Funky Bird Quilt

Made a start on the Funky Bird Quilt. This is also a project that I have listed in the second quarter of the 2019 Finish-A-Long.

I am not a great applique person, so finding this quite challenging...have done four of the nine birds so far. My admiration goes to those quilters who do those intricate applique designs. Seriously, I am finding these little birds quite labour intensive. The bird design 'Funky Bird' is from the applique section of the EQ8 program.

They are very cute...have another two alternate versions to go through. In order to not get confused I have a copy of the mirror image to trace from but then also have a copy of the original next to me. So far, so good...have not got mixed up as yet.

Also getting re-acquainted with my Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2 in terms of stitching around those birds. For the main body I chose my favourite stitch (no. 159 on this machine), one of the satin-like stitches of the machine.

That stitch is great for someone like me who does not do applique that often...as it is uneven it hides all sort of things as you go along. Also had to read up on the tapering again, as in one of the red birds the top feather was in the way for the stitch (which starts with a wide swing out). Set the taper for 45 degree at the beginning of the stitch which made it possible to miss the adjacent element altogether. Was pretty impressed with that and also started to use the taper on the corners, so I would not get a huge thread build up. For the wings and feathers I used a simple blanket stitch and the eyes and beak were done with a simple zig-zag.

This is going to be a very cute quilt. You will have to wait and see possibly a number of weeks to find out what else I have planned for this.

Karin

2019 Finish-A-Long: Second Finish for Second Quarter

My second finish for the 2019 Finish-A-Long: The Camden Bowl.

You can find my list of proposed finishes for the 2019 Finish-A-Long HERE.

Approx. 8 1/2in by 6in high

How cute is this! I constructed the bowl from leftovers from a jelly roll of French General fabric (and still got bitses and pieces left over!). The pattern for this bowl comes from Aunties Two, however I just loosely followed a YouTube video from Mom and Pop's Quilt Shop. Working on this, I realised that the bottom is done somewhat different in the original pattern...they insert some stiffening into the bottom which would have been better. While looking around, found some more helpful videos (see HERE and HERE) that explained the bottom and how to sew all this together. So this bowl has some flaws but still looks pretty great. Very enjoyable little weekend project.

Please visit Leanne's blog She Can Quilt for more information on the Finish-A-Long. You will find  detail on how this link up works and also find the list of bloggers who are hosting this great event. The Link up for the Second Quarter Quarter Finishes is on July1st.

What will I use this for?

Great  bowl for keeping your knitting handy.

Karin

2019 Finish-A-Long: Camden Bowl

I have been talking about the Camden Bowl in previous posts and finally made a start. The idea came from leftovers that I had from the Moda French General fabric range. I have been holding on to this fabric for years. Out of the original jelly roll, I made a bag, a Dresden Plate table runner and still had some strips leftover!

First I made the bottom...for this I used a piece that I am obviously also saving for something...how ridiculous! Cut it up and used it. In order to make the centre nice and stiff I used this as a bit of a workout on the Sweet 16 with my circle rulers, then bound it and put it aside.

The sewing of the strips was good fun...

I used pre-cut batting strips (Mathilda's Rainbow batting 2"). This made the strips very solid and I am actually thinking that this would make an excellent bathroom mat, if I could find something that would make the bottom non-slip. In terms of process, you take your 2 1/2in strip, put the batting on and then fold it in on itself towards the middle. You then sew along the edge and when you have two of them, you sew them together with a zig-zag stitch, then add the next two and so forth. For Pfaff owners....this is where the Start/Stop button becomes very handy...

Just make sure that you set your speed to 'slow', otherwise the machine will take off like a rocket and give you a hell of a fright. At the slow speed this leaves your hands free to ensure that you zig-zag along the middle in a straight manner which is important in terms of not bowing your piece out of shape.

This is how far I got

Bottom done, panel done and binding prepared! I used 10 strips  rather than the 8 strips that the lady in the video had used. Felt that the whole thing should be a bit higher. As you can see the panel will overlap, once attached to the bottom and then will be adorned with some decorative buttons, ribbons or similar. 

The original pattern is from Aunties Two however I am just loosely following a YouTube video from Mom and Pop Quilt Shop. I did  get my daughter to get me the bag pattern (called Bali bag) from Aunties Two for Mother's Day though as there is no way I could just 'wing it' and construct a bag. Will have to closely follow the pattern. Looks like good fun though.

Linking up to Oh Scrap! 

Karin

Not Much Happening Over Here

I seem to have gone into hibernation mode! Really struggling at the moment and literally have to drag myself to do the simplest thing. Total creative standstill!

I have to prepare my quilt for the show and need to produce labels, cover up for the label, sleeve and so forth. You would think that this is a quick affair but I am always dragging my feet with that. Also discovered that I do not have any backing fabric left for the sleeve...so I went searching the internet, by now several times over, and yep, it is not being made anymore (at least over here in Australia). I will have to use calico which really annoys me, but there is nothing I can do about this.

Also was on my last sheet of Inkjet Printable Fabrics sheets, so today I carefully printed out the label ...progress! Really need to get this done in the next week or so. I will be glad when this quilt is off my hands and I will not see it again until the show which is in the beginning of July. I will post some pictures then...should look good.

Apart from this, I have been keeping up with my monthly HQ challenge quilt that we are doing with our local HQ group. This month's task finished!

There is a grid in there amongst this very black patch! 

My machine will go for service next week which I am a bit nervous about, giving that it is running so well. I have had the HQ Sweet 16 now for approx. 2 years and I have around 2700000 stitches on the clock. Yep, definitely is due for a service, but I am telling you it's running like a dream. Hopefully it will be running even better when it comes back, as I will be starting another wholecloth.

In the meantime I will do a bit of applique, I think...

Karin