SANTA'S RIDE - BLOCK 8, 9 AND 10

In between my hand embroidery, quilt tops, free motion practice, and classes (just begun a Kellie Wulfsohn beginners class, will show you more later), I am still progressing on my Santa's Ride Machine Embroidery.  

Lucky its a Christmas project, so I still have plenty of time (and plenty to do).

Here are the three latest blocks hot off the embroidery frame.

BLOCKS 8 AND 9 - SANTA IN THE SLEIGH

BLOCK 10 - TOYS IN THE SANTA SACK

If you would like to read more, take a look at my previous post 
SANTA'S RIDE - PART #1

I am making two Santa's Ride at a time, one for me and one for my DD so it takes twice as long.  One background is blue swirls and the other is blue with stars (you might see pics with both backgrounds and wonder what I was doing???)

GARDEN PARTY FINISHED AND QUILTED

Pattern:  Garden Party by Teddlywinks
Material:  Country Orchard by Blackbird Designs 

See what happens when I don't blog much......I get projects finished.

I had a deadline for this romantic quilt and am very happy to say that I have made it with a few weeks to spare.

Just to recap, Garden Party is for mums 80th birthday and a combination of applique and embroidery. I purchased a layer cake plus some extra lengths of the plain colours for the borders.

Now that I have done my part, off she went to the quilters.  Mandy from Seams Sew Together has done a wonderful job on my previous quilt and this time is no exception.

I'm also linking up to the Stitchery Link party over at Super Mom - No Cape so pop over and take a look at the other beautiful embroidery on show.

READY FOR BINDING

ALL LOADED UP ON QUILTING FRAME

CENTRE PANEL

 Mandy has done a great job of stippling around the embroidery in the panels, which still highlights the work and almost trapuntos the applique.

CHECK OUT THOSE BORDERS

 Each coloured border has a different pattern -

1.  blue:  continuous hearts on a string
2.  apricot: feathers 
3.  crimson: feather variation.

The square blocks around each panel have a quilted flower in each one

TEAPOT BLOCK

SEE THOSE FLOWERS IN EACH SQUARE...LOVELY

This pattern wasn't quite big enough for a bed so its going up on the wall as a feature

Of course all I have left to do is to pop on the binding, attached a hanging sleeve and Bobs your uncle.

SANTA'S RIDE - Part #1

I know, I know, its so very early to start on my Christmas Project but this one is a big one !!


When I purchased my latest Brother sewing machine, Kate suggested I pay the extra few dollars and get the embroidery attachment.  What the heck, I thought and I did it and now I am so thankful that I did.  I am  working on an Anita Goodesign called Santa's Ride.

Its all machine embroidered and as you can see, there is lots of work to do!!    I don't actually do much, except change the threads when the machine tells me to, the machine does all the stitching and its just wonderful watching each block come to life with the beautiful colours.

Each block is stitched individually then they will be sewn together with borders to resemble a glass window pane (I have just placed the blocks abutting in the picture below to give you an idea of the scene)



BLOCKS 1 TO 4

Each block is approx. 6" square in size so the overall picture will be about 1 metre across.  It also has some applique (in the picture below, the moon is actually material which has been satin stitched)

The machine tacks an outline stitch showing me where to place the material, then it stitches it down, I trim off the excess, then the machine satin stitches around the edge.  Very clever!!

BLOCKS 1 TO 7

I found that I needed a heavy duty backing in the embroidery hoop otherwise with all the heavy stitching, the block started to buckle.  Once I found the right backing, everything has gone well so far.

It can be very time consuming as Block #7 took 1.5hrs to stitch.  I put the colour thread in the machine, go about my business then come back now and then when the colour needs changing. 

Here is BLOCK #8 in part progress so you can see how the machine links all the colours.  This one shows some of the presents in Santa's Sack.  When the block is finished, I trim off all the unwanted threads and square up the block. 

BLOCK #8 - Part finished

Hope you love all the bright colours in this project as much as I do, I'll keep posting more blocks as I get them finished.

MOTHERS DAY QUILT

Hope all my blogger friends, had a wonderful Mothers Day on Sunday.   Mum's been very lucky this year, she's receiving quilts for every occasion!!!
 
She asked me ages ago for a Lavender and Lemon quilt and it took me a while to find materials that complimented each other.  Finally I've put together a braid pattern in a perfect size for her to sit and read, watch tv and knit.
 

I'm still not great at the quilting process so I did a simple chevron pattern on every second line and I think it came up okay.  Of course mum thinks its fabulous (as mums do......which is lovely)
 
I did a free motion pattern on the edges using a stencil, I traced the pattern then dropped the feed dogs and off I went.  Not too bad for a first attempt on a quilt (you have to take the plunge sometime)
 
 


Edge Free Motion

Silly me, I cut the backing fabric the wrong way and had to improvise.  It was too narrow and I had scraps of lemon and lavender left over so I simply put together a strip and inserted into the backing.  What a great idea..... I had seen it on other quilts and I must say, it adds to the overall quilt.

No-one would know it was a mistake!!
 

I am very happy with this quilt and even more so because its what mum wanted.

I hope she gets plenty of pleasure from it, all I have to do is add a label saying

With Love for Mother Day....2015 

SAL - Gail Pan

Hello bloggers, have you missed me???    I know I went on holiday to Vietnam in March (which was absolutely fabulous),  but its taken me a while to get back to blogging.

Just because I haven't been around, doesn't mean I haven't done anything (far from it!!)  Just last weekend, I went on a sewing girls UFO weekend.  I am so proud of myself, got three (3) quilts finished and ready for the quilter (I'll do another post about these later)

This post is dedicated to the lovely Gail Pan SAL.  Just before I went overseas, I did a stitching day together with other ladies, and I met Gail Pan, how exciting.  She is just so down to earth and chatted with everyone and well as giving us tips and projects. 

One of the projects that we received was this quaint stitchery display.  This is one I chose to do on the day and then I finished it off with bits and pieces from my sewing collection and popped it in a frame.




Then I wrapped it up and it was my secret present for the sewing girls UFO.  I think Cheryl who received my present was happy and last I heard, it was going up in her hallway.

Close up of Embroidery

I managed to grab a picture with Gail so I could show all the girls who are doing the SAL......

Gail Pan and me

And here are some of her lovely works that were on display. 

I was running out of Gail Pan patterns, but now that I did the stitching day, I have plenty of choices to go on with and they are all so lovely and simply.  Don't you just find them relaxing.....


Bye for now

GARDEN PARTY - 2nd Instalment

Time is flying by so fast, its the last day of summer tomorrow and I feel like we haven't even seen much of the warmer weather this year.

I've had lots on my plate this month and I had to miss my Gail Pan Sew-A-Long project this month....boohoo  and now I'm off to Vietnam for a couple of weeks so I doubt if I will get time to do anything for next month either.

I have managed to applique and embroider another couple of blocks for mums Garden Party Quilt.

Centre Piece Block
 

Banner

Sugar Bowl and Rose Basket

Of  course these blocks will be arranged differently when they are all sewn together, but I thought I'd show you some of the material that will be included around each block.

Well so long now for a couple of weeks, I'll be keeping check on your work but I doubt if I can post anything on sewing until I return.  I might be able to throw a couple of holiday snaps in just to make you a bit jealous haha.

DONNA'S BLOCKS

When I took up sewing again a few years back, I was so lucky to be included in a sewing group that meets every second Monday night to chat and catch up on each others sewing projects. 


I have made some wonderful new friends who inspire me every day and today I am so excited to show you some beautiful blocks that my sewing friend, Donna has made for her latest quilt 'Every Loving Deed' by Blue Willow Cottage.   You can find the pattern here.

The blocks are a combination of applique, embroidery and patchwork and each one has an inspirational quote or message of some kind.

Just love the little bees on this one.

Look at the embroidered climbing roses on this one - just exquisite!

Even the snowman looks happy.

How true are all the little messages.

Gorgeous quilt hanging out to dry

Another beautiful message, 

There is even a lovely lace cloth on this one.

Finally a summary of the lovely messages sewn in this one block.

The nine blocks will come together with borders that are embroidered with garlands of leaves and flowers (Donna is still working on these, as you can imagine, they take quite a long time).

I just love the  colors that she has chosen and her work is just beautifully done.  I could look at each block for hours and marvel at it.


Hope you liked her achievements as much as I did,  and I can't wait to see the finished quilt.

GARDEN PARTY - FnWF

How remiss of me,  I signed up for FnWF and completely forgot to blog post my work....oops 

I took mum with me to Gail B's patchwork shop a few days ago, and she has selected her 80th birthday present....... a cute quilt by Teddlywinks called Garden Party.

I have a few months up my sleeve before I need it finished but I really wanted to get the bulk of it done before our holiday later this month.

Its a combination of patchwork, applique and embroidery....

Here's a sneek peak at the first two blocks.

Block 1 

Block 2

I'm using a layer cake called Country Orchard by Blackbird Designs.  It has a lovely mix of greens, blues and pinks.  

I'm finding that I have three parts to each block

1)     Trace designs, select colors, iron onto block.

2)     Machine applique using blanket stitch

3)     Hand embroider finishing touches.

I am laying out all the finished blocks and will then piece together with 3" x 3" squares.  Its just a matter of getting a good spread of each colour so the quilt looks balanced.  

RULER BAG

On our girls last road-trip, I purchased a Teddlywinks pattern for my long cutting ruler and small cutting mat.   It has three ties along the top to secure the contents plus a pocket on the back for anything else you can fit in.  I'm sure it will be very useful on our girls sewing retreats.

I also picked up a bundle of fabric (on sale of course!) in lovely green and lemon tones.  Match this with the Country Threads for the embroidery, and viola........

FRONT OF BAG

REAR OF BAG

BUMBLE BEE PANEL

BUTTERFLY PANEL

LADYBIRD PANEL ON REAR POCKET.

This also gave me a chance to practice some quilting.  Using my walking foot you can see the pattern I did inside each front small square (sorry don't know the official name of this pattern).

I even managed to find a ladybird print in green for the inside lining...very lucky.

I will let you in on a secret...... originally I was making this for a gift on our sewing retreat but I loved it so much, I'm keeping it for myself.

GAIL PAN SEW-ALONG 2015

Its so good to be back doing another Gail Pan Sew-Along.   Thanks to Martina for organizing it.  Check out all the others projects here Sunshinequilting.

 I enjoy sitting down at night and relaxing doing a bit of embroidery, and her projects are all so useful.  Again from the book Patchwork Loves Embroidery,  I have made the Secrets and Dreams Wallet.

It needs just the right button on the front and it will be finished.  It opens up to reveal one large pocket on the RHS and four smaller pockets on the LHS.

I did cheat a little, rather than the hand quilting on the borders, I chose different machine stitches instead so I could save time as I seem to have so many things on the go !!

See you next month for the next project........

GROW YOUR BLOG

Hello and welcome,

If you enjoy patchwork, embroidery, felt work and quilting, then you might like to visit my blog.....

My name is Dawn and I live in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia......

Its a long way from the rest of the world, but with the wonderful world of blogging, you can visit me anytime.

The Australian Open Tennis is in town at the moment, so hubby and I popped along to enjoy the sights.

I have always been a little crafty and love to sew and embroider but with the hectic rigors of raising a family, I have only recently found my way back onto the circuit again and I am loving it.  Now that we are empty nesters, my sons room has been converted into my sewing retreat and its where all these goodies are created.

 

I joined a local patchwork group and we have terrific fun, we meet each week to chat and sew and we have the occasional weekend away or day trip to stock up on supplies.

I enjoy visiting other blog sites and keeping in touch and I've made some lovely friends both locally and around the world.  I will always try to answer your comments and keep up with your blog 

Its such fun to join a SAL or a Swap and see the lovely work others do and the buzz that you get when someone comments....well, it keeps me happy for days.  

Bloggers are such generous people, they offer their knowledge free of charge and let you into their world of ideas without any expectations.  See,  even my blog background was offered free by VintageMade For You, and of course,  a big thank you to Vicki at 2 Bags Full, for organising this Grow Your Blog post.

I wont go on any more, but please keep scrolling and take a look at my blog and if you like what you see, please join up and I'll do likewise.  

Bye for now.....Dawn