December Free-Motion Quilting Challenge

Last day of the month, last day of the year and last 2012 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge.  I have truly learned a great deal this year and many thanks to SewCalGal for putting this together this year.

December's challenge was just that a challenge.  Patsy Thompson did a wonderful job for the last challenge.  Borders and more borders and feathers - oh my!  I started working on this in about mid-December finding the piece of fabric for the front out of a stash of my hand painted cloth.  I then picked these threads to work with:

I used a very busy print for the back and the darkest purple for the bobbin.  Of course this is the time in which I had no tension issues what so ever and wish I had chosen a plainer back ground to show off the stitching.

I used a soap sliver to mark the borders and quilted them in the dark purple as well. Then I started on the borders.

I had to remove the top motif three times before my hands and brain would get the pattern.

I love feathers, but I have always been intimidated by them.  No more.  They are far from perfect but I can do feathers.

The whole quilt.

If you want to see my other completed challenges here are the links:

January,  February, March,  April,  May,  June,  July,  August,  September, October, and November 

        

Hope everyone has a safe and happy new year.  I can't wait to start 2013 and the next quilting challenge.

The Stockings Were Hung by the Chimney With Care

Merry Christmas!

The quilt was finished a few days ago.  It started as a exchange of Christmas Trees in one of my splinter groups with Cobblestone Quilters Guild last year and my goal was to have it up this year (just made it!)

Have been working on numerous class samples for next year and lots of Christmas presents (which of course I can't post).

Picked the fabric for my free motion quilting challenge piece and hope to have a few quiet hours in the next few days to quilt.

November Free-Motion Quilting Challenge

I love spirals and so was very excited to see this month's tutorial by Sarah Vedeler. I printed out the practice sheets early in the month - and they sat on my desk until yesterday (a busy month with teaching, doing a trunk show with ATW and family).

After practicing with pen and paper I marked my sample fabric using a template I had recently purchased from Pam Clarke and a Quilt Pounce I purchased many years ago at a quilt show but hadn't really used.

As I have mentioned before, I really hate marking quilts.   But as the year has gone on, I am finding it to be easier and love all the different techniques I have learned and used.

I first started quilting the basic spirals in a straight line.

Then I worked on spirals that alternated direction.

Then I did smaller spirals in both techniques.  The larger ones are about 2" and the ones below are about 1".

I am pleased, for the most part, that my stitches are consistent in size.

Another great tutorial.

Portal - Another Time, Another Place

The latest challenge for my art group (ATW) was to do a piece based upon the phrase "Another Time, Another Place".  I choose to do a almost whole cloth quilt from a photo I took in 1981 near Killarney, Ireland at Muckross Abbey.

This has always been one of my favorite photo's I took while traveling during my junior year of college.  Several friends where traveling with me and we had a picnic lunch on the Abbey's grounds.

I used several of my favorite "quilting" tools to make this piece - my scanner, computer and printer.  After scanning the photo in and doing a little color adjustment, I printed it out on four pieces of fabric which I then pieced together to get the full quilt.

I used a little trapunto on the largest arch way, a little thread sketching and lots and lots of machine quilting.

I knew I wanted an irregular edge, so I finished it with a little bit of yarn that I couched over.

I called the piece Portal as I could see this as a doorway to the past - both to mine and the monks.

A Day With a Few Friends

This past Saturday, my husband and I spent the afternoon with a few friends - about 70,000 - at the University of South Carolina football game.

My son, who plays trumpet, is in the marching band for the second year and this is the first time we have been able to make a game.

We had a great time, although it was a little chilly.  They did a great half time performance in honor of Veterans Day.  I think my dad will especially like this photo as he is retired from the Air Force.

October Free-Motion Quilting Challenge

This month's free-motion quilting challenge by Teri Lucas had us starting with pens and paper instead of needle and thread.  Drawing is not my strong suit - but I have started a quilt design notebook divided into Fillers, Borders and Blocks.  I am trying to test out my designs before I start sewing and I agree with Teri that by drawing a design first you create a muscle memory and it is easier to stitch.

Here is the second of the drawings I made for this challenge (the first was pretty pitiful).

For the actual stitching I used a piece of Robert Kaufman's Radiance that I had been wanting to try out and a variety of threads and needles.

 
For my name the thread was a 40 weight YLI Machine Quilting thread, the echo was done in Guterman 100% cotton in a 50 weight, the cross hatches in a Sulky PolyLite 60 weight, the feather in Superior King Tut, the circles in Sulky Metallic and the nautilus shells, swirls, e's and leaves in YLI silk thread.

I liked the heavier weight thread for the bold statement they made, but it really built up on the feather's spine. Both Sulky threads have beautiful sheen and I did not have any problems with the metallic thread - which sometimes can drive you to drink!  And the silk was a dream.  I want to do more with my silk threads - if only they weren't so darn expensive.

I would like to try Aurifil thread as I have heard lots of good things about it, but have not seen it locally.  I guess I will have to break down and order some.

A Little Christmas Star

I recently finished a little Ohio Star wall quilt done in Christmas fabrics by Holly Taylor for Moda.  This is the block I am going to be teaching at Stitch n' Sew Fabrics in Mount Pleasant, SC on November 9, 2012.

For this class, the students are to bring two fat quarters and are going to learn how to make quarter square triangles and this traditional block.

I also had a stack of charm packs in the same fabric line and wanted to do a more scrappy version of this quilt block, which is my preferred way to work.

I was worried about getting the free motion motifs in the solid squares, so I first quilted each side in the ditch with just batting and no backing.  After that I layered the two quilts, marked one side and finished the quilting.  I liked the way the double layer of batting looks and how well the tension worked on my machine. I will definitely use this technique again.