WIP's - Works in Progess

Well I have finally finished the Garden Window Quilt - YAAAYYYY and have the sore finger to prove it from hand sewing the binding & label on. I am really happy with this quilt and like the FMQ that I have done. Now to save the money to fly to Melbourne to give the quilt to my MIL. I can't wait to see her reaction. I tried to get a photo on the weekend however because I wanted to get a photo the wind outside picked up making it impossible to hang my quilt on the fence to get a photo as it kept blowing off the fence. I don't have a space big enough inside to get one. As soon as I can I will post the finished photo.

So I started working on my next quilt for a friend who is getting married. The wedding quilt is a really quick and easy quilt to piece using HST and I started with 10" squares as you see below. The quilt will have 3 colours: a blue, a coral and while/cream background.

10" Squares

You place a white and colour square with right sides together and sew all around the edge, once sewn you then cut them diagonally from corner to corner as shown below and you end up with 4 HST.

Cut diagonally to make HST

4 HST

 Once I had sewn all the 10" squares together and cut them diagonally it was time to mess around with the placement of the HST. I tried two different layouts and ended up choosing the bottom one Layout 2 of the two pictures below.

Layout 1

Layout 2

I will 3 rows of big blue diamonds with some machine embroidery marking the big wedding day in the middle of the a couple of the blue diamonds. 

Block 1 completed

It hasn't taken long to get to this stage so the quilt top should be rather quick to finish except for the machine embroidery will probably hold up the whole process as I need time to sit at the machine and do this. I am still really new at machine embroidery. 

I also belong to a group on facebook called quilting guys and gals and they are doing a quilt of many colours monthly block. There are no specific pattern, it is up to the individual what pattern you want to use or can use different once for each month, the only stipulation is the colour. A different colour for each month. 

I saw on Pinterest a quilt pattern making butterfly's using the dresden plate pattern, so I feel in love as I love anything with butterflys. So I decided for my quilt of many colours to do this and have a different colour butterfly each month. How this is all going to go together at the end I have no idea but am loving the creative process this is creating.

September is Red:

I got a start on October as well which is Yellow:

An update on my Diamond Hill: I have one corner of the border completed and slowly working my way through another corner. However my life keeps getting in the way and not much progress is happening. Now if I could only make work go away just imagine how much I could get done lol.

Well that is my progress this week and I am quite happy with how much I have accomplished considering my work and personal life has become extremely busy and not likely to slow down anytime soon. Till next time.

Garden Window - Nearing the end

For the past two weeks I have been plugging away at FMQ my Garden Window. It is a massive king size quilt that I have been FMQ on my Janome 6600. I love having my sewing machine sunk into the table it really helps with the FMQ and stops the drag on the quilt. I must say that it is difficult to FMQ a very large quilt on your normal sewing machine but I always manage to get it done. I love this creative part of quilting and deciding on what to put where and what will enhance the quilt top etc. I also love the challenge of FMQ and to try new things. I have only been quilting for approx a year and a half so am still really new to FMQ so to speak, though I think I would probably call myself a beginner or still learning even after 10 years of doing this as there is still so much to learn. I am enjoying the learning process.

Centre of the Quilt - The flower panel

I have FMQ using some metallic thread though the photo's are not really picking up the thread very well. Mind you metallic thread is not the easiest thread to FMQ with or sew with really, but I accepted the challenge and managed to tame the wicked metallic.

First border beside panel

 Here I used my pounce pad & stencil for the first border and kept in a flower theme, you can still see the chalk powder on the material & I just noticed a dog hair from Buddy.

Third border on sides

 There are three red squared on each side which I used my Westerlee Rulers with. I also used some more metallic thread here however the metallic thread was thicker than the center ones used and was believe it or not more painful to sew with than the normal metallic though I think it might have been my needle. I used a metallic needle size 80 as that was all I had and even tried a 90 universal needle but the thread kept shredding on a regular basis. So when I get the chance will investigate different needles for using metallics with. In the end I got the job done after a lot of sighing, swearing & cursing & of course walking away before I do something rash, but it was completed and I am very happy with the result.

Third border on the sides

These strips are with the red squares and I used the Westerlee rulers again also with metallic thread and it actually looks like a mermaid's tail, so a cool effect I created. 

Applique border

 I am currently sewing the applique border. I just started with a variegated green cotton to mark the leaves and do the swirls of new growth. I am loving doing the swirls which you can probably tell as I think I have gone overboard with them but it looks so nice.

applique border

applique border

 I still have to do the yellow center's and then stipple in black in the back ground I will probably go with a largish stipple for the background.

When the metallic thread became to much I went back to work on my Diamond Hill BOM and have been turning edges and glue basting to my corner and have completed one corner. Sorry I forgot to take a photo of it on my design wall, hopefully soon I will have all four corners to show. I now have the freezer paper pieces to iron to the material to create a second border and repeat the process all over again.

I have been extremely busy lately and can't wait for my life to quieten down so I can get more sewing done. Till next time.

WIP Update

I am doing my happy dance I have finished my Garden Window quilt top. Yaaaayyyy (can you tell how happy I am to have finished piecing/appliqueing the top). I now have to sandwich it and then start the long process of quilting it. I managed to get it sandwiched over the weekend and I finally started quilting. This is where the fun begins as I have hundreds of ideas running through my head when I start quilting of what I want to do where, though the only problem is trying to remember the great ideas when I get to that part.

I finished machine sewing the applique down and placed it on my bed to judge the size, I thought it was a tad too small and maybe a small border would finish it off. Well when I started to play around with laying out fabric beside it I didn't like any of my choices. So off to the material store with my daughter to pick out a nice piece of fabric for the border. I take my daughter with me as usually I find two or three fabrics I like for what ever project I am working on and then can't decide between them, she comes along and tells me which one will work best. I love having my daughter take part in my hobby. So far she has never been wrong and everything she does choose makes the quilt top really pop. So we found a border however when I got home I didn't think it really suited being placed beside the black of the applique border. So I played with my fabric some more and found that the material really popped when I put a row of border fabric beside the black first. So long story short the quilt turned out bigger than I wanted but it looks fantastic. I have a queen size bed and the top nearly touches the ground either side.

Looking down on my bed you can just make out the border at the top

A closer look at the border that I added

As it is so big I folded it up so see the border with the centre and applique together

I have just realised as I placed my pictures here that I have the whole thing upside down on my bed and here I thought I had it the right way up - silly me. You can tell I have been looking at this quilt for too long as I can't even tell the right way up anymore  😊

The quilt below I made a few months ago however my daughter took it before I could get a photo or even label it. Well it finally made it into the wash and I was able to confiscate it back to take the photo and hopefully this week put the label on. You can't really see how beautiful the colours of the varying purples are in the photo but even I really love this quilt.

 This quilt was originally for my daughter's best friend who had moved to another school and she missed terribly, however near the end of completion my daughter let her friend know how she was feeling as her friend had hurt her badly. The friend didn't care that my daughter was hurting and they had words and broke their friendship. My daughter didn't feel that her friend deserved something so very special, beautiful & made with lots of love, tho she did feel guilty for not giving the quilt to the intended. However after a couple of months has passed they are back talking again tho I don't think their friendship will ever be the way it was.

This is one quilt I was very happy to keep as I fell in love with it from the very first block. I believe this quilt was never really intended to be given away as I love all my quilts I make and don't want to see them go however when I get to the giving part I have accepted they are going. With this quilt I never felt like that when I reached the end so I think it was intended to be mine from the beginning I just didn't know it at the time.

 Something else I did over the weekend. I went to spotlight as my daughter was after glass beads, I found this beautiful butterfly organza material on sale for $6 a metre. I couldn't resist and bought the whole lot (there was about 6 metres left) to make pretty curtains for my sewing room. However it turns out I could do both my sewing room and my daughters room and still have some left over.

All folded up looking absolutely stunning

Here at my window in my sewing room

A close up of it at the window 

 Well that's it from me this week and probably for a little while as I will be very occupied with FMQ of my Garden Window Quilt and won't have anything to post while I am doing this. Everyone will find it boring around me but I love to get to the FMQ part and really let my creativity fly!!!

WIP'S Update

It has been a busy week even with a three day weekend. I work full time and that has kept me extra busy this week. Here in Cairns we only have two shops that sell fabric other than Spotlight & Lincraft  (major department craft stores) and I found out that the main fabric shop is closing down. After I had a minor panic attach about where I was going to buy fabric and my heart settled down I came to the conclusion that I will have to start investigating the internet to purchase fabric. I like to look at my fabric, touch it, place it against other fabric to gauge if it goes well. Using the internet makes this very hard to do. Also the other shop that is left doesn't really have a large range of fabric either so I have that limited option. Anyway I went in and bought some fabric for future projects that were in my head and now are starting to get to the realistic phase of having material. Even though I don't plan on starting Esther Ailu's Love Entwined applique quilt for a long time I have purchased the background for it :).

I tend to only buy fabric for particular projects and I'm not really someone who buys fabric just because they can and you never know one day sort of thing. I do have some (very small amount) of material that I have done that with - mainly because I fell in love with it. I also tend to have a long list of projects that I want to do and plan to do and thinking about colours / patterns / quilting  etc long before I even get started. I can here you say "how do you handle all that in your head at once" - with great difficulty which explains why I don't sleep very well.

Well I have been busy sewing down the flowers on my Garden Window Quilt and bought the backing so I can sandwich it at some stage this week. I hope to start quilting it next weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I have finally started the next phase of the Diamond Hill by cutting out my corner border pieces so I can start to applique them. I have the pieces cut out of the freezer paper just need to iron onto the fabric and cut them out and turn their edges so I can start placing them on the corner border. I hope to have this started by the end of the week.

I nearly wasn't going to write my blog this week as I thought I haven't done much but WOW I did seem to have something to say after all.😊 I hope everyone has a great week until next time.

WIP's This weeks progress

Well this week hasn't seen much sewing done either due to a little hospital stint for routine tests - all is OK. I had a friend come over and drop my sewing machine into my sewing table for me and it is wonderful to have such a flat surface to sew on and will be great when I am FMQ. I must admit it was like learning to sew all over again as I had gotten used to the sewing machine being above the table and now that it is lower it does feel a bit strange. I do love having my quilt top spread out on the table though without any pulling or catching on the sewing machine's extension table I was using. My friend will be back to add a draw to my table which will complete the major modifications I want to my sewing table. Now I just need to find a solution to my sewing machine mat that I made to hang my scissors and other accessories so that they are at hand when needed while sewing. I will let you all know what I find.

The hole under the sewing machine is so I can get to the knee lift and feed dog lever. The white marks on the table are from me ironing my quilting sandwich which I do on my table as my knees are unwilling to do the floor sandwiching. The table is stained then a clear coat of polish on top of the stain which is why it has turned white with the heat of the iron. I use really big bull dog clips to clip the backing to the table and pull it tight then add the batting and top then I iron the top and push out from the centre while ironing to make sure no creases before basting with safety pins. A lot easier on my knees doing it this way than the floor as I can walk all round the table.

As for the Garden Window Quilt I have all four sides of stems sewn into place and three sides of leaves sewn and flowers glue basted onto the quilt. I will hopefully get back into the swing this week and finish off all four sides of leaves and hopefully start on the flowers. I did decide on whether to add another blocked border to the quilt and realized once I placed the quilt on my bed that just a small 3 inch border would make it the right width and length I want. I have decided on a red border then sandwich it and quilt it. I am finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So off to the shops this weekend to get the batting and backing so that it is ready for when I get to the sandwich part. I have already purchased additional thread to do the quilting so well and truly on my way to the finish line now. (Sorry no photo's this time).


Last night I finished another block of my daughters special Empowerment Quilt. Each night I try to do a little hand embroidery and work on the embroidered block for this quilt. This quilt has been in progress for 18 months so far and with each block she is more keen for me to finish it. Now I have to trace the next block to start working on.

Block just finished

First two rows of the centre 

Showing placement of current block 

Each block has been sewn with an embroidery stitch around the outside by the sewing machine to frame the block. Then hand embroidered the quotations and embroidery motifs. I have used tear away stabilizer with each block as the material is very light thin delicate material. The stabilizer also helps to give some firmness as I don't really like to use a hoop to hand embroider with, I find that it really upsets my carpel tunnel in my wrists as well as the arthritis that is starting in my fingers. 

The story behind this quilt came from seeing so many teenagers especially my own two children have their self-confidence / self esteem shaken and broken especially by their own peers that I wanted to make something to remind my daughter everyday just how wonderful and special she really is and that she is completely loved every minute of every day. I decided to go searching for quotes of empowerment and then created the beautiful blocks by adding some easy embroidery patterns and free motion embroidery on some. I found a pattern that had big square blocks which I substituted the embroidery blocks with. 

WIP - Sewing room makeover

Hi there, This week hasn't seen much sewing unfortunately, however I did get to do some of the makeover things I wanted for my sewing room. I decided to give myself a design wall which worked out quite cheap really even working around the fact that I can't have anything permanently attached to the wall due to renting my unit. I also decided to create an ironing board cupboard as I have a tiny bedroom for my sewing room and the ironing board took up so much space. So I managed to get all this done in one day and one night and then had to face the dreaded housework and wash the new car (it had been neglected due to sewing the previous three weeks so thought the sewing had to have its share of neglect for one week).

I went to Bunnings and purchased some insulation panels for the design wall and then to spotlight for some more flannelette material to cover them. I did cover them with batting first then white flannelette. I purchased some of those command picture hanging velcro to attach it to the wall. These should be strong enough as I have used them for a large poster frame with glass which is quite heavy and that has stayed up so far. However we will need to see how they fair during our very hot summers here.

The design wall attached to the wall.

With the Diamond Hill Project pinned up to remind me I need to get back to it.

For the ironing board cupboard I purchased two cube storage cupboards from Super Amart Furniture and then a piece of MDF the same length as the two cupboards and just a bit wider than the cupboards were (this way I don't have to cut anything down). I also purchased two square molding pieces to attach to the top of the cupboard to stop the ironing board from moving (I was able to get Bunnings to cut these two long pieces into four pieces each - Yay saved me doing this).

I then placed a layer of batting, then a layer of insul bright, and another layer of batting on top then some material to cover it all and make it look pretty. I stapled all these on the board and pulled it tight for each layer. I then placed a piece of molding on each side of the cupboards & ironing board and a nail at each end of the ironing board to help hold it in position and stop it slipping and sliding around.

I now have a wonderfully flat ironing board (my normal ironing board had warped a bit which made trying to iron seams open a bit more painful), as well as storage space underneath it utilizing all that space that was wasted by the legs of the old ironing board. I have used this and love the feel of it under the iron, even my daughter thinks it is better than the old ironing board, so a winner I think.

I also picked these thread racks up from spotlight on sale and hung them up, I have one at the side of my embroidery machine as shown here. I attached these with command hooks and some picture wire tied around the thread rack to hang on the hook. The embroidery machine needed another thread rack as had two spools over so I placed another one on top of this one, it looks really nice.

Embroidery Machine Thread Rack

Needed another thread rack for the Embroidery Machine - too many threads for one.

Embroidery Machine & applique table

This one is hung at the end of my sewing table so it will be in easy reach when I am sewing. As you can see I have my current projects stacked up under the thread rack which include the Garden Window quilt, Diamond Hill quilt and my Mariner's delight quilt (which I hope to finish after the Garden Window quilt). I promise I will include the progress of this quilt when I get back to it.

My sewing room is starting to look like a sewing room now and not just a boring bedroom with some sewing stuff in it. Though I keep finding sewing things all over the house to move into my room. I have only had my sewing room for about a year and half so far before that I was on the kitchen table and spread into the lounge room (which my two kids complained about especially if they sat on a pin or two :)). So was thrilled when oldest child moved out to relinquish his bedroom to my sewing, my teenage daughter thinks its great that I have my own room, except the dog keeps eating the small bits of fabric and cotton that fall on the floor.

So hopefully I can get back to sewing this upcoming week and finish off the applique border for the Garden window quilt. Till next time - keep sewing :)

Garden Window Update

Well it was a very productive weekend for me as I finally finished appliqueing the first side of my quilt and put the stems down for the next side. The progress isn't as fast as I would like but working full time limits the amount of time to quilt unfortunately.

Some of the issues I have discovered:
I used steam-a-seam 1/4" on my bias stem that I made and I hope that it washes out as some of it has moved and can be seen at the stems but only if you are close up. Lesson learned that need to be extra careful when attaching the steam-a-seam. The bias tape for the stem was a learning curve as well as I think I may have cut the strips a little to narrow for a 1/4" stem. That is what I love about my sewing is the learning even though they may be mistakes I still love them as I have learnt something. I feel that if we all make it perfect from the very beginning it would be very boring as we are not learning anything. Even if I have been sewing for 20 years I would like to think that there is something I can still learn about my craft to keep it interesting.

Anyway enough of my rant here is the first side done just the flowers need to be machine sewn now. I am sticking to the green in my sewing machine then will do all the reds together to save changing threads so often. It may seem lazy to do it this way but with limited time actually sewing I would rather be sewing than stopping all the time to change thread.

I tried to get a photo with more of the quilt to show the pattern either side of the panel. Once the applique is done there will be another row added of a celtic knot to go around the whole quilt. It is going to be rather big and am aiming at around 100" wide and tall. I like a quilt to hang over the bed and as this is going to Victoria (Australia) which gets rather cold I thought a nice big quilt to ensure you stay completely covered would be the go.

This photo I wanted to show the lovely flower panel that I started with.

It is amazing that when I look at this quilt as it progresses just how beautiful it is going to be. I think the hardest part for me with my sewing is that I fall in love with every quilt I make and I get sad every time I have to let them go. However I love to see the reactions of the people I give my quilts to which I believe is the best part of my sewing. The funny thing is I only have one quilt that I have made for myself. I have a UFO of another quilt I am slowly working on as well as my Esther Aliu free BOM Diamond Hill Applique Quilt that I am working my way through. Unfortunately I need to get this quilt finished before I can do any work on my BOM and the other one will probably be a couple of years in the making.

I hope you enjoyed this post, till next time.