Meg's Garden

I found out the name of the Applique quilt I was working on last week.  It is called Meg's Garden by Don't Look Now.  The customer put an additional border on hers to the pattern.
She was pleased when I sent her a photo last week.  I just need to trim it today and get it into the post.
So one last photo, I ended up using Celery a pale green Glide thread to fill the tree with tiny leaves.

Thank you GM for letting me play with your quilt.  The appliques stitches were tiny and fantastic.  I loved the way you fussy cut many of the Kaffe fabrics for your flowers.

Sunday Sewing

My daughter's baby shower is on Saturday next weekend.  I am teaching a Glacier Star class so won't be able to make it.  I really want to keep  three weeks of free time up my sleeve for when the baby comes.

So I am sending "Daphne" in my place. Haven't made soft baby toys before but this cute pattern shouted to me when "Voodoo Rabbit" came to our guild meeting.  It is a Funky Friends Factory pattern.  I think I will have to invest in some more patterns of the other animals.

I have filled Daphne's wings with cellophane so they make a crinkle sound when held.  She also contains a rattle ball.

I also found a letter my daughter wrote when she was five that I am including in the parcel.  That can be my daughter's birthday treat!

Countdown has begun in earnest.  33 days until I meet my grand daughter - unless she wants to meet me sooner!

Feathers in a Flower garden

Day Two of this customer quilt on my frame.  I finished quilting the Borders, backfilled behind them plus also played with some feathers beneath the tree.

 Hopefully these will stay in order.  After marking the sashing strip with soap to evenly divide the border, I then found two curved edges that would fit my idea. Marked where the edge of the template would need to be against the sashing with the blue tape.
Stitched in the ditch of the sashing, two arcs and the feathers in one direction with only one stop and start.

 Glide thread is really making the scalloped feathers shine.  The background fill stitching I will do with a matt finish thread.

I felt it looked too puffy on the outside and I needed to do something on the inside between the floral border so my Corrugated fill.
The only Piecing on this quilt is the brown sashing strip.  The rest of the quilt is appliqued.

This last picture was taken with theroom  lights turned off last night and just the side lighting coming from my Family room.  Now you can see the texture the quilting is giving to the top.

Lots more SID appliques and background fill today and I may be finished.

Threads and Paperwork

What started with three large boxes has now been sorted and filled onto the shelves.  Slowly getting enough boxes that soon I won't be able to see the lovely colours of all those threads. The new shelves we spent Saturday putting together are doing their job perfectly. The paperwork has all been done, so now I can get back to my machine.

 Life got in the way  but I the quilt is progressing.  Should have the border finished this afternoon and be able to start on the centre.

Day One Coffee Break

This quilt belongs to a long distance customer and I do not have an email address for her.  I have sent a message 6,700kms via the Quilters Bush Telegraph (she lives 1900kms away but this crow doesn't fly straight), that I will be putting photos of the progress of her quilt on my blog.  Hopefully she can enjoy the "Quilt Along".

Coffee Break on Day One, the threads are chosen and if you look closely you can see soap marks in the sashing.  I didn't realise there was a tree in the Hand Blanket stitch applique until I pulled it fully out of its bag this morning.

While measuring it and admiring the ladybugs a plan came together. It involved a bit of premarking before it gets on the frame, so the soap marks are it.  Which means I will be stitching the border areas first.  Since it is shouting a pretty loud story of how it wants to be quilted - I hope life doesn't get in the way of me getting on with it!

Three Thousand Metres of Thread in 8 Different Colours

I have finished the quilt that has been on my machine for the last eight days.

Four different colours of So Fine thread, plus one each of Glide, Invisifil, Premo Soft and Magna Glide Classic bobbins.

I now have it hanging on my wall and can admire it for the weekend as I am too late for the post.

Another couple of blocks  that I really enjoyed quilting.

It is too dark where the quilt is hanging for a really good photo.  Hopefully there will be some sun over the weekend so I can take a good photo of the whole quilt.  It is too big for the wall I hang them on, so I ned the early morning sun through my bedroom window to get a decent shot..

Two Kilometre mark

It has taken a week but I am now passing the two kilometres of thread mark.  I've sent out a couple of Glide Thread orders and had to purchase lotsmore thread to take their place!

My responsibilities  with the management committee of Queensland Quilters has increased so I have also spent a chunk of this week at meeetingsand on the computer.  The Quilt Show in October will take the better part of my time for almost a month!

But here are some more shots of the quilt on the frame.  I am trying to do something different  in each block in a row.  Lots of SID, a few broken needles with thick intersections.

I am really liking the texture of quilting mostly in the background fabrics.  With the cloudy days at the moment I am not getting the best light for photographing.  Plus one of my overhead daylight flourescent globes has blown and I won't get to the hardware store until Saturday.

A kilometre of Threads

Almost 500 straight pins to stabilise the top but - The border of feathered cables is finished and the sashings are almost half way done.  I've used over a kilometre of thread already.  Neither of these two threads were ones I had chosen to initally use on the quilt!  That is how it goes  - sometimes the quilt says it needs  something different to initial thoughts so I go with the flow.

Still debating whether to go back and put a fill behind the cable with the same thread as the sashing.  Sititching in the ditch between the red border and the outer feathered border have made it look almost right.  I'll see how I am going for time later on.

My Feathered Friends

Why do I like to put Feathers on my quilts? 

Is it because of the family of Blue Wrens, feeding themselves on the insects outside my sewing room, clinging to the screen door as they catch them, or is it the fact that I can reach out the door of my ensuite and touch this Double Barred Finch nest if I wanted too.  They are just visible sitting on the nest, so soon there will be more babies to join the flocks around here.

Feathers on quilt tops take a little bit more time. 

I have had this top for a while but knew it would be best to not start until after my grandson left.  So yesterday out came the trusty stencil, Bohin white chalk pencil (the outer isn't Bohin but the inside is!).  The clothes brush for the changes and off I went.  Settled myself into a chair and kicked my shoes off.

I am going to use the centre spine of the cable as the spine of some feathers, with an echo on the outer edge of the feathers.  This border is only 4.5 inches wide. I marked the feathers from the corners towards the centre.

 So I have a small problem of them not quite being perfect in the centre of each side,  I've tried some trusty circles,  still not sure it is the way to go, so will see what happens when I put it in the machine and actually start stitching.

I Plan on stitching the border and the blue sashings all the way through the quilt top on my first roll through.  I will pin each of the 90 blocks with 3 or 4 pins to stabilise them as I go.

Once I get to the bottom I will then consider what colour to do next. Will most likely be the colour that I feel that is the next most dominant colour. The threads are already chosen and off the wall.

As this is a long distance customer I hope she can follow the progress of her quilt through these posts.

I meant to clean my house today but.......

When I went to change the towels in the powder room I saw that the soap dispenser needed filling, and when I put the extra soap back in the cupboard I saw the toilet paper and refilled the holder in the toilet, and saw that the door handle was dirty.  Then realising that I had just had my grandson here for a visit and he was playing hide and seek, that I needed to clean the 11 other door handles too.

My husband will wonder what I have been doing while he was mowing, but one thing leads to another and I still haven't got the vacuum cleaner out of the cupboard!

But the showers, basins, baths, mirrors and toilets are clean, the towels are waiting for the firs load of the washer to finish the dishwasher is going and....

I think it is time for a cup of tea.

I am meaning to clean my house today!