Kawaii Kitten

My daughter loves to draw.  It's a normal part of her every day.  When she showed me this simple kitten it just made sense to make it into a wall hanging.

We started by scanning and blowing up her original sketch.  The Small One chose fabric and I went to town using a combination of reverse applique and whole-cloth applique

After the major details were down my daughter drew all the smaller features back onto the face and I followed her lines with thread.

I like using a darning foot with a zig zag stitch while stitching left to right to make thick lines easily.

We are both very pleased with the result.

I'm linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Busy Hands Quilts

Micah 6:8

This was a thank you gift to a pastor that took on the role as our speaker while our minister was on sabbatical.  *aside* have you any idea how hard it is to choose a verse for a pastor y'all!?

I started by printing the design I wanted to do.  A quilt sandwich was created and the papers were pinned to the sandwich.

Using a darning foot, I traced over the letters, tore the paper away and started colouring them in.

But I didn't like it.

So I started in with the fans.

But I really didn't like it, so I started in with the pebbles.

Have you ever heard the expression "throw more thread at it"?   It seemed to work this time around.

The Husband's Space Shuttle

Many years ago, after I made the Day Lilies, I said "never again" to complicated paper piecing.  Then my husband saw me browsing a Quilts with Style magazine and asked me to make him the shuttle he saw.  

How am I supposed to say no to that??

So I started the poor shuttle in 2014 and finally finished it last week. 

I chose to double the size of the pattern (it finishes at 48 x 48 now) so that I wouldn't be dealing with tiny bitty little pieces.

It hangs opposite his desk.

I'm linking with Finished or Not Friday and Crazy Mom Quilts

Rebecca

Quilt Canada was finally near me this year.  I've been saving up for it for a long time so I could take a workshop every day.

The second workshop I took was a family pick.  My Grandmother and two of my aunts and I signed up in the first 30 minutes to make sure we could all get a spot with Weeks Ringle.  Because life happens it turned out that her husband Bill came instead.  We had a really good time with him.  

The workshop was all about roll of colour in a quilt.  We also talked quite a bit about edge.  Bill explained that the two couldn't really be separated.  Both were necessary for a good quilt.  I am finding that to be absolutely true in the work that I do.  It was very necessary to think of both when I chose to make a portrait of my daughter.

There are endless pieces of Rebecca in this quilt.  The purple and pink are obvious.  Her favourite part is the Pinkie Pie in the middle.  The first pod is the princess that she loves to be.  It was the first major part of her personality to shine.  The second pod is her love for what her Daddy has introduced her to - Marvel, Starwars, etc.

The straight lines of the blocks and of the quilting and the traditional 9-patch speak to how her mind works, the way she likes to think inside her box.

The curved edges are all about her imagination and the fun she has when she plays.

I did micro "scribbling" in the white space of the quilt.  Just those two little spaces took a whole bobbin.

I kind of cheated for this assignment.  Bill told us what to do before lunch and I realized that most of the fabric I brought with me wouldn't work.  Off to the merchant mall I went.  I felt a bit like I was on a timed shopping spree as I went from booth to booth looking for "Rebecca".  A lot of the fabric I bought, I normally wouldn't look twice at.  .

Date:  June - July 2015

Pattern:  Inspired from pods in a craftsy.com class.

Fabrics / Best Buys:  Most was bought from the Merchant Mall at Quilt Canada - Yay for $2 fat quarters.  I used the back of grey fabric because the front was too harsh for the subject matter.

Lessons Learned:  I tried a new binding technique with curved edges.  This is the tutorial I used.  Sew Very Easy  The curves turned out perfectly, but the binding process did not.  I'll need to think about how I can make it more uniform for next time.

Thoughts:  This was a very challenging and very personal project.  As we went around the table at the workshop and discussed our work, there were profound thoughts and even tears as people discussed their journeys and loved ones.  It was good.

Spook

One of my favourite things is when I'm given blocks or UFOs from our local MCC Thrift Store.  I have a friend and fellow quilter there who sometimes passes things on.  The idea is to finish them and send them back.  MCC can sell a finish for much more than the sum of the parts.

Date:  July 2015

Pattern:  Unknown - the top came finished with the exception of the outer border.

Fabric:  All from MCC except outer border and binding.  They were from my stash.

Lessons Learned:  If your tension isn't absolutely perfect when quilting, use a thread in the bobbin that matches the fabric on the front.  Yes, I cheat :)

Thoughts:  I'm not a Halloween girl, but I'm sure someone will love this.

All the quilting on this was a walking foot at ¼".  I used to have a ½" walking foot.  I think it met an accidental end.  I think I might want to invest in one to make thicker rows.

My quilting group and I are likely to put on a show at the library next spring.  I'll show it there and then send it back to MCC for sale.

Schmittens

Date:  2007 - January 2014

Reason:  A friend had a similar wall hanging called "Smittens".  It was just so cute :)

Fabrics:  Nope.  Way too long ago to remember.

Lessons:  If you make a block and it doesn't work, don't put it in.  It's okay to start again.  The unused block(s) can go in an "orphan quilt" at a later time.

Thoughts:  Another UFO bites the dust.  A friend on Facebook claimed this as her own.

Machine quilted in free motion and a with a walking foot.

Day Lilies

Started in 2009, finished in 2010.

Reason:  This was a gift for my sister and brother-in-law as a Christmas / Housewarming present.  My sister is a lily grower so it seemed appropriate.

Pattern:  It is all paper pieced.  Every time I do a big paper pieced project I say never again.  Clearly it doesn't stick because I have another one in the works.

If I can find the author of this pattern, I'll post it.

Fabrics:  Most of the fabrics were from my stash.  It was really fun and a little scary picking all the colours by shade values.

Bunkhouse on Point

Date:  December 2010

Reason:  Mum and Dad painted their bunkhouse and made it so pretty inside.  I wanted to contribute to it so I made this for them for Christmas.  I chose these colours to match the bedding.

Best deals:  This was made entirely from scraps.  My friend Gloria gave me a bag of leftovers.  The border is from that bag.

Thoughts:  I didn't use a pattern for this and it was the first time I did anything "on point" it's far from perfect.

I started making 6½" squares when my scrap drawers got too full.  I also used blocks like this in The Colour Garden.

It was a ton of fun to use blue and yellow DMC floss to stitch around the seams.  I tried my best to use a different stitch for every line.  It was very challenging and required some research.

Mother thought this was too nice to put in the bunkhouse :)

Life is Precious

Date: 2008

Reason:  Applique Class

Fabrics:  The leaves and stem piece were provided by the class teacher, a friend from LBCQ.

Lessons:  Needle turn applique, piped borders

Thoughts:  This is one of my first attempts at machine quilting - I only had a walking foot back then.  I wanted to continue the stems and leaves into the quilting.

This is actually a bit of an emotional wall hanging.  The leaves that my friend provided were leftovers from a quilt that she made while sitting in the hospital at her husband's side.  Using the same pieces that my friend did during a very hard time in her life reminds me that life is precious.  I just can't take it for granted.

My friend's quilt (called Lifelines) and her story is in the book Little Bits of Comfort.

Blue

My beloved grandmother enjoys creating more blocks than she needs for a project.  She then gives many of them to me for me to play with.  I made this wall hanging from the first such care package to go in my sewing / spare bedroom.  It matches the blue Storm at Sea she gave me for my birthday several years ago.

Thank You

Date:  2007

No Pattern

24 x 18

Reason:  I wanted to say thank you to someone for the help they provided to my husband.

Best Buys:  I got the burgundy from our local MCC thrift store.  It was a large piece for only $3.