2022 – myrtBquilting

Inspiration!

2022/12/17

I thought I had my quilting projects planned for most of this winter, but then during a deep dive in Pinterest, or maybe it was in one of the quilting Facebook groups to which I belong, I saw a quilt I just HAD to make right away.

A little explanation first…..Our neighbours and good friends have two dogs, one of which is a neurotic border collie, truly delightful and oh so very intelligent, but neurotic nevertheless. I truly think she views most of us as sheep that need to be herded but WE JUST DON’T COOPERATE and so she gets very frustrated. I know she gets frustrated with me because she tells me so, loudly, through the fence at times lol.

She’s a very lucky dog to have the patient people (or should I say sheeple?) that she has.
So…..when I saw the quilt I know our neighbours needed it and immediately purchased and downloaded the digital version of the pattern. I started stitching and just finished the quilting last night. I gifted it today so now I can post it.

The pattern is ‘All about Ewe’ by Judit Hajdu in Issue 31 of Simply Moderne. I pieced and then quilted it on my Sweet Sixteen. It’s size is 53.5″ x 68.5″ and it’s name is ‘Gracie’s flock’. It’s backed with flannel so it’s very cuddly! And now it’s Gracie approved!

A big thank you to Kathleen for some of the photos.

Need a new brooch?

2022/06/30
I’ve been doing a little machine embroidery lately; these little brooches are so cute and easy to make. I’ve only done a few colours so far, the most popular being pink and blue.
They’re great as a novelty gift to the new grandparent who is just dying to talk about the newest grandbaby. Pin one to your lapel, your bag or whatever object you’re sure will be seen by anyone in your gathering and be sure to have the baby photos ready to display!
I’m contemplating making some for our Guild’s Boutique in the 2023 quilt show. I wonder if they’d be a good seller?

2022/06/29 – new grandbaby badges, approx. 1.5″ (40mm) x 3″ (80mm) in size. It is backed with a standard 1″ brooch pin with a safety rolling catch.

Week six of the broken fifth metatarsal saga is drawing to a close and I’m still wearing a cast…sigh. One more week and this one should come off. I’ve had this boot cast for about two weeks now and it’s a treat to be able to remove it to shower! But I’m still on non-weight bearing orders…..

2022/06/30 – week six; still in a cast. Sigh….

another Diamond Trip

2022/05/17

I’ve combined one of my favourite patterns with one of my favourite all over quilting designs for this quilt: Donna Jordan’s Scrap Strips Diamond Trip and a free motion/ruler quilted design inspired by Anita Shackleford’s Modern Curves pantograph. This will be gifted to a friend who made a miraculous recovery from a major health issue.

I’ve had a jelly roll of Cantik Batiks Gemstones PEI/Tropical Island strips waiting for the right project and this is it. I supplemented it with some of my own batiks and the black contrast fabric. The batting is Hobbs washable wool and the backing is a beautiful warm cuddly flannel. I used Superior’s So Fine #503 thread for the top and filtec in the bobbin. It’s free motion custom quilted by me on my HQ Sweet Sixteen using HQ’s wave B ruler. Dimensions are: 46.5″ x 60″.

This will be the last quilting I do for awhile! I broke a bone in my foot a couple of days ago and now have to hobble around on crutches while it heals – two to four weeks with no weight on the foot at all and a six to eight week recover period in total. It’s my pedal foot: gas pedal, sewing machine pedal and bike pedal. NOT what I need when it’s gardening and yard work time! Lucky for me my DH takes good care of me.

2022/05/19-Oops-broken foot bone! It’s called a Jones break

Wavy, wavy….

2022/05/06
As all quilters know, scraps breed uncontrollably and have to be dealt with periodically. Many of my scraps are 2.5″ wide leftovers from binding or of a size that can be cut to 2.5″ in width, the same as a jelly roll. Inspired by a beautiful new pattern by Donna Jordan of Jordan Fabrics, Scrap Strips Diamond Trip, found in the free patterns section of their website, I pulled out what I had of the right dimension, cut a few more and went to work. Her instructions and measurements are always perfect and this is one quilt that stitches together quickly. And when it came to quilting it, the dimensions were perfect for using Handi Quilter’s wave B template (I bought mine on amazon.ca). I love the optical illusion this quilting design creates!

Custom quilted by me on my HQ sweet sixteen using Glide thread (khaki) and my HQ wave B template. The wavy quilting is inspired Anita Shackleford’s Modern Curves pantograph. The quilt dimensions are 47″ x 63″.

So why is my scrap bin just as full as ever? Could it be because a quilty friend was happy to contribute some of her oh so perfect scraps so I could make another one of these? Sigh……

addicted to Sweet Pea…..

It’s Spring around here; the daffodils are blooming, the primula and crocuses are blooming, the peach and nectarine trees are blooming….and on and on…. I love living on the West Coast!

And all that blooming is why I talked myself into doing another Sweet Pea Embroidery Sew Along. The discounted design for March is the Tulip Fields Hanger and I found it irresistible. And as usual, life & other quilting projects interfere & I was down to the wire on submitting it to the Facebook group today. And wow! what an amazing collection of beautiful submissions from all over the world! I don’t think I’ll win anything with mine but it’s fun being included in such a talented group.

And did I mention I placed third (one of three) in last month’s Sew Along with my table topper (which is a wall hanging at the moment)? I was so surprised! The prize is one free design. How will I decide which one when there are so many beautiful ones from which to select!

2022/03/27 – Tulip Fields machine embroidery design by Sweet Pea Embroidery Designs 12.5″ x 24″

again with the machine embroidery…

2022/02/24

Oh what fun I’ve been having…….I find machine embroidery designs on sale and what am I to do? Yes, well, you can guess I’ll bet.

Before Christmas I was looking for something to make for a 10 month old adorable cherub and found this delightful ITH (In The Hoop) bib pattern so quickly stitched it up. His mom tells me it got used! So after Christmas I stitched up another one just to have on hand for another Christmas when I need a baby gift again. I back them with rip stop nylon so however wet the front of the bib becomes, baby’s clothes underneath stay dry.

The design is the Rudolph Christmas Bib from Sweet Pea Embroidery Designs. Their designs are well digitized and stitch out beautifully. In addition, detailed well written instructions are included with every project. Even I hardly ever make a mistake lol.

Last year my daughter, who enjoys pottery, gifted me two lovely little vases she’d made. During the summer I had no problem keeping them full of blooms, but they’ve been empty so far this winter. I decided machine embroidery could come to the rescue so off I went searching for the perfect flowers. I found a beautiful Floral Lace Bouquet at OESD. So far I’ve only stitched two of the flowers but there will be more to come! Again, another site marketing well digitized designs and excellent instructions.

And then if that wasn’t enough machine embroidery I moved on to the Sweet Pea Sew Along project for February. I think I’ve mentioned before that Sweet Pea Machine Embroidery has a monthly sew along group on Facebook. At the beginning of each month they produce a new design for the sew along and discount the price 30% for that month. You post your finished project by the month end and it’s judged and the lucky winners (and there are many) may win free or discounted designs. I’ve entered a couple of times, won nothing yet, but keep trying. Considering they have entries from all over the world, it might be a long wait! February’s project is the Half Square Flare Quilt and my little quilt is a table topper that measures about 31.5″ x 31.5″…….or maybe it will be a wall hanging; who knows!

2022/02/24 – Table centre piece – machine embroidered/quilted – 31.5″ x 31.5″ – pattern is Half Square Flare by Sweet Pea Machine Embroidery

So tonight I’m off to one of our Guild’s demos on hand embroidery to see if I can learn something new. I’ll take along my little fabric pieces, needle and scissors but I’m not going to get hooked on any other hobby……really…….

…and more community quilts….

2022/02/13

I love it when I get such a beautiful top from one of our Guild members to quilt! I love both the colours and the design……so I played. Lots of ruler work on this one; some in the sashing and in the outer border I used the HQ 6″ Swag Templates as well as straight line ruler work. Wavy FMQ that framed circles in the French braid section completed the job.

Then I moved on to the next two tops; both are on the small side so it didn’t take long to complete them. The winter themed panel got FMQ’d; I thought it needed more than an all over design. The lovely scrappy sampler got the swirl that adds such beautiful texture. All done community quilts for awhile!

Spa hair towels!

2022/01/24

Are you looking for a quick to make gift for someone? These hair towels are ideal. Combined with some bath salts, lotion, maybe a candle? and a few other delights that say In Home Spa event and you’ve got a great gift. Of course once you’ve given a few of these towels away you might just find they’re liked so much you’ve got a job keeping the recipients supplied!

If that’s the case, then you don’t really need new towels for the job; just have them supply some old bath towels for a second life. A family member sent me home last June with several of her old towels with which to do just that. I turned five bath towels into nine hair towels and a couple of bar mop/shop cloths. The small leftover scraps went out to my hubby’s woodworking shop lol.

It’s been years since I made the patterns I’m using so I don’t know what the source was then, but click here for a link to the site of a sewist who makes the long ones just like mine. The only difference between the long and the short one is that on the short model the elastic is sewn into the very tip (it’s visible in one of the photos) and a button is sewn to the top about 3″-4″ from the front; after you’ve wrapped the towel around your head, slip the elastic over the button. The short towel is about 21″-22″ long. The long ones are great for long hair but for my short hair I don’t need all that much towel!

And don’t forget the fun part of cutting up towelling; your house is filled with towel lint afterwards, necessitating a serious session with the vacuum cleaner.

Won’t the recipient of these towels be surprised when she reads this & finds out she’s going to sew the buttons on….bwa..ha…ha…..ha…….

Happy stitching!

Community quilts again..

2022/01/20

This past week I devoted to quilting a couple of community quilts for our Guild. I did not piece either of the quilts shown here; other talented members of our Guild did that. These are two of the four I took when we had our workshop last November, and one of the reasons I took these for me to quilt is that they came with binding. By the time I’m finished quilting (and sometimes piecing) a quilt, I’m ready to be done with it, but there’s always the hunt for appropriate binding fabric (in the case of community quilts) and cutting, joining and pressing the strips. I’m so happy when one of our wonderful members has done that job for me!

What is my favourite binding method you ask? It’s Donna Jordan’s Quick Method. I make a couple of modifications; I usually cut my binding at 2.25″ wide instead of 2.5″ and I use my walking foot with the SID (Stitch in the Ditch) sole plate. Easy peasy; works every time.

All the free motion and ruler quilting is hand guided by me on my Sweet Sixteen. I used primarily Wonderfil invisifil on the basket quilt as top thread and the beautiful Glide thread everywhere else. I used either Superior Bottom Line or magna glide in the bobbin depending on the colour I needed.

Happy stitching!

Introducing…..

2022/01/06

…the stuffie family of Mom & Pop Penguin & the kids. I wonder if it’s our current weather that inspired me to purchase this design or the fact that it was on sale? Or after giving one of our youngest friends one for Christmas I just thought that making more stuffies would be fun? And if you’re interested in machine embroidery, as of today this design, Playful Penguin, is still on sale at Urban Threads. Pop is the tallest at about 7.5″ and the shortest one is about 3.5″.
They’re made of black sparkle fleece, white quilter’s cotton, stuffed with polyester stuffing and embroidered on my Husqvarna Designer Diamond with Sulky thread.

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