Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Making a few gifts

I'm really trying to avoid deadlines and I didn't decide to make a few gifts for Christmas lightly since I don't want these to be IOU gifts!

Christmas gift exchange

I am going to a potluck with my colleagues and of course there is a gift exchange. You know....unisex and under $20 (not including taxes). Personally I usually go for something edible but this year, I had a Christmas mug rug that's been hanging around my sewing room for the last year since I made it after Christmas. That seemed like a good way to start off my gift for the exchange.

Christmas mug rug and quilted mug sleeve

To that, I added a quilted mug sleeve. I made some in November but I had some great coffee fabric that wasn't big enough for a whole sleeve. I decided to experiment with an appliqué on some neutral fabric.

This one is wider than my usual mug sleeves but it worked out really well. I also remembered to make it slightly longer so that the Velcro could easily go around the cup. See, I sometimes remember what I learned.😊

The fabric before being appliquéd. 

Close-up of the quilted cup sleeve and the foundation pieced mug rug.
Progress on the second quilted basket

After making this first basket, I was so excited that I decided to make one for my sister-in-law and brother for Christmas. Since they love neutrals, I wanted to make it using two of the Japanese fabrics that I bought from Kallisti Quilts. 

My first basket - and inside, on the right are two of the
Japanese fabrics that I'm using to make the second basket.
To keep learning (and not get bored!), I decided to view Christina Cameli's Quilting the Grid: Structured Free Motion Quilting on BluPrint (Craftsy) for some inspiration. You can read a little more about that adventure in the What I learned section 😊.

FMQ matchsticks within the half-square triangles
What I learned
  • The appliqué went well on the cup sleeve and it was fun to free motion quilt it since it's not really reversible.
  • I decided that I needed a take-out cup for the photo shoot of my cup sleeve so I went to our local Tim Horton's. It did make a great prop for the cup sleeve and I ended up buying some of their really cute mugs - one of them to include in the gift exchange. So now I'm all ready!
  • I should have watched more of the Quilting the Grid course BEFORE I started marking and sewing the grid on the fabric. It turns out that the grids are usually 1½" and larger. I made mine 1", which really is small.
  • With one inch grids, it was best to keep the FMQ design very simple - so it's going to be another basket with triangles - but these will be half-square triangles.
  • The fabric that I'm using has a very light plaid - and I'm not sure how that will turn out or if it was the best idea. A couple of evenings ago, I couldn't see the stitching, even with my reading glasses on. 😕
  • I also had a really hard time with my top thread. It may have been too old since it kept breaking, although the bobbin thread was fine. Anyway, I found a thread that was close enough in colour and used the rest of the original thread in the bobbin.
Related links
Linking parties

Remember to come back on Thursday for the last Free Motion Mavericks link-up of 2019. It will be open for 2 weeks during the holidays.
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Saturday, December 14, 2019

Making a journal cover with practice piece

Don't you love practicing on something and then being able to use that practice piece to make a finished, usable project? That's what happened to my practice piece from last week's Free Motion Mavericks.

FMQ my practice piece

My piece went from this very bright poinsettia fabric to these "cat's eye" shapes with different types of feathers within and outside of the shapes.

FMQ using the leaves as templates
The pink bobbin thread produced this flower.













Finally, adding FMQ filler between the flowers, in white thread, resulted in this!

Adding swirls, paisleys and
echoes between the flowers


A close up of the free motion quitling




















It was really great to be adding this filler FMQ between the flowers because I hadn't really done that in a very long time. It's so fun to just stitch and let the quilting do what it wants. 😊

Making a journal cover with the FMQ fabric

When I showed a friend what the quilted fabric looked like, I got such a great response that I decided to make her a journal cover!

I used Christina Cameli's Free-Motion Quilted Gifts course to make the journal cover. This is the same BluPrint (Craftsy) course that I used to make the fabric basket a couple of weeks ago.

This is the front of the journal, with the elastic keeping it closed

Back of the FMQ journal cover

The FMQ journal - front and back














Journal with replaceable booklets

Inside the journal













 What I learned
  • As usual, Christina's instructions and explanations were great. I had to re-do a part, but that was my mistake. 
  • I should have measured where to stitch the elastic - I was able to "fix" it but next time I'll measure!
  • I discovered fold-over elastics. I didn't have any, so I used a plain white elastic, but I'll be looking out for these.😊
  • I really want to make more of these journal covers. I bought a package of three booklets at Winners and will send my friend the replacement booklets with her journal cover. Now I have to go stock up on these.
  • This course has been amazing. I haven't made the zipper bag yet, but it's definitely going to get done...eventually. It's so hard to not get sidetracked from the stuff that I've actually committed to making! So many squirrels - so little time!
Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to Free Motion Mavericks with Muv this week, as well as many other fun linky parties. Let's see what everyone is making! Colour and Inspiration Tuesday, Put your foot down, Off the Wall Friday, Friday Foto Fun, Finished or Not Finished Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Beauties Pageant, TGIFF, Peacock Party, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, What I Made Monday, 

Project details

Free Motion Quilted Journal Cover
8½" x 6"
Techniques: free motion quilting, Large Print Wholecloth Quilt,
Materials: cotton, elastic, journal



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Thursday, December 05, 2019

More practice at Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to Free Motion Mavericks (week 258). I'm doing double duty today, so here's the link to December's Throwback Thursday.

Practicing my free motion quilting (FMQ)

Free Motion Framework
by Jen Eskridge
After finishing up a big project (the Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt) and a DrEAMi! (the fabric basket) last week, it's now time to play. Of course, I couldn't resist the Black Friday sale at C&T Publishing last week and bought myself the digital copy of Free Motion Framework by Jen Eskridge.

This book is essentially about making whole cloth quilts to learn or advance your FMQ skills. I actually love making whole cloth quilts, but there is so much more potential to the book.

Since I'm not in the mood to embark on a project right now, I was going through the book and was intrigued to find on page 21, five ways of quilting feathers within a cat's eye shape.

Practicing feather shapes in a cat's eye shape

I just happened to have some fabric that sort of had this shape on it. I used a technique that I learned from Cindy Needham in her Craftsy course, Machine Quilting Wholecloth Quilts. It's called Large Print Wholecloth Quilt. Essentially it involves FMQ using the backing fabric as a template to create a wholecloth quilt in the front, on a solid fabric.

Here's what I mean.
This is the fabric that I quilted on, but the result is on the solid fabric.
This is the side that I quilted on,
but is the back of the piece



Practicing FMQ on the
patterned fabric


















This is the back while quilting, but
the front of the piece when done.
In the two flowers above, I practiced the techniques that the author suggested for the feathers within the shape. Each shape has a different technique.

After that, I used the same technique on all of the shapes in the flower to see how it would look.

This is the shape with the feathers on the outside

The feathers are now on the inside of the shape.

These are feathers without a border around the shape.
What I learned
  • By the end of this practice, my feathers were actually getting worse - it was past the time to stop.
  • The point of the quilting was to see how the different feathers within the same shape would look. It was an interesting exercise.  
  • I want to learn more feather techniques - and since I have a couple of books and classes on Bluprint (Craftsy), I will see what I can do. The fun part about learning new designs is that it's mostly a matter of doodling them, a lot!
  • I'm very impressed with Jen Eskridge's book, Free Motion Framework. I really hope to use it more like she suggests. Having a framework for FMQ on a solid fabric would certainly be easier than trying to piece a quilt. 😊 If you're interested, I highly recommend that you watch her video about her book.
Related links
December's OMG - to
make another FMQ fabric basket
Linking parties and OMG
For the December One Monthly Goal (OMG) I will be making another FMQ fabric basket as a Christmas gift. You can see my first FMQ fabric basket here.

I'll be linking this post up to several great linky parties. Why not see what's happening? Put your foot down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Colour and Inspiration Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Off the Wall Friday, Finished or Not Finished Friday, Friday Foto Fun, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?,  Peacock Party, What I Made Monday, Design Wall Monday, 

Free Motion Mavericks Link Up

Thanks to everyone who linked up last time. I'm really sorry for being so late replying to comments but I am hoping to get caught up....one day :-) If you haven't seen it, go see Denise's quilt at For the love of geese. It really is a beautiful batik quilt!



You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter


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Wednesday, December 04, 2019

Christmas at Throwback Thursday

Welcome to the last Throwback Thursday of 2019! We've had some wonderful linkups and walks down memory lane. 😊 I'm also hosting Free Motion Mavericks (week 258), so please link up here.

Throwback Thursday

I made both of these Christmas placemats during a quilting retreat a very long time ago - before FMQ (free motion quilting).

This first one - the mittens placemat, is as simple as it gets. Four pieces of fabric sewn together and a pair of mittens appliquéd to one of them. I used a zigzag stitch for the mittens and then hand quilted some of the obvious lines, such as the tartan, the trees and around the blocks and mittens.

Mittens placemat
Last year, I noticed that both placemats were in need of some loving care. I sewed inside the mittens to stabilize them and then FMQ some snowflakes within the large white block. You can see the details below. 
Adding some extra stitches and FMQ snowflakes
I made this doggy placemat for my daughter. I believe that it started with the block on the bottom left. From there I made an easy strip block and a half triangle block. I appliquéd the dog onto the large white block.
Doggy placemat with a pieced block.
I hadn't even hand quilted this placemat because my friend had used decorative stitching around each block. However, that really wasn't enough to keep this piece stable after many years of washing and use. So last year I quilted in the ditch of the block and then added a lot of FMQ in all of the other areas of the placemat.
FMQ more snowflakes in the background

These are very obviously some of my first quilted projects. I love that they have served us well. They come out every Christmas to be used by my daughter and I. The boys said that they didn't need a Christmas placemat - as if it was about need!

I've really enjoyed partnering with Sandra at mmm! quilts on hosting Throwback Thursday. Unfortunately, this is all of the pre-blogging quilts that I have, so I will leave Throwback Thursday's linky party back in Sandra's very capable hands. Thanks Sandra for sharing this fun linkup with me!

Linking parties
I'll be linking up this post to several great link-ups. Why not see what's going on? Monday Making, Colour and Inspiration Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Put your foot down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday, Finished or Not Finished Friday, Friday Foto Fun, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Peacock Party,


Throwback Thursday (TBT) Link-up for December

Hi! I'm hosting Throwback Thursday (TBT) for Sandra at mmm! quilts this month. Link up your pre-blogging projects below.


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter
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Wednesday, November 27, 2019

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
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














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Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Learning to make a fabric basket

I took some time to play this week. Since I've signed up to Bluprint (Craftsy) for the next year, I thought that I should actually make something. So here is my experience making a basket from Christina Cameli's Free-Motion Quilted Gifts course.

My first FMQ fabric basket
This is what Christina's basket looks like. Isn't it gorgeous?

Christina Cameli's Free-Motion Quilted basket
As you can see, my basket is shorter and not as firm. I learned a lot though and had fun making it 😊

My finished basket
Free Motion Quilting the fabric
I made a sandwich with batting (more on this later), marked some lines for a grid, FMQ the triangles and then quilted inside alternate triangles. I really like the look of the quilted fabric.

Here's a close-up of the free motion quilted fabric for the basket.
Quilted fabric
The bottom of the basket









Making handles

I made my own handles using an old lanyard since I didn't have any pretty webbing. I cut the lanyard the same length that the web would have been. I then cut the fabric 2 inches wide and slightly longer than the lanyard (I'd rather trim it than not have enough). I pressed both long sides of the fabric ¼", placed the lanyard inside one of the pressed sides and then covered the rest of the lanyard. I sewed the fabric over the lanyard and then trimmed both handles. It really worked out well.
Making matching handles using an old lanyard.
What I learned
  • If you want a stiff basket, you need to use stiff batting!!!!! That really should have been obvious and I did think about it but I'm lazy and the silk batting was right there, waiting to be used. 
  • It quilted up beautifully.😊
  • I'm very happy with the handles - re-purposing lanyards is a great way to make the handles. It's not like the contents in the basket will weigh that much!
  • I wrote most of this last post last night, and it only came to me this morning that I hadn't followed the instructions properly. I'm quite sure that I didn't fold the quilted fabric properly, and therefore my basket is shorter and wider than Christina's.
  • Now that I've made this first basket, I think that I would like to make a couple more as Christmas gifts. I'm going to have to experiment with batting though and figure out if I want the basket higher, as it was intended.
  • I've taken a couple of FMQ courses with Christina Cameli on Craftsy. I really enjoy her courses, including this one.
My basket is full of beautiful Japanese and New Zealand
fabrics from Kallisti Quilts of Waterloo Ontario
Related links
Linking parties
Remember to link up
with Muv this week!

I'll be linking up to some great linky parties. Let's go see what's happening! It's also the end of the month, so there will be lovely parties, including New to Me 2019 with Celtic Thistle Stitches and DrEAMi with mmm! quilts. What I Made Monday, Colour and Inspiration Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Put your foot down, TGIFF, Free Motion Mavericks with Muv, To-Do Tuesday,

Project details


FMQ fabric basket
Pattern and instructions by Christina Cameli
8½: x 6" x 4¼"
Techniques: FMQ, sewing
Material: lanyard, cotton




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Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Chevy on Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 256 of Free Motion Mavericks. Thanks for dropping by.

Chevy on Free Motion Mavericks

I'm shamelessly using Chevy's picture to attract you to the post 😊 because this week isn't going to be about my free motion quilting (FMQ)!

Chevy, sleeping on two quilts!
It's not that I didn't do any FMQ, but rather that I have nothing new to show you. I did finish quilting the Epic Neutral Bow Tie Quilt on the weekend and was busy sewing on the binding last night. I don't want to share it with you until I've finished hand-sewing the binding and then I've washed and photographed the quilt!

The two quilts that Chevy is sleeping on are the Colourful Scraps Quilt that I posted on Throwback Thursday last May and Bandit's first quilt.

Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many linking parties, just to get the word out about Free Motion Mavericks. I hope that you'll link up your projects below and visit these linky parties. Let the fun begin! Design Wall Monday, What I Made Monday. Colour and Inspiration Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Put your food down, Monday Making, Friday Foto Fun, November's Whims and Fancies,

Free Motion Mavericks

We had 8 wonderful projects posted on Free Motion Mavericks the last time. Remember that you can link up any project you're working on, even if your not FMQ. I think that it's safe to say that we are all addicted to anything made with fabric - so please don't let a little thing like free motion quilting stop you from linking up!

This week's featured quilt is free motion quilted and in Issue 31 of Make Modern magazine. Join me in congratulating Devoted Quilter Leanne on her lovely orange peels quilt. I'd love to make a variation on her quilt....but I'm not committing to anything right now! You can also get the pattern if you buy the digital Make Modern Magazine.


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter


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