Getting stuff done and I Quilted This!

Hello and welcome 😊 Has your winter started yet? Apparently the weather here is cold enough for the Rideau Canal to be open for skating - so it's officially winter in Ottawa. The weather inside my studio is lovely so stuff is getting done! My plans for 2026 are ambitious, but at least I'm working on them.

FMQ the Cowboy panel quilt (SAHRR 2025)

I stitched-in-the-ditch most of the quilt and it was time to start quilting the blocks. I used the walking foot for the quilting that was straight lines and then switched to the FM or darning foot for the rest. I'm very happy to report that my tension was perfect even with the cotton thread.

Here are a few of the blocks. Some of them were quilted in straight lines with the walking foot.

Straight line quilting

Other blocks got a mix of straight line quilting and then FMQ. 

Straight line and FMQ for this block

Some blocks were FMQ.

Lots of fun FMQ

FMQ with dark variegated thread.
The cow will be outlined in another colour.

FMQ with the possibility of adding
more details on the hat and boots

I worked through the quilt by colour. The straight lines were mostly done with blue thread. I then started FMQ with the dark variegated thread and finally a soft gray polyester thread. Once I finish quilting the blocks, I'll tackle the panel. I really don't mind following the fabric's pattern but I have to be careful to actually stitch on the line! 😁

First baby quilt in the making

My youngest adult child has three friends who are having babies so we are making them baby quilts. JJ helped me decide on the patterns and the fabric. This first quilt is from the Martingale book, Modern Baby. We chose the Square Dance pattern because we want to include fabric that relates to the parents' hobbies and lives. 

Square Dance pattern

Modern Baby by Martingale

I'm using my stash of Kona cottons to make the shapes while the squares within will be novelty fabric to reflect their interests and of course baby.

This is what the quilt looks like so far. Unfortunately my design wall is not wide enough, but you get the idea.

The first row of the quilt

The first block is a Star Wars fabric, the second is cute dinosaurs, the third fabric has a rainbow and flowers and says "Be happy, be kind, be you" and the fourth fabric is adventure themed.

It took me a while to figure things out because the pattern assumes that you'll make all of the same pieces at once. Since I'm using the fabric I have, I had to figure out how to make each block. The trickiest part was to make the half square triangles with three different fabrics. It took a few tries but I got it!  I'm happy to report that I didn't have to use the seam ripper much 😁

I've made a rough plan to keep me organised. 

The plan to keep me on track

Embroidery

Yesterday I finally put away our Christmas tree. Now I have my slow stitching space back in our living room. I started by stitching the year in the next square of my Not so daily stitching project. I couldn't help stitching it in white 😀 as a nod to the silly colour of the year, but I then had to add a bit of colour!

I also experimented with the turkey stitch. I stitched it in beautiful silk yarn. Our local yarn store is closing since the owner is retiring. I've been in there a few times in the last couple of months to pick up some beautiful yarns to embroider with. You can get quite a bit when it's 40-50% off.

Practicing the turkey stitch with silk yarn

before the haircut!

Turkey stitch with a trim

This was very much a practice block, but I guess I should add a little something to make it more cohesive.

I've been wanting to practice this stitch but didn't remember its name. Fleur Woods, the textile artist that I took a course from last year is offering the same course again and since I registered last year, I can participate in this one. I reviewed parts of the course and found the turkey stitch. I want to use this in the last coiled project that I was working on to add flowers to the piece. The turkey stitch will be perfect! 

What I learned

• I've really enjoyed quilting the cowboy panel quilt. With so many blocks to quilt, it's fun to jump from one to another to use the same coloured thread.
• Since my tension is doing great, I don't even have to change the bobbin thread except from dark to light to match the top thread.
• I do enjoy FMQ by following the lines in the fabric images. It's just getting harder to stay on the line but I'm OK if I take it slowly.
• I'm also FMQ with a strong pair of reading glasses, that has a clip-on magnifier attached to them. What a difference it makes. I now have two sets (upstairs and down) and use them to embroider and get that darn thread/yarn into the needle!
• I really enjoyed figuring out the Square Dance baby pattern. I should be able to use the Kona solids from my stash. We also have some really cool novelty fabrics to choose from.
• I've been really scattered and overwhelmed during the last week. Today doing some slow stitching really helped to calm me down. I feel so much better. 😊

Coming up

Things are getting busy so I'm going to use this space to keep myself organised!

• This week's prompt for Project Quilting is plaid - the finished project is due Sunday.
• Round 1 of SAHRR 2026 is now out - it's the hour glass block. I need to get fabric from my stash and make at least one block. The linking party closes on Monday.
• The Cowboy panel quilt is my January OMG - I have until January 31^th to post it.
• The blue house for A Quilter's Cove QAL needs to be done by January 31^th so that I can host the linking party!

Related links

• Starting Things and I Quilted This!, January 15, 2026
• Modern Baby 
• Updates on Joyful Embroidery Projects, January 1, 2025
• Best of 2025 - Not-so-daily-stitching project, January 02, 2026

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Why not check some out, after you've linked up below? Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2026, Oh Scrap!, Slow Sunday Stitching, Monday Musings, Sew & Tell, 

I Quilted This!

Welcome to the I Quilted This! linking party. I'll be  featuring the projects from last week's  party that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. Thank you everyone who linked up. Feel free to grab the button. 

Kat of Scrapbox Quilts quilted another charity quilt with a donated flimsy and backing. Kat quilted this baby quilt in a continuous circle.

Baby quilt quilted by Kat

Melva, of Melva Loves Scraps, made a quilted panel for her t-shirt. Melva quilted the block before adding it to the t-shirt using a reverse appliqué technique. If you're interested, read her post to find out how to make your own!

Melva's finished t-shirt with a quilt block 

Melva and her Arches National Park t-shirt

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts participated in the Starry Seas Blog Hop. Her quilt, Dawn to Dusk, was inspired by her commute. You'll want to check out her post for more details of the story. 

Preeti's Dawn to Dusk quilt for the Starry Seas Blog Hop 

It's now your turn!😍

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Learning Tibetan Appliqué on Free Motion Mavericks

Hi and welcome 😊 I'm so happy that you've dropped by. There has been lots of learning going on - so it's a good week. The weather is cooperating and I'm spending time in the backyard - more enjoying than working in it, but it's all good!

 

Tibetan Appliqué

If you're wondering what is Tibetan Appliqué, you're not alone. I had never heard of this amazing art until I took Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo's workshop in Textile Artist's Stitch Club last week. It's a very ancient art which actually starts with making cording from horse hair! No, I didn't quite get into that. I don't think my poor hands and wrists could handle it! Thank goodness for alternatives.

The first piece of couched embroidery

During the first week, we drew our image onto stabilized silk. Then we couched the cord following the lines of our image. I used hemp cording that I bought locally. There weren't many colour options. These cords are used mostly for making bracelets. 

Couching the hemp cording onto the silk fabric

For the Further Development part of the workshop, we create a composition with other couched pieces on silk. Then we cut these out, finish the edges of each piece and eventually stitch these down to create the appliqué piece. 

The finished butterfly and the other silk pieces with patterns on them.

The stitched leaves are ready to finish by turning the edges

As I reviewed Leslie's work to write this post, I realised that there are no double lines of couching in her pieces. I don't think that I can removed the second line of couching in the fuchsia flower without it showing, (so I'm just not going to do that again! )😁

I've finished stitching the leaves. I used three different types of cording - one was the hemp cord, one was a heavier jute cord that really worked well and the other was perle cotton that I doubled. Now I know the difference. The perle cotton is squished down by the couching. It looks OK but I understand why cording is better. I love having an excuse to use my silk thread - it does a wonderful job of couching. 

I'll be putting all of these together when each piece is couched and the edges are prepared.

Hemp, jute cording and perle cotton used as well as matching silk thread

As well as being an artist and teaching this wonderful art, Leslie wrote a book about her experience. She spent 9 years with the Tibetan people in exile in India, volunteering and eventually as an apprentice to masters, learning to make fabric Thangkas. She wrote a book which is amazing - easy to read and so insightful. If you don't read her book, I recommend that you at least see some of her work on her website (in Related links below).

Threads of Awakening by Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo

August's One Monthly Goal (OMG)

With a few hours to spare, I'm linking up to the August OMG link-up. By the end of August, I will have started putting together the "Healing Waters" panels quilt for my hubby. I'm not sure how much I'll get done but even pulling out and sewing up a few wonky strips would be a good beginning 😊

August's OMG - working on "Healing Waters" panel quilt

What I learned

• It's taken me longer than usual to work on this project because I've spent a lot of time reading Leslie's book. 😊 (I'll be giving it 5 🌟!
• It's pretty obvious that cording is better than perle cotton.
• It turns out that there are lots of different types of cording. What I'll use mostly depends on the colours that I can find.
• It's important to leave enough space between pieces so that they can be turned under. That's why the leaves are two different shades of green!
• I was lucky to be given a large bundle of silk fabric already backed by stabilizer. These were originally obtained by cutting up silk blouses and such. You never know when you'll need them 😁
• I'll be finishing up the flower soon and then will start to prepare the fabric for stitching together. I guess you'll see how that goes in a future post. It's been much more difficult to turn the edges under - probably because I have a tooth/sinus infection that's making me very cranky and not at all patient. I expect to be on penicillin on Monday and will start to feel better (except for my stomach!) 
• It was a great workshop and I hope that you take the time to visit Leslie's website to see her amazing art.
• I've been wanting to start on the panel quilt but everything seems to push it off the top of the list. I think that I'm nervous about it and procrastinating. It won't be difficult and if it's off, then the seam ripper is my friend!

Related links

• Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo website, Instagram. blog, book trailer 
• Having Fun with Panels on Free Motion Mavericks, February 22, 2024

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Why not check them out after you've linked up below? August One Monthly Goal (OMG), Sew & Tell, Monday Musing, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Beauties Pageant, Finished (Or Not) Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2024, Oh Scrap!, Slow Sunday Stitching, 

Free Motion Mavericks

We've had an incredibly busy linking party last week. Thanks so much for linking up! This is week 493 and we have many lovely quilts that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting to feature!

Quilting Gail had a few lovely quilts in the post that she linked up. Here is Julie's Quilt as well as her lovely "There She Blows", created for the Something Smells Fishy blog hop.  

Gail's lovely Julie's Quilt

Gail's There She Blows quilt

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts had a quilt pattern published once more. This beauty is Fireworks in Issue 59 of Make Modern Magazine. 

Fireworks in Issue 59 of Make Modern Magazine

We have Tula Hexies by Gretchen. What a lovely hexie quilt!

Tula Hexies by Gretchen

Gretchen didn't FMQ her orange peels. She marked them onto her quilt and sewed them. There are many ways of quilting your quilts!

Details of the quilting on Gretchen's Tula's Hexies 

Kat of Scrapbox Quilts finished her yellow Lima Twin Quilt. She FMQ it with overlapping circles. It's very effective!

Kat's Lima Twin Quilt. with overlapping circles

Sally from Crafts, Cavies and Cooking diligently worked to a deadline to get her "Birds of a Feather" quilt done. The quilt is really stunning, including the back! You'll want to check out her post to see details of her FMQ.

Sally's "Birds of a Feather" quilt

The back of Sally's "Birds of a Feather" quilt

Deb, the Scrappy Quilter, finished quilting a number of quilts in July. My two favourite are her two wonky log cabin quilts. The log cabin in scrappy fabrics really pops on her black background. I love her border for the second quilt.

Deb's variation on a wonky log cabin quilt

Check out the border on Deb's wonky log cabin quilt

Kathleen McMusing may have used her longarm to finish her Diatom Quilt but since she created some of her own quilting patterns and that it was very custom quilted, I wanted to feature it here. It really is stunning. The pattern is from Quilting Jetgirl and was part of a QAL.

Diatom Quilt finished by Kathleen

Denise of the Quiltery has made a beautiful mini quilt, Nirvana as part of the Island Batik Mini Quilt Challenge. She writes about her FMQ in her post - you may want to read all about it!

Denise's Nirvana mini quilt

It's now your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Gaïa's Garden

If you're interested, Gaïa's Garden is now on display at the Mississippi Mills Textile Museum as part of the Out of the Box (OOTB) artists group's Summer Fibrations Art Show.

Gaïa's Garden

It's been a long time coming. I've been thinking of this piece for about a year, wondering how I would make it.

Gaïa's Garden art quilt

I played with the placement of the fabric, one section at a time, until I liked what I saw. Some parts were easy while others were a real struggle. I'm not sure why. It may have something to do with expectations.

I suppose that this could be called the second in two series, depending on how you define the series. It's my second "fantasy garden" piece and also my second Gaïa piece. Here are the first in both series.

Morning Has Broken
Art with Fabric, Spring 2018

Gaïa Mother Earth
Art with Fabric, Fall 2017

Both of these were made for the Art with Fabric Blog Hops, Fall 2017 and Spring 2018.











Free Motion Quilting 

Free motion quilting (FMQ) this piece took a very long time. I had said that I would be using different threads, but in the end I decided to stay with the Kimono Silk thread. since it was going so well,.

FMQ all the fun details in the fabric

I remember that I started with bright yellow thread and worked on many, many pieces that needed to be FMQ in that colour. Then I got bored before I had finished with the bright yellow and changed thread and kept going to another part of the quilt. That went on for a very long time. Eventually there were only some small spaces left to fill in.

I love how the quiet space of the swamp came together

Solving a challenge

The trickiest part of this piece occurred just as I thought that I was almost finished. I had noticed that my image of Gaïa seemed to be a little lumpy. I decided that I would deal with it once I had finished putting all of the fabrics onto the piece. I ended up ignoring the problem until after the FMQ. Better to deal with it later....right?

It might not have been such an obvious problem if I had sewn down Gaïa a little more right from the start, but somehow I doubt it. All I know is that there was a largish space that had not been stitched while all around it was heavily stitched....you can see it coming, can't you?

Gaïa had many sags

I might not have needed Gaïa to be svelte, but she was sagging quite a bit. Well, I've always wanted to try trapunto, so I ended up making a slit at the back of the quilt and giving her a little padding. The first time I sort of overdid it, and discovered that although I had sewn Gaïa to the background fabric, I hadn't sewn around her once the batting had been added.

I overdid the stuffing of Gaïa

I almost never un-stitch or redo things. I usually try to find a way around the problem, however after sleeping on it, I decided that it was worth while un-stuffing poor Gaïa, and at the same time sewing around her through the batting.

I added the label on top of the opening.

Here is a final picture of Gaïa's Garden, taken on the way to delivering her to the Mississippi Mills Textile Museum.

Gaïa in her fantasy garden

What I learned

• I'm not sure that re-doing the stuffing was worth it. After finishing the piece, it seemed to be fine but in the pictures, it looks a little off. As a friend said, Gaïa would probably have a few lumps and bumps, wouldn't she?
• I am happy that I took the time to re-do Gaïa. If I want to take my art to the next level, I will need to seriously consider un-doing work more often. I generally know right away when a problem arises but I usually talk myself out of doing anything about it. 
• I think that if I had sewn the image of Gaïa onto a fusible web, that it might have avoided the problem and kept the image flatter. On the other hand, if I had done that, I wouldn't have a 3D art quilt😊
• I also need to plan my FMQ a little more when filling up spaces that really show. I had practiced drawing the stitching that I wanted in the sun but ended up starting the FMQ too quickly. I ended up only one side being what I wanted. I think that being a little more deliberate would have been worth it.

Related links

• Summer Fibrations Art Show 
• Out of the Box Art (OOTB) Artists Group 
• Mississippi Valley Textile Museum

Post related to the making of Gaïa's Garden

Summer Fibrations Art Show, June 23, 2019

Gaïa's Garden is coming along, June 2, 2019

Making Gaia's Garden, May 20, 2019 

FMQ practice and planning, April 20, 2019

Linking parties
Gaïa's Garden has been my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for both May and June. I'm really happy to be linking up to the June Finish of the OMG. I will be linking up to Muv's Free Motion Mavericks as well as many other great linkup parties. Let's see what's going on! Moving It Forward, Monday Making, What I Made Monday, Tuesday Colour Linky Party. Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, Wondering Camera, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Finished or Not Friday, Friday Foto Fun, TGIFF, Off The Wall Friday, Main Crush Monday, Favorite Finish Link-up in June, June's UFO and WIP Challenge,

Project Details

Gaïa's Garden
20" x 22"
Materials: hand-dyed and commercial cottons, silk, tulle, gauze, silk thread
Techniques: appliqué, free motion quilting, trapumto, improv piecing

Making Gaïa's Garden

After a bit of productive procrastination, I'm back to working on my art quilt.

Gaïa's Garden

It's always a long process, so I thought that I would share some of it with you. Here's a recap (see Related links below).

My model for Gaïa

Choosing a colour palette

My model for Gaïa is this picture of a reproduction statuette of a beautiful Pre-Columbian female figure from Colombia, South America.

I used photo transfer medium to make the fabric image.

Gradients Multi
33366 11D Moda

It took me a long time to start because I was looking for the right fabric, which I found in the Gradients by Moda line.

Fussy cutting and trying out possibilities

Next I went through my stash and fussy cut fabric, including the background. I just placed them on the design board to get the general effect and to ensure that I had enough fabric.

That's where I was in my last post, with lots of work left and many possibilities.

The next part is the one I find most intimidating - taking everything off the design board and creating the background.

I attached the sky (including my hand-dyed yellow and pink cotton), the green background and the river. Then it was time to play with the colours. I took out my box of gauze, tulle, and silk.

It's difficult to see in the photo but the sky and river really shimmer. I separated the river into 3 sections - the reflection of the sky, a more turbulent riven and then a calmer lake.

Knowing what to keep

Creating the background and adding shimmer

From the many versions on my design board, there were a few things that I knew that I would keep.

These were the leaves beside Gaïa and the large plant, flowers and bird in this photo.








It took several tries to get the other side of Gaïa finished. My original thought was to use the light leaves. I also tried out some yellow/orange leaves but they just blended into the reflecting water. Finally I choose the darker blue leaves to create more contrast. Since the image of Gaïa is light, she needs a little help to stand out.

Should I use the light coloured leaves?

What about the yellow/orange leaves?

Finally choosing the darker blue leaves

Below you can see that I added a couple of leaves on top to create a curve.

My next two challenges can be seen in this image. The first one is by the river where I want to create a quiet space with a bit of a swamp or pond. The second one is the lotus flower at the foot of Gaïa. This is where I'm at, although I can still change my mind since the challenging pieces haven't been attached yet.

What it looks like so far

I'm working mostly from my design board which is on my ironing board. When I like something, I just pin them into place and go to the sewing machine next to it. I've been using Superior Threads' Kimono Silk thread to attach all of these pieces. I'm trying not to add too much detail at this point since once everything is attached, I'll be free motion quilting the piece. At that point, I may use heavier thread, depending on the effect that I want.

Working on my design board

Using Kimono Silk thread

What I learned

• Deadlines have their usefulness (I guess) but since I got a bit of a reprieve, it's taking that much longer to make. Turns out that the description was due in mid-May but the final product is only due in mid-June. I'm afraid that I'll be using every last minute of that extra time - to make it and to productively procrastinate 😉 
• There is still a ways to go, although it usually goes a little faster once things fall into place.
• As I've been writing this post, I realise that I'll be placing the swamp in the lake part of the piece. It make more sense, although reality is not especially important here! 
• As for the lotus flower, I think that if I add more fabric around it, I'll get a better sense of how it will look.
• My background has a few puckers in it. Since I'm making this up as I go along, I'll probably cut around the river and adjust the fabric.

Related links

• Free Motion Quilting and Planning, April 20, 2019
• Free Motion Mavericks and an art quilt in the making, April 25, 2019
• Gradients Multi 33366 11D Moda
• Superior Threads Kimono Silk Thread
• This is the exhibit that I'm getting ready for: Summer Fibrations at the Mississippi Mills Textile Museum in Almonte, Ontario

Linking parties

Although I haven't started quilting yet, I've sure been using my FMQ skills to stitch all of this fabric down. I'll be joining Muv at last week's Free Motion Mavericks, as well as many other great link-ups. Let's see what's going on this lovely Victoria Day weekend. Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Midweek Makers, Finished or Not Friday and Friday Foto Fun, Off the Wall Friday, Favorite Finish Monthly Linkup, 

Remember to link up any quilting projects on Thursday when I'll be hosting Free Motion Mavericks! See you then 😊