BELLA GARDEN - FNSI

My McKenna Ryan quilt - Bella Garden is a long term project and I am very happy to say, she is almost finished !!!

Thanks to Wendy of Sugarlane Designs,  I spent Friday night  getting the binding ready (there is so much of it!), now all I have to do it put it on.  I just couldn't wait to show you the photos, now that she is back from Mandy my great long-arm quilter friend.

It has taken me almost 2 years to stay on track and keep going, but its worth it now.

Just love the centre panel with those gorgeous flowers and sweet butterflies.

Mandy did a wonderful job of filling in the background with Ricky Doodles (thats what I call them??)  and swirls all around the border... Lovely

I love feathers so I asked to have some put in and look what she came up with.  (I've just noticed  I need to  embroider a little eye on my mouse..oops).

Check out the water fill quilting that goes all around the gorgeous blue water and sky.

My favorite part is the Wisteria, very time consuming to do but it came up a treat.








If you would like to see my progress making this quilt, check out my Bella Garden label on the side, to see how each block came into being  Or pop on over to the McKenna Ryan Group here to see other terrific McKenna Ryan projects

This one is going in the entry hall when its finished.  Its too nice to hide away in a cupboard so I have Mr H rearranging furniture so I can find a wall big enough to hang her.

ALASKA QUILT

Last year Mr H and I ventured over to the USA and Canada.  After the 17 hour flight (its such a long way from Australia to anywhere!) we arrived in Vancouver, Canada.  We took a Scenic tour of the Rockies and then a Princess Cruise up to Alaska.

Of course with any holiday, I was anxious to visit as many quilt shops as I could find and lucky for me, I found a couple each stop on the Cruise in Alaska.

I thought what a wonderful way to remember the holiday by buying some material which highlighted the animals found in that part of the world; Moose, Wolves, Bears, Eagles etc...

I came home and stashed my material and forgot all about it (probably got lost in my sewing room).

This winter which has been rather colder than usual, Mr H asked for a quilt so the dogs would sit on his lap.  What a perfect 'man quilt' my Alaskan material has made:

I had purchased panels of animals and also some coordinating brown and blue material.

All I had to do was add the black borders and a few flying geese for colour and there you have it.

Very simple and quick to assemble and I even did the quilting myself (I'm getting braver)

I can even say we saw some of these animals in the wild, brown bears running alongside the train into Jasper, a Moose (minus the antlers) in Banff, lots of birds everywhere but no Wolves!!

Mr H and the dogs, are very happy and there's more room in my sewing room for the next addition of material - everyone's happy :)

BLACKBIRDS - FINISHED AND FRAMED

Just thought I'd do a short post to show you my finished 'Blackbirds' that I was learning with Kellie Wulfsohn

I know I had showed you the raw edge applique and I was about to have a go at the free-motion quilting........well here she is all framed up.

As you can see, I am extremely happy (sorry about the photo quality)

Here are some close ups of the quilting

The swirls aren't all perfect but overall the bad ones are hidden amongst the good ones.  Once its up on the wall, no-one will notice (I hope)

FNwF - BUCILLA PROGRESS

Well that was a relaxing Friday night and along with all the other bloggers, which is kindly organised by Cheryl  here is what I got up to......

Now that Jake will be two this Christmas, he deserves a Christmas Stocking fit for a king, and what better than a Train Stocking!!!  I love making Bucilla Felt Stockings so I have allowed plenty of time (cos they do take a while) to do this one

If you have never done a Bucilla before, I have shown a little of what to do:-

1. Start with a pattern, it might look complicated but if you break it down a little each night, you can do it!

   2.  Gather your equipment, needles - beading and applique, pins, scissors, threads, magnifying glasses (only if you need them, but you probably will), sequins and beads.

My Sequins and bead Box

   3.  Layout your pre-printed felt 

    4.  Follow the instructions, they detail which piece, thread colors, stitch, and sequin to use.

   5.  Once you have embellished your numbered piece with applique and sequins, you can then place onto the main piece and stitch in place.

Stocking in Progress

Oh and please dont think I did all that on Friday night (I'm not Superwomen), I only did his scarf (told you it takes a while) but I do love the fringing that is on the end of it.

Well thats what I got up to on Friday night, how about you???  I'll be over to see what you did throughout the week.

By the way, if you want to see my other Bucilla's check out the label 'Bucilla' on the side.

Happy Sewing

Dawn

BLACKBIRDS - RAW EDGE APPLIQUE

I am in the middle of doing a class with the designer behind Don't Look Now, Kellie Wulfsohn.

Kellie has opened a beautiful shop in Fairfield called  Cutting Cloth and is running a Raw Edge Applique beginners class featuring her 'Blackbirds' design

It looks easier than it is (well for me anyway).  Going around the leaves three times ensures that you catch in the raw edges, I think I needed to go around a few more times especially on the curves.  Practice makes perfect and by the time I got to the birds and trunk, I felt a little better.

When all the leaves, birds and trunk  are on....phew took a while, then you sew the branches, leaf vein and birdies legs.

Its very important to hold a good tension on the material while you are doing the applique and my new quilting gloves helped a lot. This will ensure that your quilting will turn out without bumps (I hope)

Tomorrow is my last class and we are going to tackle the quilting.  I've been practicing drawing swirls all week and even had a practice on the machine.

I am not so sure how I'm going to get those swirls in between those little leaves?? but I am sure Kellie will hold the secret.  She has been a terrific bubbly teacher and very patient with us all.  Her teaching room is ideal and last week she even had fruit and fudge to try and inspire us......

I'm looking forward to tomorrow and if my project quilting is worthy, I might even post another picture of the finished job.

Bye for now

HANNAH'S GARDEN

One of my UFO's is Hannah's Garden by One Day in May.  Its a 7-part pattern and I'm almost finished putting it together.

 Here are a few of my finished blocks

Most of the blocks have a combination of embroidery, needle-turn applique and 3D work.

Can you see the two rows of ecru stitching top and bottom?  This was new to me but gives it a beautiful finish.  You do a running stitch to the end, and then weave the embroidery thread back through the stitching line.  

I think the original design had different material, but when I went to buy the kit, there was a substitute piece.  I am still very happy with the colours and am eager to put it all together with the borders.

I must admit, I cheat a little on the needle-turn as I just can't seem to master the art.  I make the shapes first using applique paper which is water soluble and should partly dissolve when washed.  Then I applique the shapes directly onto my block.

Stay tuned for the full wall-hanging, I'll post the picture as soon as its done (dont hold your breathe, it could be a little while, there are quite a few UFO's......... LOL)

Happy sewing

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