opaque) and then marked with Colour Vie, variegated thread
Techniques: painting, mark making, FMQ and sewing







Free Motion Mavericks

Thanks to all for linking up. If you haven't seen Gail's Triangle Tricks Challenge quilt with her lovely FMQ stars, you really should visit her site.

Quilting Gail's Triangle Tricks Challenge

It's now your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
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