Small Finishes

I can show one finish, now that it has been given to the recipient.

At the front door in Kingsville

This is another of Joanne's Snowalong paper-pieced snowflakes, #3 to be exact.  I made it back in October, knowing it would go to my daughter, Dayna.  You can purchase the patterns for all 7 snowflakes through her website link to her Craftsy store.  They are a mere $3.

Here it is after I quilted the front of the cushion cover. Wow, what a difference from under my Ott-lite to outside, no?!

A last shot of it with Lake Erie in the background (we were leaving for Florida the next day).

We'd already had a bit of snow at that point, but it had melted.  I discovered, and rediscovered two very handy tools during the binding of this cushion.

I followed Sharon Schamber's binding tutorial exactly this time, and as I mentioned before, I am pleasantly surprised at how well I was taught: outside of the glue and the ladder stitch she uses, I do my bindings exactly as she does.  It pays to take classes at your LQS!!  Or now online, lol, as mine was nearly 20 years ago...

Anyhow, first discovery was glue: I glued the binding down (look, no pins, ma!), and the rediscovery was beeswax: I remembered a tip from an appliqué class I also took at my LQS way back.  Run the thread through beeswax to help reduce tangling.  This time I tried Sharon's ladder stitch, and quite liked it.  After trying out the new techniques, I then went full-steam ahead on the binding on Savannah, which, as you know, I mostly stitched on the trip down here.  Having no pins to worry about in the SUV was a most-welcome perk!

Bella gave the cushion her customary stamp of approval

Not my best side, lol

I nearly didn't include that shot, but she is so darn adorable in the way she is so fascinated by pretty much every part of the quilt-making process.  This time she was especially intrigued by me hand-sewing the binding down! She didn't grab for the thread, just watched intently. And would gaze at me every once in a while...

The back.  This shows the richness of this gorgeous batik.

A another close-up of the quilting.  Again, I used Sulky Holoshimmer for sparkle!

My second small finish is using the Riley Blake fabric Lara so kindly sent me a few days ago.  Did you guess what it was I was making?

Two make-up bags.  I used The Cake Clutch pattern on Moda Bakeshop.  I made a couple of changes. First, instead of top-stitching the polka-dot piece onto the red main piece, I pieced it in.  This way I saved fabric (of course!) as well as reduced bulk.  Second, I edge-stitched the centre piece along the zipper to help keep it from catching in the zipper.  I'd do that before I sewed up the sides next time I make one of these, so I could stitch along the entire length of the zipper.  I love this fabric combination! So happy.

Best of all, I worked with the laminated cotton she also sent me.  Nice touch for the inside of a make-up bag, I'd say!

I used Gutermann 50 wt cotton in white for the quilting I did in the polka-dot sections.  No marking, just aimed for the centre of the dots for the cross-hatching pattern, and for the other I did straight lines and a gentle wave (no marking, qué sera, sera feel, aka 'organic' feel) all with my walking foot.  In the red fabric, I centred 3 lines spaced 1/4" apart using Sulky Blendables in 12 wt.  Easy.

And now I'm behaving, getting back on track by sewing up my trellis blocks for Fleurs.  Hope to have this flimsy done asap!

Linking up with TGIFF hosted today by Sarah at Things I Make as well as with a different Sarah of Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas....

...inside my house, and I love it!  This is another of Joanne's Snowalong snowflakes, Version 1 of Snowflake 4, which I've turned into a cushion cover.

Nestled amongst the Nootka Cypress branches, so Christmasy!

Snuggled up together on our loveseat:

The quilt sandwich.  I quilted it with multi-coloured Sulky Sliver (like a ribbon) Metallic in the borders and a regular silver-coloured metallic on the snowflake.  (Note: those aren't typos: sliver as in flat, ribbon-style thread, and silver, as in colour!)

The silver reads a little dark in the pictures on the snowflake, but in person, it's quite sparkly!
The back shows the quilting a little better:

The holly leaves and berries is another design from Kathy Sandbach's Show Me How to Machine Quilt, a book I've referred to time and time again over the years.

I knew right away where I was going to take the outside picture, but I hadn't realized just how perfect a match Jude's Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus) would be!! 

We have one too, but hers is more spectacular.  Some of them around town are taller than I am, and 10 feet or more in circumference.  With the gale on the weekend, most of the big ones are pretty bare.

Wish the golds in the Maple(?) Oak(?) in the background showed up better

The back:

I finally watched the entire Sharon Schamber binding video Judy of Quilt Paradigm raves about.  It's worth every minute.  I watched, well, mostly listened, as I finished hand-stitching the binding down this morning.  I was clearly taught well:  I do just about everything just as she does, except for glue-basting and stitch (I use an appliqué stitch as opposed to Sharon's ladder stitch, but I'm going to try that on my next binding).

An in-the-shade shot so the colours aren't as washed out as in the sun:

I opted for the red inner frame.  I had tried Christmas green at first, but it didn't 'speak' to me, and, although the white looked great for a pop, it was almost too much of a pop...and moreover, this pillow is going to a little boy who ADORES red...  A little boy who loved Jude's inukshuk:

Heading back downstairs to sew up a couple of other items I'll be taking with me on my trip out West next week! Linking up with Lee of Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesdays.

Snowflake Project

I had hoped to have two pillows for this post, but, ya, life jumped into my day.... AGAIN!

So this is Snowflake #4, version 4, of Joanne's Snowalong on her blog, Canuck Quilter.  I took the block and made it into a non-traditional colourway, yet still festive, cushion.

I first added a 1/2" finished white frame around the 9 1/2" block.  Then I added a 2 1/2" pink frame to make a 15" square.  Next, I made a quilt sandwich, layering a square of muslin with a square of batting, and topping it with the block.  The muslin will be on the inside of the cushion, so it won't show.  I quilted it using Sulky Holoshimmer threads...how I LOVE them.  Seriously.  I didn't realize how much I missed them, as I haven't tried them on the Avanté yet.  My Bernina loves them too, as long as I back off the top tension, and feed the spool à la toilet paper roll style, over my stand-alone thread holder and guide which I usually use for cones of thread, and from there into the machine.

I zipped outside last night to get some fast-fading light on it to show off some of the glitz.  I did all of the quilting with my walking foot except for the 4 corner snowflakes, which I FMQ-ed.  The snowflake is a design I love, and which I've used before, from Kathy Sandbach's first book.

Tried stuffing one edge between the bricks to hold it on the wall for more light...sort of...  I used an iridescent and a hot pink Holoshimmer.  Did I mention how much I love that thread?  Well, Sulky, period.  Not getting anything for saying that.  It's just a fact:  I love their threads.

Close-up of the corner FMQ snowflakes in sparkly hot pink thread:

For the pillow back, I cut two rectangles, 10.5" X 15".  I finished one 15" edge on each rectangle with a 1/2" seam.

Then I placed one of the now 10X15" rectangles wrong sides together, on top of the front quilt sandwich piece.

Add the second, still wrong side of pillow back to wrong side of quilt sandwich.  The seamed edges will overlap by about 5".

 

From this point, I pinned, and then stitched 1/4" around all 4 sides.  For the binding, I cut a piece of pink batik 2 1/4" wide that would go around the quilt pillow sandwich.  Machine-stitched it down from the front, turned it to the back of the pillow and hand-stitched it down.

I slipped in a 14" cushion form and voilà!  Christmas gift ready to be given!  I've written on the muslin inside the cushion cover, but I can't show that or I'll ruin a surprise...

Note that the elephant ears plants are not so happy anymore, after that 28-degree night and cold north gale-force winds on the weekend.  Here's one last outdoor shot close-up.  I'm really happy with this gift!

 Linking up with Anything Goes Mondays, guest host today is Helen of Till We Quilt Again!

Snowflake #4

I am late to the party this week, but better late than never!  Life has been full.  Just not of sewing.

I made two versions of snowflake #4.  The first is version 4.

I like the white triangles dancing around the centre star.  I also like the lacy doily effect the skinny rectangle makes betweent the star and the triangles.

Pink?!  Yup, another unusual background.  I have ideas for what these will grow up into.  I'd hoped to show you a finished project...

Here is snowflake #4 but done in version 1.  Can you believe it's the exact same pattern?!  I LOVE that.

I tried a busier background as opposed to a monochromatic one, and I do like the effect!  That snowflake floats on the background, doesn't it?

I am getting quite the collection...

Yesterday on one of my visits to another blogger's entry into the Bloggers' Quilt Festival (voting started today, so hop on over there and check them all out; there's some stunning quilts; I love thinking about all the sewing machines whirring across the world each day creating such beauty to live on past the creators) where was I?  Oh yes, I saw that another quilter has a cat supervisor/cheerleader/boss/approver-of-all-components-of-constructing-a-quilt/expert!  Clearly, as I've alluded to before, there is a superb system of cat memos that circulate beyond our mere humans' comprehension.  My jaw dropped when I saw some of the EXACT same poses and actions that her cat does in her sewing room.  And didn't Bella comply within a couple of hours, reminding me of her most-significant input into every single quilt and every single aspect of its construction:

This CRACKS me up.  Think she loves the extra crackle of that freezer paper!

 She didn't grab for anything, not once, just gazed at the pieces emerging out the back of the machine!

The one below was 10 days ago.  She would have happily perched there for some time, had I not shooed her off after the picture was taken.  I know I took one of her in the condo last winter, doing the exact same thing...

If you're wondering about the quilt in the background, it was a pattern I bought many years ago and made about 3 years ago in memory of and tribute to, the very best (cover Bella's ears) cat who has been in my life, my darling Raffi, who lived to be 17.5 years old.  She was pure black, even to her eyebrows and whiskers.  Can you see her wings?

Linking up with Snowalong for week 5!

Shades of Frostiness!

I'm actually caught up with Snowalong!

Here are my two (yep, TWO!) versions of Snowflake #3:

That is version 3 of snowflake #3.  So far I've always just done version 1, but I see a common thread between these first 3 snowflakes I've made.  Do you?

Give up?  The centres are all dark.  So these three will most likely stay in my home, either growing up to be throw pillows or a runner.  They are sooo pretty!

I then had a thought:  to try a non-conventionally-coloured snowflake.  So, I did another snowflake #3, this time version 1.

Ooh!  I'm liking it.  This is such a gorgeous, rich purple batik I used for the background.  I could just about fall into it, it's so deep, no?  I was thinking of maybe doing a pale mauve flake, but then saw the mauve and steel blue (probably there's an actual name for that colour) on white batik with the snowflake-style bursts, and thought it might just work.

So I now have four snowflakes in my collection...

 

and can't wait to see what Joanne has dreamed up for Snowflake #4.  Head over to Canuck Quilter's Snowalong post for today to jump in the snowbank with the rest of us!  It's more fun than the real snowbank, I promise!  No snow down the sides of your boots, or melting on your wrists under the cuffs of your mittens, or down your low back...yep, been there, done that.  Not going back.

Watercolour Steps is on the frame and should be off tonight.

Lots of ruler work on this one

I really need to quilt on my Avanté every day.  I am beyond rusty.  However, I plan to take it for Show 'n Tell tomorrow night at our guild meeting.  I am excited for the meeting as it is about the Barn Quilts Trail of Essex County here in Southern Ontario! Here is a link to the website.  And here is a link to the trail right by my house!  I've seen several of them on this trail before I had any idea that there was an actual trail!  Many are along the wineries route.  We have 18 wineries within Essex county.  What's that?  Have I visited them all?  Well, not quite all.  Think I've missed one, but it just opened this past summer, or maybe I've missed two...  What was I writing about??!  Oh, ya. Wineries.  I mean, quilt blocks.  Barns.  Wait a minute!  Wine and barn quilts...mmm, great combo I'd say for a tour!  I'm not going to be the designated driver, just sayin'...

I am linking this post up with Joanne's Snowalong and Marelize's Anything Goes Mondays as well as Lee's WIP Wednesdays (She is grumpy too, must be something in the air;  see my Oct. 22 post for more about the Watercolour Steps WIP and general crabbiness.)

Frozen!

Lots going on in my sewing corner.  Some I can talk about; some I can't.  There, how's that for an attention-grabber?

A few more exciting events have occurred in my life.
First off, I sold my first quilt! It, and a makeup pouch I made, both sold at the boutique at our guild show.  Woot! Woot!

Gone to good homes I hope!

Snowflake #1

Many trees turn colour from the outside in here, almost as if Mother Nature dips her trees in orange and red frosting.  This is just my little iPhone; imagine this in person!

I'm NOT in the mood for real snow, been there, done that, too many long, cold, dark winters in Alberta.  However, I have always loved making snowflakes out of paper, such a surprise to open up the folded paper after I've cut various designs into it.  Combine paper and fabric, and you get Canuck Quilter Joanne's Snowalong.

I didn't get my snowflake #1 done in time for the linky party (it was a week from hell; tacked on to a month of craziness) but here she is today:

I decided to use some silver-sparkled white I've had for centuries for another Christmas quilt idea.  I wanted to put it on a batik background, and this one, another relic, was in my stash.  I don't think you can see how sparkly it is, but I'm really happy with the result!

This block is paper-pieced, something I've done many times in the past.  However, Joanne's method is new to me, and I was really intrigued with the idea, because it omitted the very annoying step of removing the paper after you've sewed through it.  You don't sew through it!  I also liked the idea of printing the pattern onto freezer paper, so that the pieces will adhere to the waxy side of the paper, helping to avoid any distortion.  And, you can re-use the patter 3-4 times!  I have to say I loved this method for all of those reasons.

Here is a little gadget from years past of paper-piecing.  It is well worth the money (a few dollars).  It has a lip at the 1/4" mark.  You simply place the ruler over the folded back paper of the line you are about to sew, letting the lip catch on the paper. This measures the 1/4" exactly, so you simply trim.  No slippage possible, thanks to that lip!

Love my tiny 6.5 X 8" cutting mat for this!

Sewing the first sections left me with 6 intriguing triangles.  I could not, for the life of me, see a snowflake at that point.

Another gadget, whose price is free, and every household already has several, is a business card, (or a recipe card for longer lines).
Update: (duh, it would help if I explained what I do with the business card...)  Place it on the solid (aka sewing line) and then, as you fold back the freezer paper, it acts as a brace so you get a nice sharp fold!  Kind of like using the edge of a table to tear a paper straight?

This block seems daunting, but Joanne has a super-organized system, which I followed to the T.  It simplified things very much.  I did variation 1 of Snowflake #1.

I am going to make version 2 as well.  However, I am also going to make Snowflake #2 next so that I can join in the linky party on Monday!  I might just turn these into pillows, so festive.

I am in love all over again this year with the vibrant colours of Fall.  I continually suck in my breath at the sheer jaw-dropping, eye-popping display that surrounds me wherever I go.  I've been known to stop the car on the side of the road on more than one occasion to snap a pic with my phone. Example from yesterday:

Note how it's still green in the centre

It is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada.  It is such a joy, despite the cold wind, to walk Rocco in this gently changing but oh-so-glorious season of Autumn. 

One more shot of my route this morning