Tree wall hanging

These past few weeks I have been busy making this wall hanging quilt.  It measures 26 in x 26 in.  I got the idea in a magazine, with much less free motion quilting.

It was quite the challenge deciding on what types of free motion quilting to use, and got valuable input from Leah Day at The Free Motion Quilting Project.  I did wiggly horizontal lines on the white background fabric behind the tree, Pebble ripples in the inner white border and blowing wind, which I think I did not pull off quite exactly as Leah, but I gave it a go, and I am happy with the result.  

I echoed around the base of the tree on the grass hill, not knowing if it would even 'work', but I like how it adds texture and creates a 'shadow' effect.  I quilted tree bark on the tree trunk, and for the inside of the tree, I just followed the swirly design of the fabric.

I am super proud of this quilt.  The effects all the free motion quilting has add so much texture to the design. 

Happy quilting.

Back at it... high time!

These past few months have been a huge test and struggle.  Things was so out of my control and I had no sense of what I needed to do, to make my life worth while again.  Its amazing how when you're at your lowest how your people can help you on your way, and show you life does go on.  You just have to pick yourself up and try and move away from that which hurt the most, to see that every dark cloud DOES have a silver lining...

So I got back into my sewing room.  Since I have not sewn a single stitch in over 4 months I realized how much I missed it, and how much I enjoy it!

I made this dresden plate wall hanging using Moda's Autumn Breeze and sewn the plates to a plain white background... Not sure how it happened, I cut the 'petals' all the same size, but one plate has 19 and the other 2 has 20 petals... weird :-)

But it all worked out fine...

I can't wait to start something new.
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.

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