Traveller's Blanket Update

I've been doing a lot of slow stitching, mostly on my Traveller's Blanket and then posting on Instagram. There have been lots and lots of hours pleasantly spent stitching and now quilting it.

Quilting the Traveller's Blanket

The last update on my Traveller's Blanket was October 11, 2021. I was showing you my daily stitching on the #100dayschallenge on Instagram. At the time I was up to day 37/100. On Day 39, I started quilting the background of the right top corner of the piece. This picture was taken about a week ago.

Slowly quilting around each piece 

Here is a close-up that was taken a few days after.

Stitched top-right corner

I'm doing all of the quilting with sewing or quilting thread. Most of them are King Tut Superior variegated thread. I love the look of it although you can mostly see the changes in colour when you're up-close.

It turns out that I have lots of this type of thread 😊

At one point I got bored of making straight-ish lines, so I quilted a swirl. Because the centre was puffing up, I added a few French Knots. 

A quilted swirl and French Knots

Right now I'm working beneath the hexie, which is at the right bottom corner of the piece. 

Stitching the bottom right corner

Here is the difference between looking at the thread colour from the front of the hand-dyed fabric, vs the back of the quilt on white fabric. The pictures above and below were today's (Day 64/100) Instagram post.

This is the back of the blanket, with the
variegated thread against the white background

What I learned

• I'm really enjoying the quilting part and I usually listen to an audiobook at the same time. Last week I listened to many of them. It was very Zen.
• Of course I did get bored and did some stitching in a swirl. It went well but since there is so much going on in the piece, I don't think that I should do that too often. 😊
• It's also difficult to post just plain stitching on Instagram so I try to include the shapes around it. They are quite popular - it must be all that yummy colour :-)

Related links

• Updates on Slow Stitching projects, October 11, 2021
• Update on my Traveller's Blanket, September 28, 2021
• Quilting & Learning - What a Combo on Instagram

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties (now that my WIFI is up again!) Check them out and see what's happening out there in quilt land😊 Patchwork & Quilts, Monday Making, Design Wall Mondays, Put Your Foot Down, Needle and Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?,  Peacock Party, Slow Sunday Stitching, 

Improv piecing and FMQ

Welcome to week   of Free Motion Mavericks linking party. I'm not sure if the eye candy will show up today since I waited too late in the day to take pictures.

Playing with improv piecing and FMQ

I'm really into mindless at this time. The heat is back and Chevy is not letting me sleep as much as I need to! All that to say that last night I wanted to sew but I didn't want to follow a pattern or plan, therefore, improv piecing! Since I also wanted some free motion quilting for today's post, I added solid fabric in the middle of the improv piecing.

FMQ the Improv piece

For the improv piecing, I used up fabrics from a box of partially stitched pieces that didn't make it into an improv quilt. Since I wanted to be able to FMQ and hand-stitch, it needed some solid fabric. This is what the piece looked like this morning. I kept looking at it during the day, hoping for inspiration on what to FMQ on it. 

Improv pieced background

In the end, I decided on various shapes. I was inspired by a placemat under my work laptop in the dining room. There were boxes within boxes and diamonds on them. I added a circle, some hexies (of course), and other shapes.

This is what it looks like so far. I used mostly variegated thread for the stitching, which doesn't show up well.

Close up of the free motion quilting

What's next?

Playing with thread - both hand stitching and possibly more FMQ.

Last week I discovered Maiwa. Two orders in less than two weeks later, I'm in big trouble. I'm totally addicted 😊 I think that it's a great addiction - it's socially acceptable (there may be some eye rolling from non textile people), it has no calories and it takes up less space than fabric. That's a win, win, win situation!

In the box are two sets of hand-dyed Bengal thread - silk and linen. They also have cotton and wool in these colours but I couldn't resist the silk and linen. I have started using them and I'll tell you all about them in another post. 

Bengal hand-dyed thread from Maiwa (silk and linen) 

These are hand-dyed linen, also from Maiwa

I will be using these and other threads to add to the FMQ. I'm really not sure what I'll be doing except for using some fun stitches over and around the FMQ. You'll have to come back next time to see what I end up doing!

What I learned

• It's really hard to not plan a project. The improv piecing was straight forward but I really didn't want to spend much time planning the FMQ. I hope that the use of shapes was a good idea...we'll see.
• The trick when hand stitching will be to make the piece interesting, with mouvement and cohesion.
• I discovered Maiwa from an article where Sue Stone is interviewed and she talked about some of the supplies that she uses. When I read that Maiwa was a Canadian company, I just had to check it out. Wow! (See Related links below)
• I'm really looking forward to using the linen thread. I bought a white skein to eventually dye. That could be a lot of fun!

Related links

• Maiwa.com 
• Bengal thread from Maiwa
• TextileArtist.org - Sue Stone: Travel adventures in stitch

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Join me to see what's going on out there (but that's after you've linked up below!) Midweek Makers, Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off The Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, Slow Sunday Stitching, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2021, Monday Making,

Free Motion Mavericks

It was a small intimate party last time but wow - the FMQ was impressive. I'm going to be featuring them all!

Let's start with Rebecca's White On White Bailee Quilt. Rebecca may be using a computerized long arm but that baby needs some guidance to quilt this kind of quilting. 

Rebecca Grace's incredible White on White Bailee Quilt

Sandra of mmm quilts participated in the Just One Charm Pack Blog Hop with a lovely quilt designed by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Design. The Blog Hop was to showcase quilts from Cheryl's book, Just One Charm Pack Quilts. It's really amazing how the fabric and the quilting can change the look of a quilt. Sandra did a stunning job, as usual 😊.

Sandra's version of Blossom Chains, called Captiva Meadow

Gail of Quilting Gail got another UFO finished! She had some trouble with a couple of rows of swirls and found out that a new needle was the solution. It's a painful lesson to learn, but at least the solution was simple! Check out Gail's swirls. She did a great job of putting those two sets of panels together to make the quilt.

Another UFO finish by Quilting Gail!

And now it's your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Planets, Stars and More on Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to Free Motion Mavericks, week 327. This is probably the last post on the progress of this Pinwheels and Stars baby quilt. I'm really hoping that the next post with be the big finish 😁.

Planets, Stars and More...

There are many wonders in our sky - so here are the latest additions to the sky surrounded by pinwheels and stars.

A nebula and oh....a UFO (not of the fabric kind) 😊

 Here is the negative space viewed in two parts.

A view of the top part

A view of the bottom part

And now we have a view of most of the quilt.

Major elements FMQ onto the negative space of the quilt

What's left to do

The sky

• I will be FMQ small stars and swirls around the major elements. This will even out the quilting and give it a bit more stability and durability. I'll be using either regular white thread or Bottom Line white thread. I haven't decided yet. If I'm smart, I'll practice to see how the tension is and how it looks.
• I also need to square off the quilt - not my idea of fun, but certainly less difficult when it's a smaller quilt.
• Next comes the binding and a label. 
• I really want this done by my next Free Motion Mavericks post which is on April 29th. It would also be in time for my One Monthly Goal of April 😊

What I learned

• I love it when I do things the way that I should, and that it pays off. This was one of those times. Since I was taking a virtual ruler quilting course on the weekend, I had quite a few sandwiches that hadn't been used. I took one of those last night and practiced some of the designs that I was going to FMQ, including the space ship. I also got some new King Tut variegated thread to try out at the same time.

Practicing my FMQ of the space ship and 
trying out new variegated thread.

• I'm sorry that I didn't use some of the wilder variegated thread for the actual quilting. As beautiful as the thread it, some of it just doesn't show off as well. On the other hand, there will be a lot for a child to discover as they grow up with this quilt.
• The nebula is actually a Wavy Spiral. I found it incredibly difficult to FMQ since I've been working hard for years to have lovely curved lines - wavy may have been natural at the beginning, but it isn't any more 😊
• I'm really looking forward to finishing this quilt - it's been a UFO and a WIF for way too long!

Related links

• Christa Watson, 99 Machine Quilting Designs - Wavy Spiral design (#20)
• Latest Pinwheels and Stars baby quilt post
• Orbiting planets and funky stars on Free Motion Mavericks, April 01, 2021

Linking parties

I will be linking up to many fun linking parties out there is blog land. Let's find out what's going on...after you link up to Free Motion Mavericks below, of course! Monday Making, Midweek Makers, Let's Make Baby Quilts, Put Your Foot Down, Off the Wall Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Peacock Party, Patchwork & Quilts, Design Wall Monday, 

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome. I'm really glad that you're taking the time to link up, whether you have done FMQ or not. Last time, we had an exceptional quilt linked up by Sandra of mmm quilts. One day, this is how I want my quilts to come out...of course I would have to actually quilt large quilts and I believe that having an Avril would help, but still...I'm sure that Sandra will tell you that it's all about practice. Here is Heading North in the Make Modern Issue 39. What a beauty. If you didn't read Sandra's post yet, it's a must do and see.

Sandra's amazing Heading North quilt

It's now your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Orbiting planets and funky stars on Free Motion Mavericks

I had a really fun time last evening doing some free motion quilting (FMQ) for this post. I can't wait to show you what I've been up to 😊 

Adding planets and then funky stars

I started by doing some research using my trusty National Geographic "The New Universe, Here, Now, and Beyond". It was published in 2010 and you would think that the information would be up-to-date, but it turns out that a LOT has happened in astronomy in the last 12 years. However it was perfect for my purposes - pretty pictures, good descriptions and a map of our solar system. 

Here is my quilted universe to date. I'm really sorry that the pictures aren't more vivid but it was a dark cloudy day.

Our Universe....so far

An asteroid, Neptune, and a Swirling Star

Mercury, the Sun, a faint
Flaming Sun, Venus,
Uranus and a Swirling Star

A Flaming Star and a Swirling Sphere

I also took the time to look through the many FMQ e-books that I own. These were really great resources. When I found a star or something that could possibly be found in the Universe, I snipped a picture of it to put into my project folder so that everything is easily accessible. I also wrote the names of the design, the book it came from and the page number on a sheet so that I could easily find them again. See, working in information management for the last 9 years has paid off! 😊 

The list of the funky stars I used so far are in Related links below. At the end of the project I will make a montage of the designs I used to help anyone interested in finding these.

Here is the labelled image of the "real" planets. You can click on the picture to make it larger.

Finally here is a close-up of a Flaming Sun.

Close-up of Flaming Sun

One Monthly Goal (OMG)

I will be linking up this project to Elm Street Quilts' OMG for April. It's time that this baby gets finished!

What I learned

• Finding the FMQ designs of stars and other things that might be found in the Universe was really easy with the ebooks. This was definitely an advantage to ebooks. 
• I practiced drawing the designs for a couple of days. I managed to reproduce a few very well while others still need work - but that's what practice is all about! My Swirling Star was getting better the second time around.
• Most of the FMQ designs were for a series or an all-over design. I adapted these for this project. I really loved FMQ Sheila Sinclair Snyder's Flaming Star (she called them Spurs but that didn't go with my Universe!) 
•  It was a lot of fun using variegated thread for the funky stars. I wanted them to be different from the "real" planets on the quilt.
• So far, the plan is to keep adding stars, nebula etc. to the quilt and then to use some white Bottom Line thread to add smaller meandering stars between the larger planets and stars. It's possible that the FMQ of this quilt will be done by the end of April. I would like that - I think that it's time to get to my son's quilt!!!😯

Related links

• National Geographic "The New Universe, Here, Now, and Beyond", 2010
• Leah Day, Quilting Design Gallery
• Flaming Sun (Day 310)
• Swirling Sphere (Day 287)
• Lori Kennedy: Free Motion Machine Quilting 1-2-3
• Swirling Stars
• Sheila Sinclair Snyder: Get Addicted to Free Motion Quilting
• Adapted the Spurs design for borders (I called it a Flaming Star in the image above)

Linking parties

I will be linking up to many linking parties this week. I hope that you will check them out. Remember to also link up your projects below! One Monthly Goal, Monday Making, Put Your Foot Down, Finished or Not Finished, Off the Wall Fridays, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Peacock Party, Patchwork & Quilts, Let's Make Baby Quilts, 

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to Free Motion Mavericks Week 325. Thank you for linking up last time. If you didn't get a chance to see Quilting Gail's t-shirt quilt, you really have to visit. I think that she had fun playing with different FMQ designs!  

Gail of Quilting Gail's FMQ of a t-shirt quilt

It's your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Swirling Leaves for Hello Fall Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop at the Hello Fall Blog Hop. When I saw Carla's button for a fall blog hop, I couldn't resist. I'm thrilled to be part of this fun event - Thanks Carla 😊

Making Swirling Leaves

Swirling Leaves

I have to admit that I had some pretty grandiose ideas for this blog hop....and then it was two weeks before the event and I got realistic! This wall hanging is a simpler version of my original plans. I'm really happy with the way it came out - and it didn't take months to make!

All along, my idea was to make a wall hanging with falling maple leaves. About a month ago, while walking with Chevy, I found a small bunch of maple leaves that had fallen off a tree. That was the first part!

I then made freezer paper templates from most of them, ironed them onto some gorgeous hand-dyed fabrics and Voila! I had a whole bunch of leaves to work with. Only the orange leaves are made from my own hand-dyes.

Freezer paper template

Once the leaves were cut, I rummaged into my neutral scraps and made up the background. These are from the last three neutral quilts that I've made in the last few years.

Choosing neutral fabrics for the background

I had a great time doing some improv piecing, my favourite kind of piecing. Since I wanted this quilt to be as simple as possible to make, I even took the time to square up the pieces so that it would be relatively easy to finish. It worked!

Choosing borders

With the background finished, I auditioned some fabrics for borders. Since these are relatively muted colours, I went into my civil war reproduction fabrics and found two perfect pieces.

On the weekend I added the borders and appliquéd the leaves. I found a perfect piece of batting and backing. 

A sandwich ready to FMQ

Then came my favourite part - free motion quilting (FMQ). I started by quilting-in-the-ditch around the two borders. I then chose different thread colours to quilt around each leaf and stitch in the veins, following my freezer paper template since my leaves had all dried up by then. Because the quilt is pretty muted, I took the opportunity to use some lovely variegated thread for the leaves.

Details of the FMQ

I FMQ the background with swirls and extended them into the first border. For the final border, I quilted some leaves.

Swirling Leaves with the Burning bush

What I learned

• I'm glad that I reduced my plans based on the limited time I had. Maybe one day I can make that original one, but like I said, it would have taken months!
• I love improv piecing. I kept it simple this time, using square and rectangular pieces of fabric that fit together easily. 
• My big lesson learned was taking the time to square up blocks as I was putting the improv pieces together. It really made a difference in the end.
• I like how the FMQ in the neutral background sort of makes it recede. I was afraid that some of the fabrics would overpower the piece.
• I even stitched down the binding by machine from the front. There was only one spot that I had to hand stitch down at the back. That was a huge time saver.
• Of course I lost that saved time when I stitched the sleeve to the wrong end of the quilt (sigh). 

Links to Carla's Creatin' in the Sticks

• Carla's posts for the Hello Fall Blog Hoop
• Carla's post for Monday, Day 1
• Carla's post for Tuesday, Day 2
• Carla's post for Wednesday, Day 3 
• Carla's post for Thursday, Day 4

Links to Wednesday's participants

• Quiltscapes
• Ms P Designs USA
• Stitchin At Home
• Just Because Quilts
• beaquilter
• Patchwork Breeze
• Selinaquilts
• Lily Patch Quilts
• Not Afraid Of Color
• Quilting & Learning: What a Combo! (You're here!)

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties around the virtual world of quilting. Lets see what's going on! Muv is hosting the Free Motion Mavericks linking party this week - visit and link up! Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, What I Made Monday, Colour & Inspiration Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Long Arm Learning, Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off The Wall Friday, Finished or Not Finished Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Friday Foto Fun, Beauty Pageant, Peacock Party, Oh Scrap!, Quilting & Patchwork, 

A reminder to join us on October 1st for the trans-Atlantic party! Find out more about this special linking party.

I heart Project Quilting

This week on Project Quilting, Challenge 11-3 was "Put a 💖 on it!"

Scrappy Heart Journal Cover

For those who read my blog, you will have noticed that I'm on a free motion quilted (FMQ) journal cover kick! My last post was about " A production of quilted journal covers". Since I'm on a roll, I thought that I would try out a few things on my latest journal cover.

What do you get when you:

• Make scrappy fabric
• Free motion quilt it to an inch of it's life
• Using variegated thread

To make a FMQ journal cover?

You get this....

A FMQ Scrappy Heart Journal Cover!

It figures that this very scrappy FMQ journal cover is my best one yet, construction wise - just not design wise. I did learn a lot from this one!

The back of the scrappy journal cover

Scrappy quilt cover with elastic

I even used some scrappy pieces to make the inside of the cover. I love it!

Scrappy even on the inside!

What I learned

• In hindsight, I should have done ONE of the three things (scrappy, or densely FMQ, or used variegated thread). Using all three was just too much since they all add a lot visually to the piece. 
• FMQ on scrappy fabric calls for either one overall design or a FMQ design that is simple and follows the fabric.
• Variegated thread adds a lot to a piece. It really wasn't needed here - it's too much!

Related links

• Free Motion Mavericks - A Production of quilted journal covers, February 6, 2020
• Project Quilting, Put a Heart on It - Challenge 11-3

Linking parties
I will be linking up, with a couple of hours to spare, to Project Quilting, Put a Heart on It - Challenge 11-3. Let's go see what quilters have put a heart on! Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Midweek Makers, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Finished or Not Finished Friday,  TGIFF, Beauties Pageant, Peacock Party,