Ribbon Box Quilt - WIP

Last year I had finished this Ribbon Box Quilt top and finally decided to start quilting it.  When I picked my fabrics for this quilt I was certain that the prints and colours I had selected would work perfectly with the design of the quilt, but when I had finished piecing it, I was not entirely sure if I had made the right selections.  Because all of the fabrics are light to medium together with the white background fabric, I don't think that the ribbons 'pop' as much as I had hoped.  

In the end it is a really pretty quilt and together with some beautiful textured quilting I think it will look great!

I had decided to quilt a rather dense (small scale) stippling in the background, the idea is to have the background area lay a little 'flat' and hopefully that way once I quilt the ribbons they will pop and stand out.

With all of the stitch in the ditch complete and the background quilting done it is time to move on to the 'ribbons'.  I just love quilting swirls!!!  I think I am going to use three or four different designs within the ribbons, its hard to decide which, but so far the swirls looks great!  Maybe some large pebbles and curvy lines will work well too... I just want to have fun playing around with different textures.

So far...I think it looks great!

If you are interested in the making your own 'Ribbon Box Quilt', you can find links to the pattern in this POST I shared.

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A Special Gift for a Special Friend

My best friend and sewing buddy has been away for a couple of months now, touring through the southern parts of Africa and South Africa, and during this time she left her sewing machine for me to use and for safe keeping while they're away.  

Looking at the picture below her Bernina B580 looks remarkably bigger than my little Artista, keeping in mind that my machine is dropped inside the table.  There is not much difference between the two machines except maybe the sleek modern design and a few technical advances.  

Anyway, I wanted to give her a little something I knew she did not have. She's been sewing and quilting most of her life so it was pointless to give her more sewing supplies. Believe me when I say that her sewing room is filled with anything and everything you'll ever need for any type of sewing.  So it got me thinking, she would always cover her machine with a towel at the end of the day when she closed up her room.  So I decided to make her something pretty instead.

To finish it off I made a pincushion and scissor pouch that matches.  If you want to make your own scissor pouch I wrote a tutorial some time ago that you can fine HERE.

It felt really good spending some time in my sewing room again after being in a bit of a lull these past few months, I guess I needed a bit of push and encouragement which is exactly what I got from all of the comments that was left during last week and this weeks' link ups.  Thanks again everyone!!! (hugs)

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In the Jungle..the mighty jungle..

...the lion sleeps tonight..in the jungle the mighty jungle the lions sleeps tonight................aweeeeeee 

Yeah, I know you know that song, and I bet your singing along right now, he he he.  Well that's what I decided to name this little disappearing four patch baby quilt, "In the Jungle"

It's finally finished!  I started this little disappearing four patch baby quilt way back in April.  I started quilting it last month and now its finally done.  It was hard coming up with a name for this quilt, its usually the part of making a quilt that keeps my mind occupied even as I am busy quilting it, it even and keeps me up at night, he he.  But when looking at the fabrics, the name of the fabric line (Bungle Jungle by Tim and Beck for Moda) I knew it would work well.

I wanted to keep the quilting simple, but I wanted to add just a bit of 'flare' in the white inside border.  I cant remember where I've seen this free motion quilting design before, but I as I was playing around on a practice sandwich I just knew it would work great.  I like how it separates the wiggly motion of the stippling and the loops I've quilted inside the outer border.

There is always that little something that I think I could have done differently or wish to change.  This time its the binding.  I don't think the blue dotted fabric works well with the rest of the quilt, maybe I should have used a bright red or even yellow.  I suppose I could still change it, but for now this is my finish, and I am happy that its done...

I could not resist taking this picture, although it is from a far distance, I think it looks too cute with Kayleigh and our BIG dog, (boerbull) Max

If you'd like to read up more about this baby quilt, you can find it here, here and here.  I even have a step by step tutorial to make the disappearing four patch block, you can find it here.

Thanks for stopping by...

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Stippling - easy to mess up, NOT this time

Stippling is probably the most commonly used free motion quilting design, and most likely a favorite amongst many of you.  I love the look, feel and the texture stippling adds to a quilt.  But mostly I love quilting it!  The only thing I have to concentrate on is to not quilt myself into a corner, luckily with a lot of practice it sort of comes naturally now.  But then, there's scale...

I have to admit that I do struggle a bit with that.  I tend to at times 'wonder' off from the scale or spacing between the wiggly lines, and end up going smaller and when I notice my mistake, I tend to quilt in even a larger scale than intended.  I hate ripping out any stitches unless I have made a complete mess of it, so usually I would just continue and hope it would  not be too noticeable.  But this time as I progressed quilting this disappearing four patch baby quilt I noticed that for the first time, I kept quilting at a constant ½ inch (more or less) spacing.

I have completely finished the center area of this quilt today, and plan to be a bit more creative for the white inside border and the outer border.  I have not yet decided what I will quilt, but I want to try and continue outwards with the square designs of the pieced blocks.

I am glad to have finally started quilting this quilt, its been lying in a drawer for almost six months, and each time I would see it, I felt a bit guilty for neglecting it.  At this rate I will have a finish much sooner than I thought.

Thanks for stopping by...

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NEW look and some more cushions

For those of you visiting my blog regularly would have immediately noticed that my blog has a completely new look.  I have been thinking about making some changes, and I wanted it to be entirely different to what it use to be.  I do think it is cleaner and most definitely a lot less 'busy'.. 

I found a lot of helpful information from Karen's blog - Sew Many Ways.  Her blogging tips are always so easy to follow, with step by step picture instructions anyone can do it.  It is still a work in progress, but so far I am happy.  It took me the whole day yesterday playing around with layouts and different colour schemes, but in the end I decided to stick with green, it is after all my most favorite colour.

So... what do you think?  Is less really more?  

Well, when it comes to everything that keeps me busy in my sewing room, more is definitely what keeps me most productive.  I have noticed that when I keep busy with more than one project, that it drives me to do even more. 

..and that is just fine by me!  As mentioned last week, I pulled out pieced blocks I made some time ago, not knowing what I was going to do with them, and ended up making a quilted cushion.  Now I have four.    

Sewing in zippers are definitely a new experience, after looking at a few tutorials on the web, I decided in the end, it is a lot less scary than I thought.  I followed along this tutorial, but instead of adding the zipper to side of the pillow I had sewed it right in the middle of the backing fabric.  It is not ideal, but since the blocks were pieced using a ¼ inch seam allowance I did not want to loose the size of the outside piecing.  I think in the end it would have influenced to look too much if I had worked on a larger seam allowance.

I am glad I got to make use of those blocks, and the end result is just beautiful.. even if I have to say so myself.

Happy quilting.

Quilted Baby Diaper Bag

This week I had yet again the opportunity to quilt something for a baby, but this time I made a quilted diaper bag for a friend's sister who is expecting a baby boy.  When she told me about it, I immediately wanted to try another bag.  

I really enjoy making bags.  Without a guide or pattern to follow along it can get tricky, but that is exactly what like.  I quilted all the panels with stippling, and made fusible applique letters for his name, and satin stitched them to secure it in place.

This bag is rather large, which I think is its best feature, for working Moms who has to carry a lot of baby stuff to and from home its ideal.  I also added pockets on either side of the bag. 

The bag's dimensions are 19 inches (48cm) wide, 13 inches (33cm) high, and the depth is 6 (24cm) inches.  I think I want one too, for my crochet WIPs.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy quilting.