What I did on May Vacation Week #4

What I did on my May "Quilt Along" Vacation Week #4 with Leah Day...

It has been a busy month of finishing UFO's and projects that I have been wanting to see completed.  This past week I have been working with some oriental fabrics.  Last week I completed an 8 foot valance and this week I finished a small wall quilt created from my sample piece I practiced my stitching on for the valance. 

In this practice piece you will see some Trapunto work, the borders were added using a quilt-as-you-go method, and if you look closely you may see a dragonfly I stitched in the FMQ in the sky while I was testing out a thread color.  You can't toss out such a pretty practice sample, so I made it into a small wall hanging (about 18 x 36" ) for the room where the valance is hanging.  I still need to add some micro stippling around the Trapunto work on both pieces (ughhh, another UFO)  - only these pieces are already hanging and I will get to the microstippling when I have nothing else to do   :)

Thanks Leah, you inspire me!  Looking forward to the Quilt - Alongs in June !

Update on Robin Family

In this photo my wee grandson and I have discovered that the Robins eggs have begun to hatch.  Here you see a couple of the baby birds.  Momma Robin has been so gracious to allow us one daily peak and photo of her babies the first few weeks living in my silk flower grapevine wreath outside my sewing studio window.  This is day 13 since the first little blue egg appeared in the nest.  Looks like one or maybe two more eggs have yet to hatch.

Not a bad photo for this Mimi while I hold my little grandson, haha ~

Godspeed,

mary

What I did on springtime vacation #3

What I did on Spring vacation was a little bit of Trapunto work for a valance.  My fabric choice is an oriental themed fabric, batting is cotton, and the trapunto work areas I have added polyester Batting.  This valance is a little more than 8 feet long!

I also am working on a small wall hanging from the same fabric line for hanging in the same room.

Looking forward to the quilt alongs, but so glad to be getting some UFO's done!

Update on Momma Robin....

Her little babies have begun to hatch in her nest in the silk flower and grapevine wreath... snuck this photo while momma was off on a worm hunt :)
Godspeed,
mary

Bloggers Quilt Festival ~ Spring 2012

May 19, 2012

     Welcome to my blog and viewing my entry for the Bloggers Quilt Festival ~ Spring 2012  that Amy hosts twice a year.  http://amyscreativeside.com/2012/05/18/bloggers-quilt-festival-spring-2012/

     This is my Valentine Quilt called "Valentine Feathers" I made this year.  It  is a 24" x 24" Trapunto Wall Quilt and quilted in free motion on my domestic sewing machine.

     I adapted this pattern and used techniques I learned from Sharon Schamber on her "Trapunto" YouTube;  I also applied techniques I learned from Cindy Needham called "Sunshine and Shadow" stippling. The fabric and batting is cotton, for the trapunto work I added a polyester batting, and the thread work is rayon thread.

     Thank you for viewing my work and visiting my blog J

Godspeed,

mary

May FMQ Challenge; update on momma Robin

Leah Day was our guest teacher on the FMQ challenge in May!  Love learning from this woman!  She is full of energy and ideas, and inspires me to get quilting!   I have a good time learning from her as she challenges me to try new and different quilting techniques !  Thanks Leah!

This month Leah challenged us to create a soft curved foundational line, we then stippled on top of that line.  The first stipple was curved, and the second design was what we refer to as Railroad tracks.  I used both designs on this quilted block in the corner triangles! 

This block is a quilted sampler of other FMQ designs that I have seen and liked, and wanted to play with.  Eventually this block will become a throw pillow to go with a sampler quilt I made some years ago.  This was one of the blocks that were leftover, having not been included in the completed quilt.

Back of the quilt block shows more of the patterns without the busyness of the print in the fabric getting in the way :)   One of the gals in the challenge added a second line to the foundational line, before she added the tracks to the railroad pattern, and what a difference that little change made to the appearance of the pattern!  Will try that and get a photo added to this post.

here is my sample of the double foundation line RR track

back of the quilted block

Funny how adding one line can change the whole appearance of a pattern.  Going to use this pattern to make a track road and include a city in the quilt for my grandsons to have picnics on and ride their trains and cars on when they visit Mimi and Grandpa.

Thanks Leah, this has been so much fun!  Thanks SewCal Gal, not only are we learning from our monthly teachers, but we are learning from each other as well ~ and having fun doing it too! 

Update on momma Robin ….

Momma laid eggs in her nest outside my sewing studio window; the nest she built inside of a silk flower and grapevine wreath I made and have hanging on the porch.  She has laid 4 pretty blue eggs, one each day, and is sitting on the nest keeping the little eggs nice and warm :) 

Godspeed,

mary

Vacation wk #2, update on Momma Robin

Quilt Along Vacation month ~ Update on momma Robin

My quilt along vacation projects are coming along nicely having completed a few unfinished projects around here.   This month I hope to complete my applique quilt I started some time ago.  With 12 blocks assembled, my design wall is full, and I am now quilting each of those blocks with a poly batt.  Once I have all the blocks quilted, I will put them together the way Leah showed  us some weeks ago, using a lattice system. 

All of the blocks will be echo quilted according to the pattern of the applique, and some of the blocks will also have motifs in them.  I am using a technique I learned from Don Linn to get the motif exactly where I want it on the block.  Here you can see my very large hoop with tulle fabric. I was able to get three stencils inside this hoop, for 3 of the blocks, without having to change stencils! Thanks again Don.  Once all 12 blocks are completed, I will then decide how much stippling to add before assembling the quilt top.  Then on to finish the borders.

Update on momma Robin, who nested in my silk flowers on my porch outside my sewing studio room.  Each day she has laid one little blue egg…. and here are 3 eggs she is tending ~ My last post shows a better photo of the nest in the wreath when she had finished creating the nest.

Godspeed,

mary

QA Week # 16 Zippling, Vacation wk 1and momma has made a nest

A break from the quilt along for the month of May, has provided time to work on UFO's and other assorted things.   I spent some of that time working on the Zippling stitch…the little buttonhole on the left is how I keep my stitch samples on a ring, handy for review and inspiration.

I also completed and bound quilt #4 of the wholecloth feather wall quilts.  Three Christmas gifts done, and one of them hangs in my own home as well.  

Thought you may enjoy this photo of a Robin momma who decided a safe place to nest this Spring would be in my silk flower grape vine wreath that hangs under the porch in the Springtime outside my sewing studio window J  

Off to my sewing studio to work on my bed quilt ~

Godspeed, Mary