Eight more to go...

This block is based on the 'snow ball block', measuring 16½ by 16½ inches.

Its basically 4 blocks sewn together to make up one large block using 2½ inch print/colour strips and 3½ inch squares of white fabric.

I still have 8 blocks to go, from there I will decide on the borders.

Thanks for popping by.

Happy quilting.

Jelly Sandwich - Finished

My Jelly Sandwich Quilt is done at last, measuring 48½ by 54 inches.  The pattern is from Me and my sister designs.

I chose stippling to quilt it.  I guess its because I feel safe using stippling since I had a lot of practice and I feel confident doing it.  I am very happy with the result, there was not one pucker at the back of my quilt, which is the 1st for me.

I should really invest in a better camera, as soon as I try and make the pictures a bit larger, the images is blurred, so these will have to do, enjoy ♥

I'm already planning my next quilt, and as soon as I have my 1st block done, I'll share it with you.

Thanks for popping in.

Happy quilting.

I'm glad this week is over and done with!

This week was way too busy!

I did not get any time to do what I wanted to do.  I realize it must sound a bit selfish, but I really miss my sewing room...

My husband worked afternoon shift this week, which meant he was home for most part of the day.  So I became his personal assistant, I had to help him with typing and editing some of his documents for work.  I don't mind helping him out, but doing it day after day, is a nasty reminder that I had done it every day for too long. I quit my job as a maintenance planner on a coal mine April 2011, to stay home after our baby girl - Kayleigh was born.  Not once have I looked back, and thought of going back to a normal 9 to 5 job.  

I admit I am much busier being at home, between running errands, taking care of 3 kids, school, cooking supper,.. the list goes on and on and on..  I still get time for me!

I mentioned a while a go that my husband hurt his wrist at rugby practice, and underwent an operation.  Well today we went back for his follow-up visit.  Bouncing from the doctors rooms, getting x-rays done, we ended up going back to the hospital to have the pin that was in his wrist removed.  It was hectic!  We live in a small town and I suppose we are used to things being slower and quieter. Driving in the city, everything was so rushed even though it took forever. 

   

Kayleigh was NOT a happy baby, as you can see by the photos she is the exact opposite, always smiling.  I hate having to drag her every where we go, especially when I know we'll be on the road the whole day.  She really gave me a hard time.  So to sum it all up, I'm glad its all done and over with.  My husband will be back to work at his normal hours, and things will be back to the way it was... I hope ☺

On the upside I got backing fabric and a few extra bits and pieces, so now I can carry on to quilt this UFO, something to look forward to!

Happy quilting

Awkward Giveaway

Have a look at Julie's blog - Having fun quilting to stand a chance to her win her giveaway..

Happy quilting

Fabric Giveaway

Susan from Quixotic Crafter is having a giveaway which consists of 5 FQs called Bella Citrus.  Go check out her blog for your chance to enter.

I love the colours and prints!


Happy quilting

Jelly Sandwich Quilt TOP - UPDATE

I'm stuck! 


I cant carry on to quilt this just yet.  I finished adding the border, but since I don't have backing fabric for it yet I cant start quilting it.  So you can imagine how frustrated I am ... !


I live in a small town, far from any decent fabric shops, so I'll only be able to get backing next week.  Cant wait to start quilting!!!  I should however start looking and practicing some FMQ that I would like to use on this quilt... I'm off to my sewing room to get started on that........

Happy quilting

Jelly Sandwich Quilt

This week I started a Jelly Sandwich Quilt using Moda 's Coming Home Jelly Roll. 

Stitches Magazine

I got the fabric at the beginning of my quilting journey but never found a pattern/design that I wanted to try.  After I saw this design in a local magazine 'Stitches', I wanted to give it a go.  (The flash is a bit bright on the picture, sorry)


I just love how it came out so far.
I have to be completely honest when I say, I just cant afford 'designer' fabrics, but after using this, I know and understand exactly why everyone insists on using good quality cotton.  Although I am using 100% cotton, its not of the same standard, but I am happy with the results with my previous quilt.

YES, you save a lot of time using jelly rolls, no need for time consuming cutting and preparation as all the fabric is pre-chosen to fit and cut up precisely in 2½ inch strips.  But this specific design did not leave any room for error. One mistake and the whole thing will be ruined.  Luckily I was very attentive, and made sure,.. look once,.. look again, read the instructions, again and again, before I would slide the rotary cutter through the fabric.  It was quite stressful. 


I love the prints on the fabric,.. apples, sheep, flowers and roosters... its so cute!  I hope you can see some of it on these snapshots I took...

I got it done, without any mistakes, whoop-whoop!!!  All that is left to do is the border for this quilt top be done.  So watch this space...

Happy quilting

Quilted Tote bag

I wanted to try and make a tote bag, but I wanted to quilt it.  I searched the internet for examples and found this tutorial from Leslie Unfinished.

It was surprisingly very easy, and I would definitely do it again.  I quilted it using FMQ, I tried to blend in with the flower print and did a wiggly-loopy pattern connecting them with small petal flowers.  This picture does not show it as clearly as I had hoped, but it gives you an idea of what I had done. 

Kayleigh's Quilt

I used some leftover fabric from the quilt I made for my baby girl.  At the time bought the fabric, I had no idea (as it was my 1st try at sewing, let alone quilting) that some of the fabric I had bought was polyester.  I just went into the shop and started selecting random prints that I thought would look together, I had no idea what I was doing.

It proved to be very difficult using cotton, polly-cotton and polyester all together to make a quilt. Although I like this quilt, I believe it would have look great had I used the right fabric for it.  My blocks did not line up the way they should have, so I forced it to go the way I wanted.  

The result is not so bad, and for my 1st try I am very proud...  

As for the tote bag, I am happy with the fabric and it actually worked great.  I'm glad I got to use the it, and I like the result.

Happy quilting.

A give-away from MIKE (Closing May 19th)

Mike - The Amateur Quilter is having a giveaway.  All you have to do is follow him and leave 

a comment.  He gives extra chances too.  First obviously blog about it.  Second, if you blog 

about it, and someone follows him because of your blog, you get extra chances.  So, if you 

follow him because you found him through me, please mention it in your comment.

The giveaway link is HERE so go check him out!

Happy quilting

Latest quilt completed

There is not much more I can say about this quilt and type of FMQ I used to quilt this quilt.  You can read up and see close up photos of it here.

I had a lot of fun making this quilt, I used  various types of FMQ that I learned from Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project.  Such as stippling, sharp stippling and zippling all in different scales.

After I washed it I deliberately put this quilt in the dryer on a warm setting until it was completely dry to try and puff up the fabric and cause it to shrink a bit.  I love the effect and love the textures of the different types of quilting I used.

At times while I quilted zippling on the borders I felt like throwing my hands up in the air and set this quilt on fire.  Every time I went in a specific direction, the thread would either break or it would simply skip its stitches.  So I went back to Leah's website and found an answer to this, and I quote: 

"This might sound weird, but machines can be finicky.  Remember that by free motion quilting in all directions, you're using the machine in a way that it's not truly designed for.  It may simply not like to stitch in one particular direction."

You can read about it on question thursday #16 and thinking about it, it makes total sense.  It was just weird how it always happened while going in a specific direction.  But in the end, I tried to keep my calm, pulled those few stitches out, and just carried on.  


I am happy with the result and would definitely use the design again, this time with a lot more patience...

Happy quilting

Stippling review

This week I decided to quilt this UFO using the different FMQ techniques we learnt over the past months from Leah Day.  I think I have probably said this a hundred times, but I enjoy every moment I spend FMQ and its all thanks to Leah, and cant wait to finish up this quilt to start another.  

I basically jumped in and started quilting this quilt, not really knowing what type of stippling I was going to use where.  All I knew I wanted to do, was use the different types of stippling I learned in the large flower print blocks.

Over all, I am happy so far, except for the small scale zippling I'd done on one of the horizontal strips.  It came out fine, but I did too small.  As this is a large quilt, and I want it to be puffy and soft, it will be too stiff around that strip.  Hopefully after I'm done and it had its 1st wash, it wont matter.

Large Stippling - Front

Large Stippling - Back

I have to admit, normal stippling- either on a large or on a small scale is still my favorite type of FMQ (not that I have done a lot of different designs yet :-) ).

It was quite tricky to see exactly where I was going on the flower print fabric, but luckily I got it done, and I just love how the fabric puffs up a bit around the large scale stippling.

Smaller Stippling - Back

Hexagons

Since we had a long weekend, and went to my in-laws, I had no time to spend practicing free motion quilting.  So I decided to cut up strips of fabric to take along and start a simple hexagon quilt. 

Basically I have no real direction I want to go with this quilt.  I just thought of adding lots of colours and prints to make up a 'flower' design.  I still have to make a lot of 'flower' shapes before I'm close to the size I want this quilt.  Maybe I'll add either white or black hexagons to outline the flowers, I still have not decided. 

My husband is a rugby fanatic, so I think while he is watching his sport over the weekends, it will be a nice way of keeping my hands busy, yet spending time with him.  There is no rush to get this quilt done... then it hit me, how will I quilt this???

Happy quilting