Quilty fun – Page 3 – myrtBquilting

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!

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!

The Cool Cat

2022/01/02
A new year brings more quilting time! We headed into a cold and snowy spell shortly after Christmas so other than going out to shovel, I stayed inside to quilt.
After spotting this pattern two or three years ago, it’s been on my ‘I’d like to do it’ list because it’s just so darn cute! The Christmas projects are all done, so now is the time. I’d hoped for a 2021 finish but it was not to be.
So I present the Cool Cat, from the FREE Hipster Cat pattern by Shwin&Shwin. It’s a toddler’s quilt so it’s small enough to whip up in fairly short time: 40.5″ x 48″. I’ve never done applique this size before tho!
Seeing all that white space practically made me drool over the FMQ possibilities, but then I looked at the pattern creator’s straight line quilting and thought that was very effective for this quilt. I modified it slightly.
The lines are all spaced 1″ apart. I first drew in the vertical straight lines with my Mark-B-Gone™ pencil (spritz with water & marks are gone) 2″ apart and then stitched the wavy lines between. This is the first quilt in a long time that I’ve quilted on my domestic machine! I may have to make another just so I can FMQ all the white space lol. If you’re not quite ready for free motion quilting, this is a great design that enhances any quilt and most newer domestics have a built-in wavy or S stitch. Try it!
All fabrics are from my stash. The backing is a soft & cozy flannel and the batting is an 80/20. It was quilted on my Husqvarna Designer Diamond using Superior So Fine thread on top and Superior Bottom Line in the bobbin.

2022/01/01 Cool Cat quilt from Hipster Cat pattern 40.5" x 48" — 2022/01/01 Cool Cat quilt from Hipster Cat pattern 40.5″ x 48″

Another community quilt

2021/12/19
The members of our Guild make excellent use of scraps. A perfect example is this one; a scrappy nine patch that was a pleasure to quilt. Again, I just quilted this one, did not piece it – the last one before Christmas!
Hand guided quilting with my HQ Sweet Sixteen, Glide thread on top and filtec bobbin thread in the bobbin, Angela Walter’s swirl hook again for the quilting design!

I’ve begun to add links to the tips, tricks and tutorials that I’ve found very helpful on my quilting/machine embroidery journey. You can reach them from the home page, or click here. The list will grow!

now I can post this one!

I finished this about the end of October but it didn’t get gifted until yesterday so now I can finally post it.

Coming through Fort MacLeod, AB in September we stopped at a marvellous quilt shop: https://www.facebook.com/LittleRedQuiltShack/. As soon as we walked in the door I spotted this quilt made up and on display. I’d been looking for something for a special family member who had this year completed her Master’s degree while holding down a job and caring for her family and making two moves! Luckily the shop had one final kit left so I quickly took it.

All the fabrics in the quilt top are from the Moda botanica collection. The backing is a beautiful soft flannel. I used Hobbs washable wool for the batting. The pattern is Bundle of 10 by Amelie Scott Designs. It’s a super easy pattern and is very fat quarter friendly. I can see using it again for scrappy quilts. After laundering, it measures approximately 60.25″ x 73.5″. I loved working with these colourful and lively fabrics and the quilt was so soft & cuddly after laundering I hated to part with it!

The hand guided quilting was done by me on my Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen using – yes again because I love it – Angela Walters’ swirl hook design. Top thread used was Glide with Superior’s Bottom Line in the bobbin. Another fun project!

20211102-1 Bundle of 10 approx. 60.25″ X 73.5″

finally…another Community Quilt

After our Guild’s Community Quilt workshop a few weekends ago I have a small stack of sandwiched quilts that need quilting sitting in my closet. I slotted one into my schedule, partly because it’s made of good quality flannel so it’s a pleasure to handle and partly because it’s size makes it easy to quilt in a short period of time. I did not piece this one but I think I recognize the pattern as one from one of the Thee Yard Quilts books. Those patterns are perfect for whipping up something quickly that also looks good. This one measures 42″ x 60.5″ after laundering.
The quilting is hand guided by me on my HQ Sweet Sixteen sit down long arm. The motif used is Angela Walters hook swirl, my all time favourite for creating beautiful texture and getting a fast finish! I used Glide thread.
I love the crinkly look and texture of a quilt after it’s laundered (photo 3).

I love the crinkly look after laundering

Poinsettia #3!

This is the last poinsettia wall hanging I’m going to quilt this year! They have been so much fun to do but I have to move on to something else lol. This last one is for one my sisters-in-law and I’m sure I was doing a happy dance today when the nice people at Canada Post took it out of my hands and started it on its way to her.
Each one has been slightly different in the quilting; I’ve added a little more detail and a little more bling in each one. The trouble is each one is a little nicer than than the one before and now I’m sending away the one I like best!
One problem with the photography is that the sparkle from the metallic and holograph threads simply does not show well in the photos, so you’ll just have to imagine it!
This, as the others, measures about 42″ x 42″ finished. The custom quilting is all hand guided by me on my HQ Sweet Sixteen sit down long arm. I used a variety of Sulky metallic and holograph thread, Sulky rayon thread and Wonderfil invisifil thread. I used two layers of batting: one of 80/20 and one of Hobbs washable wool; that’s what give this wall quilt its texture. The panel is a Hoffman Dream Big Holiday panel.

2021/12/05 -Hoffman Dream Big Holiday Panel #3 Approximately 42″ x 42″

and now a little Advent calendar

Does it count as a UFO if you’ve never started? While digging through my Christmas fabric I discovered this little Advent calendar panel. I can only think that when I found and bought several of an assorted selection of Advent calendar panels (on sale of course) at a quilt shop several years ago that I didn’t make this last one. Any way, now it’s done and it counts as one more completed item and one less piece of fabric in my stash! Yay me!

Just finished in time to hang and fill the little pockets for December 1. Approx. 22.25″w x 23.5″h $25 (SOLD)

And yet another poinsettia…

This all started when the owner of one of our local quilt shops, The Crafty Quilter, invited me to quilt one of these beautiful Hoffman Dream Big Holiday panels for the shop and in return she’d give me one. The first one is done (see a previous post), so now this is the second one completed and it’s mine! I made very few changes in the quilting and I added more bling in the form of either metallic or hologram thread. It’s very difficult to photograph bling to have it show.

I used two layers of batting; one of 80/20 and one of wool. The thread is mostly Sulky rayon but there’s a mix of Sulky and Wonderfil metallic and hologram and Wonderfil invisifil on the top and Wonderfil decobob or Superior Bottom Line in the bobbin. It’s quilted by me on my HQ Sweet Sixteen.

Even though we seldom put up any Christmas decorations before mid December, this one’s up & going to stay! Now I have only one more to do…..

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