Project Quilting 16.4 Diamond Girl

Well? Did that title do to you what it does to me every single time? Give you an earworm? Seals and Crofts’ song from 1973? I may be dating myself but I’m okay with that. That year was a special birthday for me: I became a teenager.  So this current year holds another special birthday, gulp. I'll let you do the math! 

Here is my finished table runner for the fourth challenge of project quilting, which I’ve named Diamond Girl.

The challenge this time was to make a project where the dominant colour is the colour of your birthstone. I am born in April, so my birthstone is a diamond, which is colourless! That caught me for a hot minute. Well, I’m sure many of you, like me, think of white when you think of diamonds, and silver, gold and sparkle, which is why I made a predominantly white runner with silver sparkle in the background fabric.

Christmas Garland Runner

I seem to be on a roll of finishes this month, and here is another. Dayna made several requests last summer and I do believe I've now fulfilled them all, though in the other day's conversation mention was made of her needing a heart quilt... She had requested two table runners, one in pink and another in traditional Christmas colours. You've seen the flimsy in the pattern release post. Well, here it is complete.

Dayna loves it. Mission accomplished!

Rosebud Garland Pattern Release

Ta-da! May I present Rosebud Garland! I am very excited to release my first pattern of 2024, which technically is my last pattern of 2023, since it was in the previous issue of Make Modern, issue #55 to be specific. One of the many things I love about this magazine is that they only keep the rights to your patterns until the next issue comes out, in other words, just two months.

What you won't get in the Make Modern issue is the pattern for the accompanying placemats, as well as a tip in this post to make an extra-long runner if you've got a large dining table, as does my daughter, Dayna. Read on to find out and also to check out the low price at which it's being offered.

Rosebud Garland in Make Modern #55

I am thrilled to finally be able to share a design that was accepted in January of this year for Make Modern issue 55!

Our own Sweet Autumn Clematis was stunning again this year, and when one of my sweet neighbours, Mary Beth, exclaimed about it, she said hers was wonderful this year too, climbing all the way over a wooden trellis. When I was thinking of good places for a photo shoot for my project, I thought her trellis might frame the runner perfectly. And wow, did it ever!

Fall Runner

One of the 17 items on my Q3FAL list is making a runner for my Etsy shop. I'm happy to say I've checked it off the list!

Rather in keeping with the theme of 2020 where we've all spent so much more time at home than usual.

I, like many others, like the buffalo plaid look to lots of fall décor I'm seeing and I thought hmm, what if I created my own buffalo plaid pumpkin using 2.5" squares? Fun!

Give Thanks

Welcome to TGIFF and welcome to the first of my two October challenge projects for Island Batik.

This is on my Q4FAL List which is here. I suddenly remembered I had signed up to host TGIFF on October 18, oh, a day ago, so I figured this had better get finished up and quick! Luckily it was already in flimsy form.

Love is All

This is my last post for 2018, and it is fitting that I first of all, I finished this little quilt this year, and second, that I get the post published before the end of 2018! The fabrics, batting and some of the thread were provided to me by Island Batik, Hobbs Batting and Aurifil respectively. I am just so happy to have had the opportunity to work with these fibres this past year, top quality products all. This month's challenge was to create something whimsical and/or wonky. I did a little of both with mine.

You may remember the flimsy and the story from this post.

Throwback Thursday #8 Runners

Welcome to the August edition of Throwback Thursday! First, an important announcement: I am going to have a partner in sharing TBT. Andrée of Quilting and Learning - What a Combo! is going to be co-hosting with me beginning on the October edition. She'll host December as well.😍 I've got a couple of super-busy months in September and November, so this will ease the pressure, and it's always fun to share! Like me, or moi 😉, Andrée, is Canadian, a lover of learning, and a teacher.

Runners, like cushion covers, are fast and satisfying makes. Here are two I made for my mum.

The bottom one was made in 2000, and the top one in 2004.

Spring in the Woods

I have another finish! Yeah, there's been rather a surfeit of them, hasn't there?! Several deadlines have had me sewing furiously over the past few weeks. This is the March challenge that we, as Island Batik ambassadors, were given, to try a new technique.

I took some time to think of just what I hadn't tried; quilting for the past 20 years has had me trying pretty much everything. In full disclosure, I bought the 10° wedge ruler probably 15 years ago for a class that a guild member was giving on wedges. I went to the class, sewed the strips, cut a few wedges, and the class ended. So did the making of that quilt. Not a stitch since. It lives in a blue plastic bag. I made a wedge of pieced fabric a few years ago by using the degree lines and a folded technique. What happened to that test block? It lives in the orphan block pile. So I decided it was time to bring out the ruler, for which I paid good money, and revisit how to use it. Besides, Christina Cameli's new book had caught my eye when it first came out. Great excuse (like I need one) to buy a new book!

A new book and a glass of wine go hand in hand. Literally!

The fabrics I used in my project were provided by Island Batik, the Thermore batting by Hobbs Batting, and the Aurifil thread by Aurifil. I still go 'pinch me!' when I write sentences like that.

So what did I make?

This stunning (yeah I said that about my own project) table centrepiece, going to a very dear-to-me person! Stunning due to the fabrics which are drool-worthy, stunning because of the threads used to quilt it, stunning because it looks pretty complicated.

But it isn't. Not really. Christina's book is well-written. With quilting books, unlike fiction and non-fiction books, I do not read them from front to back. I leaf through, gazing in rapture at some of the quilts, maybe scanning a pattern here and there. Then I go back to the intro and read it.  I usually start reading, probably more like scanning, some of the 'how-to' chapters, but I need to DO as I read, so I will then pick a project (that could take a few days, as it did in this case). Then, when I'm making the project, I go back and read very carefully, usually several times, as I am constructing, the 'how-to' chapters. Her book is terrific, because it is like she knows how I operate! Within the instructions to this pattern (which btw is for an entire quilt, which I plan to make and Rose knows why) she tells you what page to refer to of the how-to chapters. 😇 I highly recommend her book, and no, I was not given her book, or asked to write a review.

Here are the fabrics I chose to work with from my Island Batik box of goodies:

The forest green is from the Alpine Jingle line, the 6" pieces and the purple lined up are from the roll-up stash builders, and the rich pink/greens piece is part of the extra pieces we received for use in projects. I had to do a little different way of cutting the wedges because of using pre-cut strips, but I did have enough. I mainly wanted this to be greens because the person I'm giving it to loves green. I wouldn't have had enough greens but I thought to added in a couple of blues because a couple of them are a blues/greens blend, and that was when the spring idea came. I had already known I'd make the diamonds in the purple and pink.

Carefully following her method and tips, I cut my wedges and sewed with a precise 1/4" seam on Tillie, my 1951 Featherweight. When I laid the first wedge down to see if it did measure 60°, was I tickled pink to see how very little I had to trim!

I followed the instructions for further trimming to make the triangle blocks that get sewn in pairs to make diamonds. In pretty short order I had my top.

I just had to take a stained glass looking photo!

Here it is on the kitchen floor so you can see the fabrics better:

Don't you think it's kind of cool that the runner is diamond-shaped, and that the wedges form a diamond, thanks to the purple and pink diamonds at their bases? Well, I do!

Because it's destined to be on a table, I figured the Hobbs Thermore batting would be the ticket. This is the third project where I've used it and I am still so impressed with it! It sticks as well as cotton to cotton does. Bella sure likes it. Had designs that this could be another pouffé for her to repose upon.

For quilting inspiration I looked at how Christina had quilted her quilt and used some of her motifs, circles being the main one. To get fairly nicely rounded ones, I used the Sulky spool of thread and a bobbin to trace two or three of the arcs as a general guide, (high tech I know), ensuring I had seven in each wedge. I drew out the first few. Drawing is always a good precursor to FMQ. After the first few wedges, I just winged it, free-motioning the majority of each of the seven circles in each wedge. I did find that I liked to trace that first large one.

Here are the circles in alternating wedges of the purple diamond blocks:

and feathers à la Kathleen of Kathleen Quilts, in alternating wedges of the pink diamond blocks:

I did back and forth lines and elongated figure eights for consistency between the circles and feathers in both pink and purple blocks.

For the diamonds, I did an Angela Walters design using my walking foot:

Hot off the 'press':

YESSS!

Truth tea: I then had to lie down a ruler and square it up. Squaring up means ensuring I still had 60° angles. I was a little nervous but this is what happened:

YESSS! (again)

Very happy.

I used a pretty green Aurifil I received in my Island Batik box of goodies for the olive green wedges, and to sew on the binding, which I sewed to the back and flipped around and top-stitched to the front. I used the olive green for the binding since it was the only green I had yardage of, but the rich green provides a nice frame to the vibrant colours in the quilt. I also used two different Sulky rayon variegated threads in the wedges and a Sulky metallic in the purple diamonds.

A shot of the label, appropriately blanked out name (with a green pice of beach glass!) of the recipient who prefers to remain anonymous in QBL. I always do both a cloth, write-on label and a sew-in mmm! quilts label.

The backing is a stitches-themed fabric, perfect for this sewing wizard of a person. When this goes live, I will have: given this gift which I love so much myself, to her, and met her at a random intersection chosen by both of us as a meeting-up point. My Easter weekend travels take me to within a couple of hours of her home, and she will have come east to meet me, where I will stop for a morning coffee and chat and HUGS! Big hugs! AND I get to meet one of her darling fur kids, "a silvery blue Staffie in the hot pink harness" (ahh like my darling boy who is safe with Dayna but would have loved to meet her Staffie).

This blog has brought me worldwide friends.  And I am honoured by their friendship. Humbled by them taking the time to read my blog, to comment, and to offer pieces of themselves to me. My heart swells with love for this girl, who does not blog, but who has reached out to me, at first mainly through my posts on my beloved Rocco, but then also through our shared love of all things Laurel Burch, and of course, through our love of sewing. I cannot WAIT to give her this runner! I don't know what excites me more: meeting her in person, hugging her, meeting her Staffie, or giving her this. What a blessed day I have to look forward to!

One last outdoor shot on our deck:

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: a quilt from Christina Cameli's Wedge Quilt Workshop made into a table centrepiece
Size: approximately 40" long by 20" wide
Fabric: Island Batik various collections
Batting: Hobbs Thermore
Backing: from stash
Quilted: on my Bernina, walking foot and free-motion
Threads:  pieced with Gütermann cotton; quilted with Aurifil 100% cotton and Sulky rayon variegated and Sulky metallic


Linking up:
Crazy Mom Quilts
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
TGIFF at Cheeky Cognoscenti
Busy Hands Quilts

Thanks to Tish for linking up my post while I'm away for the long Easter weekend. 😘

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Christmas Table Runner

Well, I've torn myself away from my basement enclave to bring you a second finish for this week!  This is one of the projects on my Q2 FAL list at On the Windy Side.

I actually had the hand quilting finished last weekend, but this week's posts had to do with the New Bloggers Hop and Cheryl's Grande Scrappy Tiles pattern launch, and so the binding didn't get finished hand-sewing down until yesterday!

This past week in quilting blogland I've seen no less than two others, so 3 counting my own, decades-old projects finally finished.  First, I saw some cute baskets that Wendy (she's hilarious) started 26 years ago and finished this week over at The Crafter's Apprentice, and second, I saw a beautiful honeymoon quilt finish by Bernie, the fabric for which was purchased on said honeymoon 17 years ago!  So I am in good company showing this finally finished project which I started in 1998 or 99, so 16 or 17 years ago.

Here you can see the pointed end of the runner...as well as the banana plants and elephant ears. I'm curious to see the change in them in a couple of months

And, who knew, but it's an original design!  Here I thought I had something new going over the past year with the creative bursts of inspiration -- I'm doodling and sketching and sewing and publishing (eeek- see the Moda Bakeshop button on the sidebar, still excited about that).  Apparently this designing thing has been in me and into fabric for longer than I realize.

I love star blocks.  They are my favourite.  So I put three different ones all within one table runner and set them on point.

Evening or Sawtooth Star

Rising Star

Ohio Star

I bought all the fabric except for the backing at my LQS at the time, Lori's Country Cottage.  I love the Old World Santas fabric.  However, it does not show the hand-quilting off very well, and it was really difficult to find a marker that would show the lines I marked, so I just marked small sections at a time.  I did a simple cable there.  The straight lines in the dark green (which has pretty cool shading, no?) were done right around the start of the new millenium.  Can you believe that's over 15 years ago now?!

I won't win any awards for 20 stitches to the inch; I bet I maybe have 6-8, and that's not consistently!  Still, it is done, the first entirely hand-quilted piece I've done.  Here is the back:

Although I still have some of each of the fabrics used within the runner, I didn't have enough of any of them for the binding.  Happily I had almost a full fat quarter of this red with crowns on that I thought worked really well with the other gold-flecked fabrics.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: original design
Size:  60"X23.75"
Fabric: I don't know because I have none left with selvages on!
Backing: cotton purchased at Fabricland
Batting: 100% cotton purchased at my LQS specifically for hand quilting, but I don't know the brand
Quilted: by hand by me
Threads: Gutermann hand quilting cotton

Another project I completed this week is recovering the top for my cedar hope chest, a gift from my parents for my 18th birthday. (ya now that baby is decades old, but we won't go there!)

Here is the before:

Yep that grouse fabric just wore right out...darn, right?!

And here is what it looks like now!

Bella approves!

This fabric is from fabric.com, bought this past winter. I thought it was quilting weight cotton, but it is somewhere between that and canvas.  I thought maybe I'd still use it for fabric baskets, a bag, or cushion covers...and then a few days ago, it hit me!  Did I have enough? Yep, if I pieced two 2.5" strips on the long sides, it would be perfect.  With my husband on the super whack-master staple gun, and me on the stretching and positioning of fabric, we did it.  Awww, yeah!  I love it.

If you are observant, you'll have noticed Summer Scents Mosaic is on our bed. :-)

We slept under it last night and it was great! It washed up just wonderfully, no shrinkage other than the usual with cotton fabrics.  So the key to using flannelette or flannel as batting is to wash and dry it in the dryer before layering and quilting.  I might have found out the hard way what happens when one does not do this...
Linking up with Pet Project Saturday at Pink Doxies.

Bloggers' Quilt Festival - Spring 2015 - Entry #2

I am happy to share with you my choice for my second entry into the Blogger's Quilt Festival! Although I have had just a small amount of time to glance through some of the entries, I am just so impressed and inspired by what quilters around the world are doing every minute of every day, 24/7!  It's a feast for the eyes, a massage for the spirit, a flame to ignite creativity...and it's F. R. E. E. !!!  Thank you Amy!

Although the main voting begins May 22, you can now vote for your 3 favourite quilts in the Viewers' Choice.  Go here to vote.  Anyone with an email address can vote for the favourite three within the entire festival.

So without further ado, here is my second entry, my Seashell Runner.  I am entering it into Small Quilts.  It is too big perimeter-wise for the mini quilts category, and I already put a quilt into Art Quilts, and I'm not sure whether this really is an art quilt...maybe they need a runners category, right?!

I bought the pattern several years ago in Florida at a quilt shop.  I wanted something designed by a local, and I'd planned to make it for the condo we owned at that time in Florida.  I picked up several fat quarters of batiks I thought would work.

And there it sat, in a drawer, for several years.

This winter, I took it down to Florida once again (yep, it went down...and back north last winter, not gonna lie) and put it on my Q1 FAL list.

And got it done!  Here is the back:

All the satin-stitching and quilting detail looks pretty cool.

I was so pleasantly surprised that it fits absolutely perfectly on the coffee table in our house we now own in Florida.  Love that.

I brought it back north for show 'n tell at my Kingsville guild meeting, and was even more happy to find that it fits here on our coffee table!  We live on Lake Erie, so the shells theme works here too, maybe not so much the sharks' teeth and starfish, but that's okay.

It's pretty unique as far as quilted runners go; each shell or shark's tooth is made individually and then all the shells, starfish and sharks' teeth are tacked together.  You can read more about the process here and here, and the finish here.

One more detail shot:

You can find this quilt in the Small Quilts category.  Remember that the thumbnails change places each time you visit a page, so you have to hunt through all the tantalizing pics to find the one you want.  Good strategy for more than one reason, wink.

Voting starts May 22, but you can vote now for Viewers' Choice - pick your fave three quilts!  It is so interesting (and a vortex to be sure, but a good vortex) to go and see all the many many entries.  And thank you so very much to Amy at Amy's Creative Side for organizing this twice yearly event--she's been doing this since 2009!!

Serendipity Strikes

Again!

Ta da!  My Seashell Runner is tout fini.  And I couldn't be happier, because it fits absolutely perfectly on our coffee table!  I had not planned that when I bought the pattern and some of the batiks in oh, 2008.  I had envisioned it perhaps on a dresser if we ever did buy a home in Florida.  Which we did.  Later that year.

It was fun to make, even though the directions were fairly ambiguous.

The back, which looks pretty cool too - I need to sign and date it

It took over an hour to tack all the shells together in various small overlap spots.  I started to do it by hand, and then said, nope, ain't gonna happen, and slightly overlapped them here and there to hold it all together.

Each shell is double-sided, and has warm 'n natural batting between the layers.  Lots of satin-stitching was done on each shell.  No satin-stitching on the sharks' teeth, which I made all black, as that is how they look, that or a dark grey.  The pattern had them grey tips with black roots.  I have found a couple of real ones on Manasota Key, not far from here.  They are fossils, don't get excited.

Trying to get some more daylight on it, as well as a straight-on shot.  This is another of my goals for the first quarter finish-along at On the Windy Side.  Of the 8 on my list, I now have just 2 left!

One last one, just because.

Quilt Stats:
Size:  48" X 19" approximately
Pattern: Shell Runner by Cracker Country Creations
Fabric: batiks plus one marbled fabric for the sharks' teeth
Warm 'n Natural batting scraps
Threads: pieced with Gutermann and Aurifil, satin-stitched with Sulky rayons and one Mettler polyester, oh, and one Sulky Blendables

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict and TGIFF.