Monday 28 April 2014

Pincushions

We had a pincushion swap at the OMQG. I had never made a pincushion before. I don't know why...

The only rules I had to follow were that it was to be no bigger than 6" square and my partner didn't want pastels.

This is what I made:

It was so much fun!! I love log cabin blocks so picking a block was easy. I decided to machine embroider my partner's initials in the middle. I used some of my favourite scraps. My mom had bought me some sand for pincushions at a quilt shop a couple years ago so I used that to fill it. It gave it a really nice weight. I hope my partner likes it. I had so much fun making it, I think I'll be making more!

In return, I received this beautiful pincushion from Laura:

My favourite part is the embroidery:

It already has taken up a special spot by my sewing machine. Thank you Laura!

 

Thursday 10 April 2014

Friendship Stars - TGIFF

I posted about this quilt for the first time on my blog back in February 2012. It was started way before that, back in 2009.

It has taken me a long time to make, but I am so thrilled with the end result and happier still to be sharing it with you!!

I found this pattern in Quilt Sampler from fall/winter 2008 and I fell in love with it.

I had a big bundle of fat quarters I had gotten from my mom when she was my secret sister a few years before. They were perfect for this quilt. I simply added more cream fat quarters for backgrounds as I didn't have enough.

I first got discouraged while making the little 6" stars for the border. There were so many... I had already finished the 12" blocks for the centre of the quilt and those were a lot faster to piece.

When I finally pulled it out again, I got those little stars finished by working on them here and there when I had a few moments to sew. It was easier to tackle a little at a a time.

When those were finally done, I went out and bought the other borders. As I was sewing them on, I had a problem with the gold border. I measured the borders down the centre of the quilt, as I always do, but when I sewed them on, I had a lot of easing in to do. I wasn't sure what to do. I asked my mom for advice but I was discouraged so I put the quilt away, again...

When I took it out again, I saw that it wasn't too bad and that it definitely would be okay to continue. The quilting might actually help. So I finished it and brought it over to my mom's.

I love the secondary pattern that comes through on this quilt and I really wanted to accent it with the quilting. I love my mom's feathers and so I asked her to quilt feathers in the cream parts of the quilt. She asked me if I had any suggestions for the stars and I said no, I didn't care, I just knew I wanted feathers in those cream parts.

Some of you may remember last June when I went to a retreat and my quilt group and I embarqued on this challenge where we each put 6 UFOs in a bag and pulled one out at random. We each put 10$ in a pot, and are suppose to have our UFO done by June this year in order to get our 10$ back. Well, this is my UFO! I am so excited it is done, and way before the deadline too!

The best part is, I finally have a quilt that fits my bed properly. We got a queen size mattress back in 2006 and didn't have a queen size quilt to fit on it, until now!

I am linking this special finish to TGIFF over at Quilt Matters this week.

 

Tuesday 8 April 2014

A few projects

I have been working on a few things I thought I would share with you.

First, I finished this custom order of little zipper pouches. Aren't they adorable?

On the weekend I made this little mini quilt top.

I am going to free-motion quilt it on my mom's long arm.

I also finished the binding on this quilt, which some of you will remember.

I don't have a photo of the completed quilt top and I want to keep the quilting a surprise. This will be my post on Friday for TGIFF.

I have been doing some sewing with my girls too. They are both working on projects using the Spell it With Moda patterns.

I love sewing with my girls! They are looking forward to sharing their completed projects with you too!