Showing posts with label placemats. Show all posts

Friday, January 02, 2026

Best of 2025

Welcome to the Best of 2025 post. The annual linking party is hosted by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs. Thanks Cheryl!

I'm very ambivalent about what I accomplished this year, so I hope that you'll oblige me as I review and see how I did!😟As in the past years, I've placed my finishes in categories. These have changed through out the years to reflect what I've made. This year, the categories are quilts (which this year include baby and cuddle quilts, as well as wall hangings and runners), Practical Quilted/Sewn Objects (this includes my 2025 agenda, placemats, a pouch, cell phone holders and water bowl mats), Art Quilts and finally Hand-Stitched and Embroidered projects. The related links are within the post. It's a long post, so feel free to just look at the pictures 😁

Quilts

In my 2025 planning post, I wanted to FMQ 2 quilts. I had hoped to quilt some UFOs but instead I quilted the two quilts that I made in the 2025 SAHRR (Stay At Home Round Robin). These are the two panel quilts - a cowboy quilt and a Christmas panel quilt, that I worked on most of the year.

The Christmas panel quilt

Finished with a few hours to spare!

My Cowboy Panel quilt is a flimsy, that I will finish in the winter of 2026 🤠

A finished flimsy to be quilted soon!

Baby and Cuddle quilts

In 2025, I made and finished one baby quilt and a purple and a teal cuddle quilt. There were all made for the Table Scraps Challenge 2025. I also FMQ a community project baby quilt for our guild.

Scrappy baby and cuddle quilts

FMQ community project baby quilt for the guild

Wall Hangings and Runner

Snow Happens wall hanging is both an embroidery and a quilt. It was a slightly late Christmas quilt decoration for my DIL.

Snow Happens embroidered wall hanging

The Floral Fusion Wall Hanging was a SAL with Denise of The Quiltery. It started in the Fall of 2024 but I didn't finish it until early Summer this year. It now hangs on my youngest adult child's wall!

Floral Fusion wall hanging

I made this fun scrappy runner purely because I could and I wanted to! 😀

A scrappy runner for these two cuties who keep me company at the back of the car.

Practical Quilted/Sew Objects

This year, this grouping includes my 2025 agenda, placemats, a pouch, cell phone holders and water bowl mats.

For the last few years I've sewn a cover for my new agenda. This year, I made an Upcycled Traveller's Journal that would act as an agenda and a place to keep my project notes, and made a cover for the journal. It turned out to be a good idea. I mostly kept my notes up-to-date and only needed to remove the individual journal to work in. I didn't really use the calendar much but I will use the same system in 2026, and won't have to make another agenda cover.

Fabric cover for the Upcycled Traveller's Journal

Inside the Upcycled Traveller's Journal

The Ombre pouch was made for Project Quilting 2025.

Ombre pouch to carry my glasses and phone

I made Scrappy neutral placemats and cell phone holders as gifts to bring to Denmark on my visit.

Call phone holders - so practical!

Scrappy neutral placemats

Finally I made and quilted two water bowl mats for Poppy. One for her home and one for ours!

Poppy's water bowl mat at her home

Poppy's water bowl mat at our place

Art Quilts

Some of my art quilts this year were made for challenges - Project Quilting and/or from TextileArtist.org Stitch Club.

This art piece was made based on a TextileArtist.org workshop and it just happened to be the theme of the first Project Quilting challenge - Mythical Creatures.


My favourite art piece of the year - The Rabbit's Liver - A Korean Folktale

Project Quilting - Common blocks

Reclaiming Fallen Feathers

My other art quilts are not technically quilts but hand-stitched textile art pieces. I learned the technique in TextileArtist.org's workshop by artist Julia Wright. I've made three of these coiled pieces so far and there are more in the works.

Pink Turtlehead Flowers

Sunset Over Water

Desert Landscape

Hand-Stitched, Embroidered and Woven Projects

This Spring, I finished a Kawandi Style neutral mat for my niece.

Kawandi-style neutral mat

I participated in the annual Zen Stitching event and made a lovely scrappy hand-stitched needle case as well as a Mindful stitch sampler.

Needle Case

Mindful Stitch Sampler

This summer, based on artist Mirjam Gielen's branching video on Patreon, I started making the tree and its roots on a piece of eco-dyed linen fabric. I finished it and called it "Mercury Retrograde - Strong Roots Required!"

Mercury Retrograde - Strong Roots Required!

In October, I went back to my first love, weaving, and made a number of hand-woven pieces made on cardboard. Two of the pieces were also my Table Scraps Challenge since they incorporated, denim, quilted scraps and neutral colours!

Autumn Beauty

Earth Tones

In November, one of my favourite embroidery teachers, Mirjam Gielen, hosted a spiral challenge.

A few embroidered spirals

I almost forgot those cute Christmas scrappy mats that were November's Table Scraps Challenge finish.

Final finishes for the Table Scraps Challenge of 2025

Finally but not at all finished, is my Not-so-daily-stitching project. I'm afraid that it's not even been weekly but I did enjoy embroidering reminders of what I had done this year. Here are a couple of examples.

Joe-Pye weed as seen during our trip

Sunset over water

What I learned

The year was better than I expected. I did finish many smaller projects and on the whole, had fun making them 😊(which is what it's all about!)
The two panel quilts were a lot of work, and although I enjoyed making them, caused me stress because I wanted to get them finished! I'm going to try to avoid that in the upcoming year.
My true measure of the type of year I had is the number of posts that I published. At 63, this is not as good as the past few years, but I'm quite happy with it, considering the year I had.
I'm glad that I hosted the FM Mavericks linking party - that meant that I had to publish at least once a week. I changed the party name and button as of January 1st - I Quilted This!. It has the same objective - quilts that are quilted on a domestic machine or custom quilted on a longarm.
My favourite hand-stitching projects were the coiled pieces and the hand-woven pieces on paper/cardboard. They were so much fun to make and perfect for experimenting and playing.
My favourite quilting projects were the baby and cuddle quilts. They were as simple or as complex as I want to make them but always fun...they are also perfect for experimenting and playing.
I will really miss the Table Scraps Challenge that's been hosted by Joyful. Many of my finishes were as a result of that party, so I'll have to keep myself motivated to play with scraps - especially to make scrappy hand-stitched mats and cuddle quilts. Thanks Joyful for keeping us inspired. We will miss the party but you need to take care of yourself!
I think that I've found my 2026 words - playful experiments!

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties, particularly the Best of 2025 as well as Quilting Jet Girl's #2025QuiltingCheckIn. Yvonne wanted to know how our year went - well, it was much better than I expected - so it was nice to see that! Thanks Yvonne.

You may want to check some out! Finished (or Not) Friday, Off The Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, Slow Sunday Stitching,

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Scraps, a Finish and FM Mavericks

Hello and welcome 😓 I'm hot and miserable (no AC) but I'm not letting it get to me, at least in public 😀, so enough about that! This week, I played with scraps - my happy place! I also FMQ (free motion quilted) Poppy's little placemat for her water bowl. Everyone in the family now has a placemat. Yay!

Playing with scraps

My DIL's mother made a few baby quilts and gave me all of her scraps. There were some decent sized pieces that played well together, so I'm sure I have enough to make a baby quilt for charity. What fun! These are the four blocks that I've made so far.

Blocks for a baby quilt

I used an assortment of squares and added wonky flip and stitch ends to turn them into wonky snowball blocks. I sewed the four wonky snowball units together and added fabric strips on each side.

Wonky snowball blocks

I did the same thing to other blocks but added the wonky flip and stitch on just two sides. I've searched but I don't know what these blocks are called. If they have a name, please let us know.

Wonky on two sides blocks 😁

First two sets of blocks - the colourful ones

The other set of blocks in muted colours

When I get back to these (before the end of the month since they will be my orange Table Scraps project for June), I'll have to decide on the size of the quilt, play with the design, add sashing, etc.

Poppy Placemat

I finally FMQ Poppy's placemat. Here it is! 🐕

Front of Poppy's placemat with her water bowl (made by Jeannine)

The back of Poppy's placemat -
the top fabric is a Pet Value kerchief

What I learned

I'm in my happy place when I play with scraps. I think it's because I don't give myself pressure to measure - it's just pure play.
I was thrilled when I figured out how to flip and stitch using some very oddly shaped scraps. I took a lot of pictures, so I may prepare a tutorial some day.

Flip and stitch with oddly shaped scraps

I was not very grounded or prepared when I FMQ Poppy's placemat. I had no idea what design to use. I should have stopped and thought about if for a few minutes before starting. I have a FMQ journal full of possible designs that I can do, so there wasn't any excuse except that I was impatient.
The FMQ is ok - well at least the tension is good. It's just not cohesive or pretty. I'm sure that Poppy will not notice!
I love the water bowl that Jeannine made - it's cute, huge and covers most of the FMQ!😁
Happy Summer Solstice 🌞

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You might want to check some of them out! Please remember to link up below, even if you don't FMQ. Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday, Beauties Pageant, TGIFF, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2025, Oh Scrap!,

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 536 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was a very productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.

Gretchen from Gretchen's Little Corner quilted two lovely related quilts. Both were quilted in the same way - check out her post for more details!

The front of Gretchen's first quilt.

A lovely scrappy back with lots of interest, quilted by Gretchen

Gretchen's small quilt from the same left overs

Vicki from Vicki's Crafts and Quilts finished her scrappy brick quilt with all over stippling on her longarm. This quilt has a surprise! Vicki pieced a cute panel for the backing. It's now double sided!

Vicki's scrappy brick quilt - all finished!

The back of Vicki's quilt - a lovely panel

Janine of Quilts from the Little House made this really lovely landscape farm art quilt. She pieced it using foundation paper piecing! You'll want to check out her post for details on the inspiration, the making of it and the quilting.

Janine's lovely farm art quilt

Janine used many techniques to make this,
including embroidering the slightly sagging fence!

It's now your turn!

Thursday, November 07, 2024

Table Topper and Playing with Weaving

Hi and welcome 😊 I'm late but finally here. I can't imagine anyone is waiting impatiently for me to click on Publish, but if you are, then please accept my apologies. I had a great day out with my girlfriend. We had an amazing Thai lunch to celebrate our October birthdays and then attended a preview at the National Gallery of Canada. What a lovely, carefree afternoon.

Making a Table Topper

The friends whose pool I took care of this summer are having a party on the weekend. He is retiring and I'm making him a special table topper/placemat. He is from Newfoundland and had painted his back fence in the style of the homes there.

Here is the quilt, ready to be FMQ (free motion quilted).

Newfoundland Houses Table Topper ready to be quilted

Here is the backyard fence, painted in the style of houses found in Newfoundland. The picture is slightly fuzzy because I took it from inside the gazebo.

Fence in the backyard

I didn't take process pictures. I drew the three houses on graph paper, cut and pieced the fabric for the houses. I then used Steam-a-Seam light to appliqué the windows and doors. On the fence, the white doors are outlined in black and the black doors are outlined in white so I used black and white zig-zag stitches around the windows and doors. I made two passes at them since some of the stitches were missed. It might have been a tension issue because there was no issue stitching on the thicker purple fabric.

I'll be finishing this piece before Saturday, so I'll try to write a post on the weekend.

Playing with Weaving

This afternoon was the preview of Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. What a great exhibition. The premise of the exhibition is that modern tapestry has influenced abstraction in modern art. A lot of the work was done in the sixties and was very ahead of its time. The majority was also made by women 😍

I'm just going to share a couple of pieces with you and hope that if you can, come see the exhibition (see Related links below).

Liz Collins Heartbeat 2019

silk and linen textile, Jacquard woven and cut

Liz Collins' Heartbeat 2019

Here is Olga de Amaral's art piece, Cintas entrelazadas c. 1969 made of wool and cotton. The colours and the construction are so interesting.

Olga de Amaral, Cintas entrelazadas c. 1969
wool and cotton

Close-up of Olga de Amaral's, Cintas entrelazadas

After viewing the art, my friend and I stopped in at the creation area of the exhibit. There were materials and information on how to weave. Here are our creations!

Woven on cardboard with strips of printed paper and raffia.

My woven piece after visiting the exhibit

Lise says she's not creative
but her piece begs to differ!

If you can't make it to Ottawa to view the exhibit, there are many articles in the Related links below. The exhibition, Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction will be at MOMA - The Museum of Modern Art, New York, April 20–September 13, 2025.

End Notes

Here are a couple of photos taken today.

Poppy and some street art in Ottawa's
Byward Market

Louise Bourgeois' outdoor sculpture, Maman,
outside of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

What I learned

The table topper is coming along. My proportions are off compared to the fence. We'll call it artistic interpretation (aka accuracy challenged).
The zig-zag stitch was a challenge. I changed my needle but I'm not sure that my machine likes to stitch over Steam-a-Seam. In the end, if I stitched very, very slowly, the zig-zag stitch was better. It also worked fine when I stitched over a section in reverse! Next time I need to appliqué, I'll try to do it when I'm fresher and more patient. That will surely help to trouble shoot.
You probably noticed that the table topper is the mirror image of the fence. I must have sewn the fabric upside down, but didn't notice until it was too late. Oh well, another artistic interpretation 😁
I have already cut out the backing and will sew it up using the pillow case method. This means that I won't have to deal with binding. Yay!
It turns out that the Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction exhibit has been around for a while. This was great in finding the links below. I took quite a few pictures of the text since I'd like to research a few of the artists.
I really wanted to include other art pieces here but sometimes textile art just doesn't photograph well, at least without great equipment. I'm going to change my phone soon and I can't wait to get a much better camera.

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 506 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was another productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.

Gail of Quilting Gail made this cute Dresden Plate mini that is at the Hobb's Batting booth at the Houston Quilt Market! Very cool and colourful.