Love is in the air...

...and everywhere you look, shops, television, internet -everywhere there's an abundance of gift ideas, sweets and boxes of chocolate, jewelry, flowers, soft toys, the list is endless...  For most of the quilting blogs they too have some or other item they're making for valentines day.  So I thought of joining in the fun!

Heart shapes made from my Twister Quilt scraps

This is how I made these cute little heart shapes:

Sew two pieces of contrasting colours together, pressing the seams open.  Trace a heart shape  onto fusible applique, I used wonder under.  Iron the rough side to the wrong side of the fabric ensuring that the inside and outside points are straight in line with the seam.  Cut out once you're ready to applique the hearts to another piece of fabric, to prevent the edges from unraveling.  Peal off the backing piece of paper and iron on, using a hot dry iron.

Use any type of applique stitch you prefer and sew all around the heart shapes either by hand or machine.  I hand sewn blanket stitch with dark pink thread.

I started playing around with fabrics and placement, and ended up with this little quilt top.

I used 4 pieces, 6½ x 6½ inch light pink fabric.  12 Pieces, 2½ x 6½ strips of dark pink fabric and to add a bit of contrast, 9 pieces, 2½ x 2½ dark green fabric.  The finished quilt top is 18 x 18 inches using a ¼ seam allowance, stitch length set at 2.

I starched the quilt top on both sides to keep the fabric nicely flat.  I made another heart shape template just a little bit bigger than the applique shapes, and traced around the hearts using a fine line water soluble pen.

When I started quilting I stitched in the ditch over the entire quilt to secure it properly, then I micro stippled only on the light pink fabrics outlining the heart shapes and the drawn lines around the hearts.

It has so much texture, I love it!

Back of quilt

Linking up to WIP Wednesdays @ Freshly Pieced & FMQ Friday @ The Free Motion Quilting Project.

Happy quilting

Quilt Along #10, #11 & #12 - Combined

This week, I have grabbed every second I could to work on Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project Quilt Along #10, #11 & #12 and I enjoyed every moment! 

At times I thought I would never get it done in time, but I surprised myself.  I have to admit that I had a few obstacles like not having a light box, and because our window frames are in very small it was impossible using my windows to trace the picture to my fabric.  So I regret to say it, I used a 'light' fabric to trace the pattern, even though I am happy with the result, I am not so happy with the colour.  

But I will definitely give it another go, I enjoyed doing it, so I'm sure with my next attempt things will go better, having had a good practice round.

Before I stared with the Hearts & Feather Whole Cloth, I washed the fabric.  As soon as it was dry, I starched and ironed it twice, once on each side, both the front and back pieces of fabric.

So for Quilt Along # 10 - Preparing a Whole cloth Quilt I printed the pattern I downloaded from Leah's website. I have added it here and used clear tape to stick it down to my table.  Because I didn't have light box I had to rely on the thickness of the fabric that allowed me to see through it.  

When I mentioned this to my husband (after I had finished with with the whole project) he quickly showed me a simple and easy way to use our coffee table, as it has a glass top.  We have these portable battery operated lights we have used when we went camping, so I placed it underneath the glass, the printed sheet beneath the fabric and viola IT WORKED, had I known or thought of this before I stared the project I would have definitely used other fabric.  But what is done is done...

I used a water erasable marker to trace the picture onto my fabric, what I did a bit differently was use a ruler for the straight lines, even the heart's straight lines was traced with a ruler, I'm afraid my free hand is sometimes not as steady as I would have liked, after which I just added to loops of the hearts.

I also added a frame around the whole pattern which would act as a guide for when I did the stippling around the picture.

To baste my quilt I use a different technique, unfortunately I don't have a big enough table so I have to use my carpet, which works great.  On larger projects I have to crawl around to get the fabric straight and flat. 

My 1st step is to lay my backing fabric, right side down on the carpet.  Using pins I start pushing them towards the inside of the block, to keep the fabric smooth and stretched.  Every time I add a pin to the backing I will place it right across from the other, always making sure the fabric is smooth.

Once the fabric is smooth and tightly secured down, I lay the batting and front piece of fabric on top.  I use extra long pearl head pins to secure it in place, always tucking the sharp end of the pin into the batting not to pinch myself while handling the quilt.  After I'm done securing the front, I remove the pins lifting the quilt slowly from the carpet as sometimes I have pinched the carpet to the fabric, but its usually very lightly, so I'll just pull the pin out slowly to release it, and push it back as I'm pulling away.

Of course I double check to make sure I've collected all the pins, I don't want any of us to step into one of these very sharp pins, ...ouch!

Quilt Along # 11 - Outline Quilting  Not even sure why, but I did not take any photos of my progress doing the outline quilting.  I started with the center hearts working my way to the outside of the quilt, adding the feathers last.  I did a lot of travel stitching, which was the hard part.  I really struggled to stay on my stitched lines, and I am not too proud of what it looks like when seeing it up close.  None the less, I enjoyed doing it, and as I looked at the quilt as a whole it looked great.

Quilt Along #12 - Microstippling was the part I was looking forward to the most, and I have to say, I enjoyed it so much, that I cant wait to do another.

I believe I still need to practice microstippling a lot before I know I'm doing it right.  My scale is not as small as Leah's but I think for my 1st try at doing a whole cloth with microstippling its a great attempt.  I'm sure I'll get better with a lot of practice.

Once again I started in the center of the cloth, and decided to use the same colour thread, I think because I wanted to get this challenge done before Wednesday, I did not break thread in every single piece I had to stipple, instead I travel stitched where possible.  With the close up photos you can see clearly that I need a lot of practice with outline quilting...

My biggest challenge was the narrow spaces, as the scale of my stippling is not as small as I wanted it, it made it quite difficult to stipple between the lines, but I managed and got it done. 

 I continued with the quilt moving from the center to the outside, again travel stitching where possible.

 



 As I got closer to the end of the quilt, I realized I should have cut the fabric for the front a bit bigger, as the stippling goes right to the edge of the quilt.  When I have another go, I will definitely remember to have a few extra inches to play with.


Dont you just love how the feathers and hearts pop out when looking at the quilt from a different angle

I am looking forward to Wednesdays to see what we're doing next, I am learning so much!

Back of Quilt

Quilt Along #4 - Quilting on a Line & Quilt Along #5 Stippling in Blocks -

As I did not have a cheater cloth, I had to trace the design onto my fabric.  I did not have the design anywhere, so I started by drawing a 6" block, from there I added the points of the stars, each line measuring 3" long.

I then traced the design on my fabric, as I was using a very cheap, light yellow fabric.  As this was for 'practice' and did not really matter, it actually worked out great, I could see the lines very clearly through the fabric.

I thought it came out quite good...

I then stitched free motion in a straight line.  It was quite hard to keep the line straight, especially when I stopped in the middle of one flowing line.  So then when I came to a corner I placed my hands as low as I possibly could, not to pause and risk going off the line again.

So here is my template for stitching on a line

I then started stippling in one of the stars' corner, working my way down, always trying to keep stitching in a straight line.  I did not once turn the fabric.

 

As I went around the star the design came on nicely...

As I got to the last point of the star I aimed to finish right in the corner of star.

Here is my finished practice block for Quilt Along #5 - Stippling in Blocks