2-Colour Mystery Quilt

Hi and welcome 😊 I've been trying to stay away from challenges and quilt-alongs because they are my number 1 creators of UFOs. Also, I'm accuracy challenged, so traditional quilts are not my favourites....but this is a mystery quilt with only 2 colours and it's designed by Joanne at Canuck Quilting Designs. I was a tester for one of her quilts (before I dived into art quilts). I love her designs and her instructions are exactly how I like reading my patterns. So....I just had to participate.

2 Colours Mystery Quilt 

I thought that I had the dark fabric for the mystery quilt but I couldn't find anything I liked in my stash for the lighter colour. I figured that if I had to buy fabric, that I might as well get both fabrics. I got lucky and found some fabric on sale at my local quilt shop. The dark green was the end of the bolt and the lighter fabric was in the reduced basement.

Fabric for week 2

Week 1 - cutting fabric

Here is my fabric cut for week 2. I really don't like cutting fabric and I'd rather do it in chunks than to cut it all at once. Besides, some days I'm more accurate than others - so it's good to spread out the task.

Choosing, washing and cutting fabric

Fabric all cut for week 2 plus an extra block for later

Before cutting anything, I figure out on paper, what I need to cut as a first step. As you can see, I arrange my fabric using large paper clips. The clips have numbers because I created them when I learned to do foundation paper piecing.

The written strips with the sizes of each block are selvage edges from the fabric that I've just cut. I find this a great way to keep myself organised.

Accuracy Challenged

I was very careful when I cut my strips but I still managed to mess up my 5" strips. Since I have more than enough green fabric, I cut as much as possible from the non-wonky part, and then sub-cut it to 3" width and then 5" long. 

I was working on a green cutting mat and had difficulty seeing the green fabric underneath my ruler, so I flipped it over and cut it that way. It worked!

Cutting fabric from the back - it's easier to see!

Now I try to quilt a couple of blocks to make sure that I have everything correct, before I do chain piecing. That's because if there's more than one way to stitch the pieces together, you can guarantee that I'll find it!

The wrong way of sewing the blocks together!
The block on the right is the correct way.

I even placed a block in front of me to make sure that I got it right....and I managed to get it wrong once more before it came out ok!

A block on the wall to ensure
that I get it right...

After getting it wrong a second time, I called it quits. Today I was hoping that it would go better....well, I did get quicker at pulling the stitches out! I now have 6 blocks done of each colour combination. Six more and the first week will be done!

Blocks for week 2 done! 😊

What I learned

• Is knowing that I'm accuracy challenged a good thing or is it a self-fulfilling prophecy? 
• I just figured out that I was using the wrong cutting chart - so I have more fabric to cut! 
• I really do try to be careful, but it's when I think that I finally have it under control that I stop checking 3 times before doing anything, and then get it wrong.
• Don't let me deter you from making this quilt. I'm sure that you would be fine 😁
• Now you know why I prefer improv blocks and art quilts - but I don't want this to stop me from making quilts with regular blocks. It's nice to have a variety of projects on the go, and I do consider myself a quilter....just not a great piecer 😊

Related links

• Canuck Quilter Designs
• Pattern Testing a Baby Quilt, December 19, 2016

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many linking parties. Why not check them out? 

Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Midweek Makers, Finished (Or Not) Friday, 

300 Posts Party at Free Motion Mavericks

Happy 300^th to Free Motion Mavericks! 

What a special anniversary to be celebrating. Muv from Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing started Free 

300^th Linking up Party

Motion Mavericks on Thursday, 5 June 2014, to fill the void after Leah Day stopped hosting her Free Motion Friday. I had a wonderful trip down memory lane going through all of the posts to get to the first, original Free Motion Mavericks post. 

I discovered the Free Motion Mavericks linking party in March of 2015, at Muv's 36^th post. I was free motion quilting (FMQ) a wholecloth quilt based on one of Cindy Needham's courses on Craftsy (which I highly recommend - all links are in Related links below). I was thrilled that there was a place to link up and to see other quilter's FMQ. 

My first FMQ link-up to Free Motion Mavericks!

Original button

I've been linking up all of my FMQ with Muv since then, and when it got quiet and Muv opened it up to other projects, I was linking up even more. I know that it's difficult to host a specialty linking party because it's easy for bloggers to forget to link up their posts. 😊 

I started co-hosting Free Motion Mavericks in January 2019, at week 212. I was really excited to co-host since I had hosted a couple of specialty linking parties (Celebrate - Fêtons 150 and Learning Quilt-A-Long (QAL)) but I just didn't have the time or energy to host a linking party every week. In December 2018, Muv asked me to co-host - I was thrilled and the rest is history!

I had a great time making these new buttons. You can see Muv's free motion quilted rudbeckia in the background. I learned to FMQ rudbeckia through her videos. 

In this special party post, we are asking you to link up to 3 of your favourite FMQ projects. I can't wait to see them all. I'm going to show you a couple of mine and then it will be your turn!

Lone Tree 2 art quilt

This small art quilt was FMQ within an inch of its life - but I love it. It's still one of my favourites.

Batik lap quilt - Chevy is always up for a picture!

Of all of the FMQ that I've done, why did I pick this one? Well it's because of the Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower that I quilted into the quilt. 😊 

Notre-Dame Cathedral FMQ

Eiffel Tower FMQ

What I learned

• Hosting a linking party is a lot of work. I'm so grateful that I am co-hosting with Muv. She's a great partner, a good friend and a great free motion quilter. 
• I've learned to organise my posts around Free Motion Mavericks. I haven't always been successful, especially this spring when I was doing very little FMQ. Fall is here and I have started doing more FMQ. 
• I love learning and having ongoing projects to write posts about every two weeks has helped keep me on track. Last year FMQ Garden & Pond kept me going roughly from March to September. This year I've been working on the Pinwheels and Stars Baby Quilt since May. 
• I've also learned that the best way to promote the Free Motion Mavericks linking party is to link up to as many quilting linking parties as possible to get the word out, as well as asking quilters who FMQ to link up to Free Motion Mavericks. This is not easy for me to do since I don't like bothering people - but quilters are very generous and have been great in supporting this linking party.
• To all quilters who have linked up or followed the Free Motion Mavericks in the last 6 years and to Muv, the founder of Free Motion Mavericks - THANK YOU!!!! 

Related links

• Where Has Free Motion Friday Gone? June 5, 2014
• FMQ Madness!, March 16, 2015
• Cindy Needham's Machine Quilting Wholecloth Quilts on Craftsy
• Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing - Free Motion Quilting Design Videos
• Celebrate - Fêtons 150 and Learning Quilt-A-Long (QAL)
• Lone Tree 2 - Colour Unboxed Exhibition, January 24, 2017
• Batik lap quilt - February Finishes, February 28, 2017
• FMQ Garden & Pond posts
• Spring is in the air with Free Motion Mavericks, March 13, 2019 to 
• Garden and Pond finished for Free Motion Mavericks, September 11, 2019
• Pinwheels and Stars Baby Quilt: Baby Quilt at Free Motion Mavericks, May 13, 2020

Linking parties

Here are some great linking parties that I will be linking up to this week, This includes Free Motion Mavericks with Muv. I hope that you check them out, once you have linked up to this one, of course 😊 Monday Making, Colour & Inspiration Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Long Arm Learning, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off The Wall Friday, Friday Foto Fun, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Peacock Party, 

Patchwork & Quilts, 

Free Motion Mavericks 

Wow! 300 parties since 2014! That is definitely something to celebrate. We had a record number of link ups since I've started co-hosting. Thank you so much!

I thought that you might want to see this lovely baby quilt by CHRISKNITSSEWS. 

A lovely baby quilt from CHRISKNITSSEWS

Now for the trans-Atlantic linking party! This week, both Muv and I are hosting a linking party. 

Here at Quilting & Learning - What a Combo, you can link up to three (3) Free Motion Quilting posts you want, either recent or past.

Muv of Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing will dig out some of her favourite posts from her archives (she's an amazing cook and a fabulous knitter!). You can link up to three posts on absolutely any subject, quilting related or not! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Bubble Up Lap Quilt in the making

It's almost done! I've been wanting to make another lap quilt for our love seats in our living room to keep Chevy cosy and the seats relatively dog hair free.

Bubble Up Lap Quilt - Where two spirals meet

Bubble Up fabric strips

The day that I heard that Quilty Pleasures, our local quilt shop, was not an essential service, and would have to close to customer traffic, I rushed out and supported the shop 😊 Among my purchases was a package of Bubble Up fabric strips. Enough to make one lap quilt!

I didn't get fancy, I just sewed all of the strips together. The fabric is so colourful and amazing that I didn't want to mess with it (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

It took me a while to figure out how to quilt it since the fabric was too busy, colourful and amazing. It wouldn't have been worth doing any fancy free motion quilting (FMQ). So I didn't.

Quilting spirals using my walking foot

In the meantime, I've been watching some excellent BluPrint (Craftsy) classes. I never used to watch them unless I was going to start doing the work, but in the last couple of months, I'm just watching them for entertainment. That way I can view many and just follow the ones that I want.

I started by watching the first of Jacquie Gering's walking foot courses, Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot. I then watched her second course, Next Steps With Your Walking Foot. Jacquie is a really excellent teacher and her courses are interesting and instructive. I highly recommend them!

So how to quilt my Bubble Up Lap Quilt - with a walking foot using spirals. I learned so much from watching the courses and quilting this piece.

I'll be mentioning what I learned below but I did want to talk about the constructive interference that I experienced when these two spirals met. If you look at the picture, you will probably start to cringe!

Constructive interference -
when two spirals meet

Yup, you guessed it!

It looks like my quilt top wasn't quite taunt enough and trouble was coming. Anyway, I wasn't in any mood to remove any of the stitching, so I forged ahead. Yup, my quilt has some lovely pleats where the two spirals met. At that point, Better Done Than Perfect was my mantra. If you examine it closely, you can see the lovely pleats, but otherwise they are quite inconspicuous.😊

I looked in my stash for fabric to bind the quilt but really, none of it was up to these amazing colours - so I just had to find an online store in Canada that had some Bubble Up fabric. My fabric is coming to me from East Coast Quilt Co, in St. John's, Newfoundland. If I can't travel, at least my fabric can!

Since it was a beautiful day, I went out with my son and Chevy for a photo shoot to a deserted park down the street.

Bubble Up - where two spirals meet

Fun with Chevy

There's a lot going on in that quilt!

Bubble Up Quilt
basking in the sun

See the flowers blooming - oh, and there's the quilt!

What I learned

• As you know, I love free motion quilting (FMQ) but since I've been using my walking foot to make journal covers, I've come to appreciate it. I thought that it would be good to try out quilting with the walking foot on this quilt.
• Jacquie Gering warned us that quilting spirals with the walking foot could be tricky. It is! The hardest thing to master, in my opinion, is turning the quilt around while not leaving a trace on the quilting. I have quite a few tiny bumps in the quilting. I'm sure that if I had been in a more zen mood that it would have gotten better earlier in the quilting. I was getting the hang of it by the end.
• I used a colourful variegated King Tut thread for the top of the quilt - and I wasn't sure that I would have enough. I'm happy to report that I did, although I don't think that there's much left on the spool.
• I love the secondary pattern that comes from the two spirals intersecting. 
• I'm really looking forward to binding the quilt when my fabric arrives. Of course, I'll post it when it's finished! 

Related links

• BluPrint (Craftsy) courses with Jacquie Gering: 



Free Motion Mavericks

• Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot 
• Next Steps With Your Walking Foot
• Constructive interference - when waves overlap

Linking parties
I will be linking up to many fun linky parties, including Free Motion Mavericks which is with Muv this week. Make sure that you go link up - it's not only about FMQ!
I'm also linking up with Sandra's DrEAMi quilt party, as well as many other fun linking parties. Let's check them out and see what's going on while we stay home and quilt! Peacock Party, Friday Foto Fun, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Tuesday Colour and Inspiration, What I Made Monday, Monday Making,

An Epic Bow Tie Neutral Quilt Finish

I'm almost glad that it was raining today because I found the best place ever for the Epic Bow Tie Neutral Quilt's photo shoot!

These were taken this morning at Parks Canada Place in Gatineau Quebec. I was lucky that it was decorated for Christmas and fairly quiet.

Draped quilt lounging around

Are we ready for Christmas yet?

Enjoying the decorations - do I spy a reindeer?

A closeup lounging shot

The lovely folded quilt pose

Finally we need to have the full view shot.

The Epic Bow Tie Neutral Quilt

Here are some of the FMQ designs that I used.

 

What I learned

• I used a quilting ruler to make the straight lines within the snowball. It took me a while to get the hang of it and then I decided to try to just "eyeball" it - and it worked well. It did go better when I turned the quilt around so that I was quilting towards myself. I can FMQ in all directions when I'm quilting a curly design, but I found it much harder for a straight line. 
• I really love the sun design. I'm sure that I could adapt it for other sizes.
• It was good to use just a few FMQ designs, although I have to admit that I did get bored with those straight lines.
• I used silk batting for this quilt - it FMQ so beautifully!
• I bought more fabric to add extra light fabrics for the background but I used only one of them since the others were too yellowish. I'm going to keep an eye out for beige fabrics since they're not easy to find.
• If I were to do it again, there are a couple of fabrics that I used as background that I wouldn't use since they were too close in value to the lighter brown fabrics in the snowball. 
• I used a scrappy binding. My only rule is that the fabric in the binding cannot be the same as the block next to it. I've made that mistake once and I have learned from it!
• I just love the look of a freshly washed quilt. The texture is just so beautiful. I'm glad that I waited to take pictures until I had washed it. Now I just need to add a label and my friend will finally get her quilt. 

Related links

• Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt related posts
• FMQ a neutral quilt on Free Motion Mavericks, November 6, 2019
• Epic Neutral Quilt Top is Done, September 30, 2019
• Finally progress on the Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt, September 3, 2019
• Progress on Hexie and Neutral Quilts, July 26, 2018
• Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt, June 12, 2018
• Make Modern magazine: Issue 22, May-June 2018

Linking parties
I will be linking this baby to Free Motion Mavericks as well as the November One Monthly Goal (OMG) finish link up. 😊 Colour and Inspiration Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Put your foot down, TGIFF, Friday Foto Fun, Design Wall Monday, What I Made Monday, Monday Making, Colour and Inspiration Tuesday, To-do Tuesday,

Great news! The Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt was featured on Susan's Midweek Makers! Thanks Susan :-) August 20, 2020: Show Me Something Free Motion Link Up

Project details

Epic Bow Tie Neutral Quilt
Pattern by Jen Van Orman from Make Modern (Issue 22, May-June 2018)
47" x 59"
Technique: piecing
Material: cotton, silk batting

Finally progress on the Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt

It's been over a year that I worked on the Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt. I'm glad that the intended recipient is very patient 😊

Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt

The good thing about letting a project sit is that I had time to collect a few more brown fabrics to add to the mix. It's just too bad that I didn't pick up more beige....oh well, there may still be time to get a few more!

Units of 4 blocks make a snowball

The quilt is based on the Epic Bow Tie Quilt by Jen Van Orman, which was on the cover of Make Modern Magazine (Issue 22, May-June 2018). As much as neutrals are not my favourites, I enjoy seeing what effect using such dramatically different colours will have on the pattern. So far, I'm not disappointed.

The Bow Tie Blocks

I don't like cutting my fabric all at once so I've been cutting it as I go. I have now completed over 60 blocks but there's still about 20 left to do.

I couldn't wait to finish all my blocks to start putting them together. I'm in the process of sewing most of the 60 blocks into units of 4. Below are the blocks that haven't been pieced into units of 4 yet. I'm trying to make each unit contain different beige backgrounds and different brown fabrics in them. 

The blocks that haven't been paired yet.

What I learned

• I know that I probably shouldn't have started making units of 4 yet but I really needed to see how it was progressing....and I was bored making single blocks.
• Now I know that there were too many blocks of a specific beige background so I won't be using that one for the next blocks. Like I said, I will probably buy a couple more background beige (it's in the mail 😊 )

Related links

• Pattern: Epic Bow Tie Quilt by Jen Van Orman, Make Modern Magazine (Issue 22, May-June 2018)
• Progress on Hexie and Neutral Quilts, July 26, 2018
• Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt, Ju ne 12, 2018

Linking parties

I wrote this post specifically to link it to the One Monthly Goal (OMG) September goal setting link-up. I'm pretty confident that I will have the quilt top finished by the end of September. Yeah! Of course, I could get distracted by a few squirrels before then. We'll see 😊

I'm also linking up to these great linking parties around blog land. Let's see what others are up to! Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, UFO Busting, Moving It Forward, What I Made Monday, Midweek Maker, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Finished or Not Finished Friday, Peacock Party, Free Motion Mavericks with Muv, Put Your Foot Down,

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

Meet and Greet Event

Quilters' Meet and Greet Event

2018 Online Quilters' Meet & Greet

For quilter's participating in the 2018 Online Quilters' Meet & Greet and to my loyal readers 😃, welcome.

I'm Andrée G. Faubert. I've been quilting for about 10 years although I've been sewing and embroidering, on and off, since I was a teen.

One of my last woven projects
(still a UFO)

In the early 1990s I started weaving. That was my passion until I learned to quilt. After weaving and making fabric, it was very liberating to walk into a shop and buy fabric that was already made :-)

More than anything else, I'm a learner and a generalist. I love trying new techniques but I get bored rather quickly. I'm also not a perfectionist, especially for things that I feel are "fussy" and complicated. As a teacher and instructional designer, I appreciate that "practice makes better" and have proven that with my free motion quilting. It's one of the few things that I've stuck with long enough to get pretty good at. That's mostly because there is so much to learn that I haven't gotten bored with it yet :-)

When I started quilting, I made some very traditional quilts and runners.

My first blog post in March 2012

My first traditional quilt as well
as my first Quilt-Along

My first FMQ runner,
summer of 2013

There are some of my first quilts.

Once I started quilting, I was hooked. I joined a local quilting guild, learned more techniques and started blogging. Now I enjoy blogging almost as much as quilting.


My first improv quilts were door hangings. The piece below was my first one, although it got FMQ later. I could call them my own design instead of improv, but improv is how I created them since I didn't plan much.

My first improv door quilt - one for every season.

Then in 2015, I started playing with landscape quilts. I even started my own Landscape Art Quilt Challenge and dove into making different kinds of landscape quilts. I had a blast and learned so much. If I have to choose a point when I started making art quilts, this would be it.

Lone Tree 2 - Tired or Over Achiever?

Clover at Dusk

I loved blog hops, quilt-alongs and any other event that gives me an excuse to create, quilt and post. My all-time favourite event is the semi-annual Art with Fabric Blog Hop hosted by Alida. I've participated in all of Alida's Art with Fabric events and have really enjoyed them. Some quilts were more successful than others - but I learned so much that it was always worth it.

My first Art with Fabric Blog Hop piece -
Light at the end of the tunnel.

Batik hexie for
Kingfisher Stitch-Along

These days, I'm all about making easily pieced quilts, practicing my FMQ on quilts with lots of negative space, making more art quilts and getting back to handwork with embroidery and hexies made using English Paper Piecing (EPP).

Batik lap quilts - my favourite quilts to practice FMQ

My first quilt pattern in Make Modern Magazine, Issue 21.

Hexie runner

My favourite quilt so far...

I made this art quilt for the Art with Fabric Blog Hop of Spring 2018. It's everything I love in a quilt - it's colourful, whimsical, and incorporates lots of FMQ.

Morning has broken
from Art with Fabric, Spring 2018

I'm very glad that you came by to visit. I'm really looking forward to reading the other participants' posts. Why don't you join me? You will find the link to the other participants on the Meet and Greet main page. There are also some great prizes to be won - check it out!

Related Links

• Celebrating my achievements, January 3, 2014
• The First One!, March 27, 2012
• Summer can't be over, August 20, 2012
• First Free Motion Quilted Runner, September 3, 2013
• Re-quilting a door hanging, September 12, 2014
• Landscape Art Quilt Challenge
• Colour Unboxed Exhibition, January 24, 2017
• Clover at dusk art quilt, July 31, 2018
• Art With Fabric - Light at the end of the tunnel, May 9, 2016
• Kingfisher Stitch Along Update - June 17, 2018
• February Finishes, February 28, 2017
• Charming Baby Pattern - Make Modern Issue 21, March 1, 2018
• Hexie runner is done, July 12, 2018



Click here to enter

• Morning has broken - Art with Fabric Spring 2018, May 21, 2018

Linking Parties

My post will be linked from the Quilters' Meet & Greet main page.  I will also be linking up to many linkup parties. Check them out to see what's happening around the quilting world. Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward Monday,  Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Linky Tuesday, Silly Mama Quilts WIP, Needle & Thread Thursday, Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social, Finished or Not Friday, Friday Foto Fun, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?,