ICQC 105, Task 7

One more task done!  My bird's body is raw edge appliqued wool.  I am happy with the way he turned out.

 I am less happy with my dragonfly but didn't want to buy new beads for one little motif.  I think smaller beads would have looked better, more in proportion to the wings.  I wish the wings were a different color too.  Maybe I should just redo my dragonfly!

ICQC 105, Task 6

Here are the next 3 motifs in my silk ribbon class.

I bought the biggest chenille needles (sizes 18, 20 and 22) I could find last week, and my embroidery was much easier with them.   I wish I had had them earlier! 

Linking up: http://www.supermomnocape.com/vintage-embroidery-monday-stitchery-link-party-125/ 

Two Tops Done, Stash Report

I finished the two quilt tops I've been working on this week:  Arrow Point Path and Voila Fish.

Arrow Point Path is made leftover batiks. The background is almost the same color as my carpet.

I ordered fabric for Voila Fish's border, but when it got here, I knew it was the wrong fabric.  I will have to make a couple of pillowcases to use it up.  I ended up buying more of the blue batik for the border, and I think that was the right choice for this quilt.

I also started another quilt today.  This is the first block in my version of Sew Kind of Wonderful's Urban Nine Patch.  My block has a few errors in it, but it is good enough to put in my quilt.  I hope to get more accurate as I make  more of these blocks.  The fabric is from the Blueberry Park line.

Used this week: 9.0 (APP and Voila Fish)
Used year to date: 98.75 yards
Added this week: 16.0 yards ( Claire's quilt, Be Inspired FQ bundle, APP backing, VF border) 
Added year to date: 168.0 yards
Net Added yards: 69.25 yards

Arrow Point Path Progress

I ended up adding 4 rows (20 inches) to the bottom of Arrow Point Path.  The original quilt was 60 x 70 inches, which is not long enough to be a nap quilt for a tall man.  My quilt will be big enough to use on a twin bed.

My next challenge will be to add the side borders so that the design on the border hits the middle section of the quilt in the same places on both sides.  I am not sure if the design is printed evenly, so this might not be possible, and even if it is perfectly even, I might not be able to get the borders on the right. I'm planning to use a lot of pins.

Linking up:  http://tweloquilting.blogspot.com/2017/08/puzzling-times-and-link-party.html

ICQC 105, Task 5

I completed another ribbon embroidery assignment last night.  From the front, it looks ok.  The backside of my work is a mess!  I would like to get neater because it is difficult to get a needle though the ribbon nest on the back of my work.  The harder it is to pull the needle through the fabric, the more the ribbon in my needle abrades.   I am using short lengths, which helps but doesn't entirely solve my issues.  I am going to look for a sharp needle with a bigger eye.

Yesterday I also finished piecing the inside of Voila Fish and ordered fabric for the border. This is a quick quilt that looks more complicated than it really is.  The whole thing is pieced in rows, not on point.  I could have done some more trimming to make my points better, but they are ok.  I was not happy with the turquoise fabric (Quilting Treasures Color Blend Seafoam) because it frayed, and frayed, and frayed.

Linking up:  http://www.supermomnocape.com/vintage-embroidery-monday-stitchery-link-party-124/

ICQC 105, Task 4

This berry vine wasn't hard to stitch, but it took a while to finish.  I used colonial knots for the berries because, even though I have been stitching since I was a little girl, my French knots are atrocious.  I find  colonial knots much easier to make uniform.

Linking up:  http://www.supermomnocape.com/vintage-embroidery-monday-stitchery-link-party-123/

Impulse Fabric, Stash Report

The past couple of weeks, I've been working on 2 quilts.  This is the center of  Quilt Theory's Arrow Point Path.

I am using my batik scraps and a batik border print, which was my first impulse buy at the quilt shop. 

 I had never seen a batik border print, and I bought everything that was left on the bolt, about 5 yards.  My co-worker thought it would make a good skirt, and it might have, if I ever wore skirts.  I decided to use it on this quilt instead.  Arrow point path has pieced blocks down the middle and long solid pieces on the sides.  

I seem to be incapable of making a lap size quilt, though, and since I have more batik scraps, I may make this quilt longer by 4 rows, so it will fit on a twin sized bed.  While I am deciding if I'm really going to make more blocks for it, I pulled it down off the design wall and started another quilt, Voile Fish.

The fish print in this quilt is another impulse by for me.  I loved the colors of the fish!  I am using Voila!, a Swirly Girls pattern.  I bought this pattern many years ago, and it is one of my favorite simple quilts.  I still have to sew the blocks together.

Used this week: 0
Used year to date: 89.75 yards
Added this week: 13.375 (Voila Fish, Pumpkin Quilt FQs)
Added year to date: 152.0 yards
Net Added yards:  62.25 yards

ICQC 105, Task 3

Here's my latest ribbon embroidery lesson.  I am not entirely happy with my bow, but the next one should be better!

Linking up:  http://www.supermomnocape.com/vintage-embroidery-monday-stitchery-link-party-122/

Thimbleberries Circa 2009, Stash Report

Here is my first and only Thimbleberries quilt.

I believe it was pieced in 2009, but I just got around to having it quilted this summer, and bound it today by machine.  I am happy dancing here!  So glad to have it done!  I did not love this quilt, and that is why it took me so long to complete it.  It will be going to my sister because she is the only one who has expressed any interest in it.  It measures 94 1/2" X 77 1/2". 

The quilting, which I do love, was done by my new quilting friend Denise Zapf.  She is a member of an online group I am a part of and just happens to live in the same general area I do.  Denise hand guided her long arm, which I know must have taken a long time.  Look at all the curves!

It feels great to be getting some of my tops out of my closet and made into actual quilts!

Linking up: http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2017/08/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-memories.html

Used this week: 12.5 (Thimbleberries Quilt)
Used year to date: 89.75 yards
Added this week: 13 yards (backing for Rolling Waves, FQ, Caleigh's OBW, binding for Thimbleberries Quilt)
Added year to date: 138.625 yards
Net Added yards:  48.875 yards

Christopher's Stocking

My friend Debbie has made Shepherd's Bush stockings for the two oldest of her children.  She had them hanging in by the fireplace at her house last Christmas, and I noticed that her youngest child, Christopher didn't have one.  Debbie said she had started one for him when he was a baby, but  hadn't finished it.  As Christopher is now 16, and she hadn't worked on it in years,  it looked like she wasn't going to get to it.   I volunteered to finish the cross stitching on it.

 My goal is not to go back and redo the whole thing, just to finish the cross stitching.  There are a few counting errors that I'm going to leave in,  Most of the Santa figure is done, so it shouldn't take that long to complete.  I told her I didn't guarantee to have it done by this Christmas.  I probably could have it done by then, but if I do, it will be a pleasant surprise, not an expectation.

ICQC 105: Ribbon Embroidery

I have signed up for Kathy Shaw's silk ribbon embroidery class.  Kathy offers a bunch of free online classes of crazy quilting techniques.  My crazy quilting blocks stalled out in February of 2016, and I really haven't touched them since.  This class has me interested again in working on them.

Our first task was the basic stitches.

Then we moved on to the flowers.

I love the look of ribbon flowers, but my technique could use a lot of work!  I have a hard time pulling the ribbon through the fabric, even when I make a hole with a large needle before hand.  I also waste a lot of ribbon even though I am using the recommended 18" lengths of ribbon.  The ribbon wears with every pass through the fabric and gets limp so that the stitches don't hold their shapes well.  I spend a lot of time fluffing and straightening the ribbon.  I am trying to be patient with myself because I know it will get easier as I get more practice.


Linking up: http://www.supermomnocape.com/vintage-embroidery-monday-stitchery-link-party-121/

https://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/2017/08/lets-bee-social-188.html