Rainbow Neighbourhood Houses 5 and 6

Welcome to week 430 of Free Motion Mavericks. I didn't get much free motion done this week, except for adding details on one of the Neighbourhood houses.

Houses at Night

The two houses that I completed will be at the bottom of the quilt and are night scenes. I have beautiful night sky fabric and chose colours for the houses that are a little darker than those done to date.

Two houses at night

The last time I made these houses, I did two at a time - so that's what I did. At least if I mess up the first house, I'm not likely to do the same mistake in such a short period of time 😁

I made the mustard coloured house first and had to unpiece the roof section a few times. Luckily my theory worked - the second house went together easily. The roof fabric was bought last weekend at a quilt show. It's great for a night scene, as is the flowers on brown fabric. 

Mustard house with an Evening Star block, at night

For the extra details, I used images on darker fabric - in the windows you see bees (or teddy bears with wings) and lots of buttons! I also added a bunny, because they tend to wonder in the evening. There is a bird that looks like a moth (or a moth that looks like a bird - you pick!), and since the porch over the door was off-centre, I added a lantern on the over-hanging edge. 

Teddy bear (or bees) playing with buttons

The second house is a lovely deep orange colour. I used the mustard fabric for the centre of the star, but found some rich brown/burgundy for the star points and frame. For the lawn, I used a darker green.

Deep orange house with an Eight-Pointed Christmas Star

I had so much fun finding fabrics for this party! I remembered that I have a basket of novelty scraps. These are really perfect for this fun house! I didn't FMQ these little additions yet. I used adhesive bonding web to keep them on. I'll FMQ them when I'm more alert. 😊

The night is filled with music and dancing.

Here are my 6 houses so far.

Six houses so far

What I learned

• Making two houses at a time was still a good idea!
• I'm so happy that I remembered my scrappy novelty fabric basket. There was so much to choose in there!
• I've been experimenting with different ways of adding those lovely details on the quilt. So far, this time was the best. I  used adhesive bonding web and then FMQ the first house. The second house will get FMQ soon. 
• After making 6 houses, it's time to start planning my quilt layout. I know that I want it larger than the throw, but smaller than the twin, especially the length.
• I drew quite a few pictures until I found something that may work. Here's my very rough plan.
• I want to add sky fabric above all of the houses. For the bottom houses, this will be a night sky.
• Between the top and bottom row of houses, I would like to add picket fences and a tree or something. This could be a lot more complicated than I want...so we'll see.
• There will be a road between the first and second rows.
• The middle row will have two houses. The first house will be one of the ones I have made, but the second one will look more like my friend's home. I will add a lake between the two houses, and a small forest on the other side, probably using the trees provided in the pattern.

A very rough plan of the layout

Related links

• Rainbow Neighbourhood Houses - Blocks 2 to 4, April 25, 2023
• Block 1 of the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL, April 08, 2023
• Link to the Rainbow Neighbourhood pattern by Sandra of mmm quilts

Linking parties

Sandra of mmm quilts, who is hosting the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL, is having a mid-point link-up. Let's go see what everyone else has done 😊. Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, Midweek Makers, 

Put your foot down, Finished (or Not) Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Peacock Party, Off The Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2023, Oh Scrap!, 

Free Motion Mavericks

Last week we saw some wonderful finishes. Thanks to everyone for linking up!

My Free Motion Mavericks partner, Muv, quilted her first quilt in a long while. It's a Union Jack baby quilt - just in time for the Coronation. Glad to have you back Muv! It's a sweet quilt in a variety of blues.

Muv's Union Jack baby quilt

Denise participated in the Tool Craze Blog Hop. She used a tool to make Half square rectangles from Studio 180. The fabric is Island Batiks "Make A Wish" - they are so lovely and vibrant in her quilt. I just love the details at both ends of the quilt, which she FMQ with feathers. 

Denise's Half square rectangles quilt

Sandra is working on her PHDs (Projects Half Done challenge) and finished up her last 2 Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts from 2015. She had so many blocks that she got two quilts out of them. They are called Dawn and Dusk. Each got a different quilting design. They look so comfy. Congrats Sandra!

Sandra's Dawn and Dusk quilts

It's now your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Rainbow Neighbourhood Houses - Blocks 2 to 4

I was falling behind on my Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL so I'm now all caught up. 

A Mauve House

The second house was finished in the middle of last week. It was easier to make the second time around. Of course the star blocks are all different, so there is a learning curve there.

The mauve house with a blue Friendship star!

For the window details, I added a hanging planter and a bird who is visiting out of his cage. Will he go back in? I found a beautiful mosaic type fabric that looks like stained glass, so that's what I used for the window in the door. I also used my fancy machine stitches to hang the planter and make a door knob.

Details of the mauve house

Here are the first two houses.

The blue house has a mauve Evening star
while the mauve house has a blue Friendship star

I placed a sky fabric between the two houses, with some green for a yard and a little tree. I'm trying out a few things to see how I'll be able to place the houses on a quilt. I would like the sashing to act as a yard between the houses. These houses have tiny yards, just like mine! 😊

An Orange House

I finished up the third, orange house. In keeping with the funky lawn, I used some fun fabric to decorate the windows, door and the yard. 

The orange house with the yellow Woven star

Details of the orange house

A Yellow House

The fourth house is yellow. I haven't added anything to the windows yet. I may wait until I get them into the final layout and find more possibilities in my stash (or... add to it with a fat quarter or two 😁).

Yellow house with an Ohio Star 

Yellow and orange houses 😍

What I learned

• Practice definitely helped me make these houses faster. Making them two at a time helped even more!
• So far all of the star blocks have worked out well. I also learned that I don't really like making the Ohio star 😒 I made all of the little stars the exact same way and two are smaller than the others! It was also difficult stitching them in a row with all of those seams. There will probably be some repetition of the star blocks, but it won't be that one!!!
• I made myself a little pattern out of tracing paper for the lawn and walkway. That has been more helpful than just writing the measurements. 
• As I mentioned, I didn't add anything to the windows of the yellow house yet. I have more fabric that I have to look at to see if I can make something different. I also don't want to over do it because I may have some other fun ideas when I put all the blocks all together. 
• I'm glad that I didn't have many traditional lawn and garden fabrics. I've had to think outside the box by using more fun and funky green fabrics. I love them!
• I have run out of the roof and the sky fabric. I'll be finding some alternative fabrics for these. I know that traditionally it's better to plan all of this out, but this is much more fun 😊. That's when happy accidents happen!
• I'm making this quilt as a large throw for some friends. I think that one of the houses should look a little bit like theirs. Since they live in the country, that could make for a wonderful centre house with a little forest and lake. 
• It's never to late to start planning the quilt, even in the middle of the project!

Related links

• Block 1 of the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL, April 08, 2023
• Latest Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL post (Block 4) with Sandra of mmm quilts
• Details about the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL
• Link to the Rainbow Neighbourhood pattern

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Why not check them out? Sew & Tell, Midweek Maker, Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Peacock Party, Patchwork & Quilts, 

Project QUILTING 14.4 – A Novel Project

Yes, I'm back - I can't believe it either, but how could I resist a challenge about books and novels? It just had to happen 😊

A project inspired by books I've read

I have a really, really hard time choosing my favourite books, authors, etc. It all depends on my mood and what's going on in my life at the time. I guess my reading list is like my quilting and art - all over the place 😁 So here's to all of the books that have let me dream, escape, laugh and grow!

Books in my life

My project was inspired by the fabric that I've put aside for last year's Summer Book Challenge with Kate Basti. Instead of making more Tall Tale blocks that wouldn't count as a specific project, I used some of those fabrics to make 2" hexies, English Paper Piecing (EPP) style.

Of the 20 hexies, 4 of them are of books.

Five (5) are beautiful hand-dyed fabrics that represent my love of colour and art and all of the books that I've read on the subject, including novels about artists.

The rest of the hexies, eleven (11) represent the types of books I love. There is a sewing novelty fabric to represent the tons of books that I devour about quilting, as well as the cozy mysteries that I've read. 

The purple fish represent Douglas Adams' book - So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.

The large bird with the blue flowers is a Nordic fabric, representing the amazing and scary Nordic Noir novels that I enjoy, even if they sometimes spook me!

The nesting doll and the toucan fabric represent the books that I read about other cultures and countries.

The final four hexies of the squirrel, lama, cactus and colourful bird represent the quirky, fun, fantastical books that take me away on adventures.

Here is one of the photos that I took of the fabric pulled for the Summer Book Challenge. You'll recognize a few.

Fabric pulled for the Summer Book Club

Right now I'm reading up on penguins to get ready for my upcoming trip to Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Antarctica. 

Reading all about Penguins

Free Motion Quilting

For the FMQ, I stitched around the hexies and then in-the-ditch between the hexies. I then added words that were related to reading and books. They are: books, library, love, reading, knowledge, fiction, history, learn, culture, fantasy, thriller, true, mystery, funny, sad, travel, escape, novel, adventure, poetry and sci-fi.

Books about artists!

What I learned

• Books are too important to me to skip this Project Quilting challenge, even if I have other things to work on!
• It's been a long time since I did EPP hexies. I still love it!
• In 2020, I did a Project Quilting, Challenge 11.2 of Team Colours. Since I'm not a sports fan (or even a team person), I created a book case quilt of my favourite team - Library! See, I really can't resist 😊
• Thanks so much to Kim and Trish for these wonderful challenges!

My team colours:
The colours of a library

Related links

• Summer Book Club: Coneflowers and books on Free Motion Mavericks, June 30, 2022
• Kate Basti on Instagram
• The colours of books, January 26, 2020

Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties, including Project QUILTING 14.4 – A Novel Project . Let's check out the other Novel related posts! Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Beauties Pageant, Off The Wall Friday, Oh Scrap!, Slow Sunday Stitching, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2023, Sew & Tell, TGIFF, 

Project details

Books in my life

Made for Project QUILTING 14.4 – A Novel Project 

Size: 11¼"x 16½"

Material: commercial and hand-dyed fabrics

Techniques: English Paper Piecing (EPP) and free motion quilting (FMQ)

Tulip Medley for Project Quilting 13.5

I haven't had much time to join Project Quilting this year, but since this week's prompt is Rhythm & Repetition, I decided to take a couple of hours to make something. That's all I allowed myself because I know that I'm quite good at over-thinking and over-doing my projects. This was just a chance to play without expectations.

Rhythm & Repetition

In the Project Quilting 13.5 post, Trish included a couple of helpful links to articles on what rhythm and repetition looks like in art. I've included the links to these articles in Related links below. I was really tempted to do something with dots (they are so much fun to FMQ as pebbles!) in homage to Yayoi Kusama but I wouldn't want to do that quickly, so it'll be for another time.

Tulip Medley - Project Quilting 13.5

Stencils have been on my mind lately (for FMQ but also as tools for surface design) so I took out my lovely collection of stencils. As for the parameters of this quick project, I found an amazing pink hand-dyed fabric by Elaine Quehl and used bright yellow hand-dyed fabric for the borders. Whatever stencils I used would have to fit this textile frame. 

Since I couldn't be sure that any marking tool would come off properly, I opted to mark the back of the piece and FMQ it from the back. I've used this technique several times and as long as your thread tension is excellent, it works incredibly well. I stitched with the same Glide thread that I used for the Fantastic Fusion project, and knew it would be perfect. You can see the Frixion marks on the back of the project. I can ironing it off now that I've taken this photo.😊

Back of the piece marked with a Frixion pen

It was difficult to stop at just FMQ the outline of the design but I did want to keep it simple...and quick. Below you see my hack for keeping the binding down while it's being hand-sewn. Instead of very expensive clips, I use large paper clips. These have letters on them since I also used them for keeping bundles of fabric together when I piece. 

Using large paper clips to keep the fabric edge down

Here is a close up of the free motion quilted stencil. I even buried my threads!

Close up of the free motion quilting

Here are another photo with different lighting.

Tulip Medley

Project Quilting 13.3 Kitchen Influence

On January 30, 2022, Trish announced the third prompt of the season - Kitchen Influence. I've been wanted to make mug rugs but didn't have much time to make them or write a post about them. Since I've been linking up to the odd linking party through Instagram, that was the perfect solution. I posted in the last hour before it finished, but I made it! 😊 

I took out my favourite coffee fabrics and came up with two designs. On one side, in light blue-green, is Medium Roast on a beach, then Venetian Blend in a gondola and finally French Roast wearing a beret. I love these fabrics and bought them in two colours. The other side is on a pink background with Morning Roast on a lazy chair, a Columbian Roast dancing and another French Roast.

Blue coffee bean novelty fabric

Pink coffee bean novelty fabric

What I learned

• It was difficult to stop myself from doing more free motion quilting or even adding beads or some trapunto to the piece. It's now done, but maybe one day I can keep playing with a version 2.0 
• I wish that I had made 2 separate mug rugs with the coffee fabric because no matter how hard I try, I can never get both sides laid out the same. They are cute but the FMQ is a little wonky.

Related links

• Project Quilting: Season 13.5 Rhythm & Repetition
• The Art of Repetition: Pattern and Repetition in Contemporary Art
• Repetition, Rhythm and Pattern
• Project Quilting: Season 13.3 Kitchen Influence

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Why not check out what's going on out there....and of course check out Project Quilting 13.5, I will also be linking up to Free Motion Mavericks with Muv. Off the Wall Friday, TGIFF, Beauties Pageant, Put your foot down, Peacock Party, 

Project details

Tulip Medley

Created for Project Quilting 13.5

Materials: hand-dyed fabrics, Frixion pen, Glide thread

Techniques: Free Motion Quilting (FMQ)

Nifty Novelties Blog Hop at Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 252 of Free Motion Mavericks and the opening day of Nifty Novelties Blog Hop, hosted by Marian of Seams to be Sewn. Marian has obtained some great giveaways, so please read below.

Paddington Bear visits Nifty Novelties Blog Hop 

Last fall on Throwback Thursday for October, my daughter reminded me of my promise to make her a Paddington Bear quilt. I promptly bought the fabrics, and then all kinds of art quilting deadlines happened! I've got a good idea of the quilt's design but I have a couple more quilts to do before I can get to this one. The Nifty Novelties Blog Hop was the perfect excuse to make her a Paddington Bear book mini until I get the real quilt done.

Paddington Bear book block mini

Here is a close-up of the book cover

Paddington came with us to a fancy restaurant tonight and became acquainted with my daughter 😊 I'm happy to report that Paddington Bear was on his best behaviour and my daughter loves her mini!

Paddington Bear among the fresh green sprouts

These are the novelty Paddington Bear fabrics
that I bought last fall. They come from around the world!

I hope that you'll visit the other participants in the Nifty Novelties Blog Hop. The links are at the bottom of this very long post!

Giveaway




Marian of Seams to be Sewn has received a whole bunch of fat quarters for the Nifty Novelties Blog Hop. I'm hoping that Rafflecopter will be easy to use. The giveaway is a Timeless Treasures Fabric Bundle. You can find the raffle details on Marian's post. BTW, I will pay for the shipping of the bundle for the winner of my post 😊.
Update - Dix in Canada is the winner of this Timeless Treasures Fabric Bundle. Thanks to everyone for leaving a message and Marian for organising all of this.

What I learned

• I was going to appliqué the Paddington Bear pieces without using anything behind them (my usual way!) but it became obvious that I needed some kind of stabilizer. I decided to use the Crafted Appliqué technique. It was perfect for this project.
• I stitched the pieces to the front of the book cover with Kimono silk thread without a problem but then had major tension issues with the FMQ. At least the tension was so bad that I was able to pull most of the thread out without effort. This is the first time that this has happened - I think my Jag is due for a tune up.

Related links

• Book block related posts
• Fantastical book block on Free Motion Mavericks, October 10, 2019
• Book covers with Free Motion Mavericks, September 25, 2019
• Summer Book Club QAL on Intragram with Quilt with Kate (quiltwithkate.com)
• Tall Tales pattern
• Crafted Appliqué technique
• October updates, October 22, 2018

Linking parties
I'll be linking this sweetheart at many linky parties. Also, don't be shy. Join us with Free Motion Mavericks this week. Your project doesn't have to be free motion quilted. Colour and Inspiration Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Put your foot down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off The Wall Friday, Friday Foto Fun, Monday Making, Moving It Forward, Design Wall Monday,

Project details

Paddington Bear book block mini

7½" x 8½"

Techniques: foundation paper pieced, crafted appliqué technique, FMQ
Material: cotton








Free Motion Mavericks
There were some lovely projects linked up last time. Quilting Gail finished a 2008 UFO from a Japanese star stack and whack class that she attended. Here is a close up of the piecing. If you didn't see it last time, take a few minutes to visit. 

Quilting Gail's Japanese star stack and whack quilt

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, October 24
Quilting and Learning - What a Combo (you are here!)
Days Filled With Joy
Life in the Scrapatch
Bumbleberry Stitches

Friday, October 25
MooseStashQuilting
Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
Seams To Be Sew

Monday, October 28
Quilted Delights
Melva Loves Scraps
Scrapdash