Third Finish for the 2019 Finish-A-Long - 4th Quarter

Just in the nick of time...

Managed to finish a third quilt with 1 more day to go for the link-up. Very happy with myself! Actually I am a bit chuffed. This year I was managed to 'play' along for the entire year...maybe not as productive as some, but still finishing off a number of projects and linking up! I really like the finish-A-Long for the focus that it gives me in planning and organizing my projects. Some projects just continue to be on the list, but that does not matter...I'll get around to making/completing them at some stage.

You can find the information about the 2019 Finish-A- Long on  Leanne's blog She Can Quilt. There you will find more detail on how this link up works and also find the list of bloggers who are hosting this great event. The link up for this quarter closes on 8th January 2020.

You can find my Goal list for the fourth quarter HERE

Well, here it is...the HQ challenge quilt...and what a challenge it was! I laboured away on this all year, slightly cursing myself for choosing the grey colourway as I could hardly see my stitches on the black fabric. This was very work intensive, stitched over the whole year. In the end I did get a bit sloppy because this monster just had to be done.

Some close ups


...and another one

That's it...done!

Linking up to Studio Sew Of Course for the final quarter of the 2019 Finish-A-Long. Thanks Ladies for hosting this event. It certainly helped me to keep on track.

Karin

The Challenge Quilt

 I am continuing on my goal list for the 2019 Finish-A-Long.

Currently working on my Challenge Quilt. This is a quilt that our local Handiquilter group has been stitching along for the entire year. I loved doing this. Although I am an experienced freemotion quilter, there is always something new to learn. This time it was the size of the designs in the block. I am used to smaller blocks and was surprised how difficult it was for me to quilt in bigger spaces. For example doing a simple loopy design would not work for me because the space was just too big. My muscle memory did not allow for this and I had to pre-draw them otherwise I was running the risk of them falling over.

Still got a fair bit to do...have arrived at the zig-zag sections filling them with lines and pebbles. Again, my wonky piecing made this a bit of a challenge at times and my channels are not exactly 1/2in in parts and I just had to overlook this and continue on.

I decided that I love doing lines with the ruler. For this I used the Handiquilter Ditch ruler...placing it on the left side of the foot, stitching against it and rounding it up on the bottom by approx. 1/4in. Then I just shifted the ruler over and did the same thing going up. Not always totally tidy but a hell of a lot tidier than doing it freehand.

This provides a lot of texture

Once I finished all of the zigzag lines sections I will have to fill the remaining zig-zags with feathers

Looking forward to the feathers!

A fair bit of quilting to do though before I can get to the feathers 😒

Karin

Second Finish For the 2019 Finish-A-Long Fourth Quarter

I am on a roll...finished my second project for the 2019 Finish-A-Long.

You can find the information about the 2019 Finish-A- Long on  Leanne's blog She Can Quilt. There you will find more detail on how this link up works and also find the list of bloggers who are hosting this great event. The link up for this quarter opens on 1st January 2020.

You can find my Goal list for the fourth quarter HERE

This little table runner is from the leftover fabric and test blocks from my Fancy Fox quilt that I finished in the last quarter. I thought that those foxes were just too cute to throw away. Each of those test blocks were ironed slightly differently and on some blocks the points were a bit cut off due to squaring them off, however I figured that this was good enough for use on the coffee table.

 I used every available last scrap of fabric that was left over from the quilt. Very satisfying indeed!

For the quilting I decided to do a bit of a grid over the foxes to practice consistency in terms of aligning the ruler correctly. That worked well, staying within my 1in grid more or less. Then did some straight lines at 1/4in intervals in the woodgrain fabric to accentuate the lines of the woodgrain.
For the border I thought I try a fern type pattern...have wanted to try this for a while. I used the HQ Wave ruler first to stitch in the spine using the very gentle curve (drawing the corners in very loosely). So, very little marking for this piece which was great. My fern design worked well although, must say, it looks a bit like  one of those caterpillars crawling around the border 😆

Easy to get around the corner if you watch that you fill the available space as there is little consistency other than the consistent S-curve (which makes it look very consistent overall).

Very unlikely I can keep up this pace of finishing things, but for the moment I am feeling pumped!

Linking up to Midweek Makers over at Quilt Fabrication.

Linking up to the 2019 Finish-A-Long over at Marci Girl Designs

Karin

First Finish For The 2019 Finish-A-Long Fourth Quarter

My latest baby quilt is finished!

This is the first finish from my (last) 2019 Finish Along goal list. You can find the information about the 2019 Finish-A- Long on  Leanne's blog She Can Quilt. There you will find more detail on how this link up works and also find the list of bloggers who are hosting this great event. The link up for this quarter opens on 1st January 2020.

The quilt measures 36.5 x 43in and is made out of a Charm Square pack called 'Corner of 5th and Fun' by Sandy Gervais for Moda Fabrics.

I had some fun quilting this on my Sweet16 stitching simple arcs combined with the Ribbon Candy design in the sashing.

I used one of the Pro Echo Arcs for the squares and then moved across the quilt from side to side stitching some echo lines in the sashing traveling along the ditch to keep it continuous. This worked quite well. At first I lightly drew in the Ribbon Candy in the smaller sashing, however found that it was easier for me to stitch the design without any marking. Somehow I was more consistent if I had just the white fabric in front of me.

Now onto the next project...almost done, just need to sew on the binding.

For now I am adding my project to the Favorite Finish Monthly Link-up hosted by Meadow Mist Designs. Don't often have a finish that coincides with this link-up.

Linking up to the 2019 Finish-A-Long over at Marci Girl Designs

Karin

Winning!

Got an email from the 2019 Finish-A-Long host Marci of Marci Girl Designs the other day telling me that I had won the Hillstitches $30 Fabnric Voucher in the Q3 link up.

WHAT A TREAT !!!

Did not expect this and was really surprised. A very public 'thank you' to the hosts of this great event, the 2019 Finish-A-Long, and also to Hillstitches for their generous sponsorship of the event.

So off I went to have a look at Hillstitches. Did not know this online business and was even more surprised when I found out that the owner, Emma, hails from Australia, based about an hour away from Melbourne. This was of course great as it meant that my postage would be reasonable (although you can never be sure with Australia Post).

I thorougly enjoyed going through Emma's little shop. There was heaps of eye candy of course and I went through the whole shop several times as I could not decide what to get. In the end I settled on a Fabric Bundle of Fat Sixteenth (most bundles had a choice of Fat Quarter, Fat Eights or Fat Sixteenth). After some thought I decided to give the Fat Sixteenth option a go, possibly using this for another Fox quilt. A Fat Sixteenth should be just enough to make a face. We shall see...if that does not work, I came up with another few options.

This is what I ordered (actually ordered a little bit more as some items were on sale, but this is the main thing)

Image from Hillstitches.com.au

How beautiful is that fabric! It has a number of different designers in there and I really liked the colour arrangement.

Must say I went several times through the shop filling up my cart with possible choices, then going back in and taking stuff off again as I was getting overly greedy, then adding more fabric on again...spent several hours doing this going through the fabrics by designers, fabric bundles, wall of colour and some of the other options on the web site. The fabrics were a mix of modern and traditional, carefully selected it seemed, and beautifully presented. Loved it! Definitely will be coming back.



Thanks again to Emma from Hillstitches for the voucher and the 2019 Finish-A-Long  for hosting this great event

Karin

2019 Finish-A-Long Proposed Goal List for Q4

The Fourth Quarter of the 2019 Finish-A-Long is starting. Can't believe how quick this year is going.

You can find the information about the Finish-A- Long on  Leanne's blog She Can Quilt. There you will find more detail on how this link up works and also find the list of bloggers who are hosting this great event.

My goal list for the fourth quarter:

1. Another Fancy Fox Quilt
I am going through a bit of an Elizabeth Hartman phase at the moment. Also got Hazel hedgehog on my radar, but first I do want to make a slightly bigger fox quilt

I will use the same fabric for the foxes, Dryad fabric range by Shannon Brinkley for Paintbrush Studio. Love the fabric and I think it particularly suits the pattern.

2. Wholecloth Quilt
Maybe, if I put this on this list again, it will do itself. Seriously, this is the fourth time this design is on the list. I seem to have some sort of block going on here, however really would like to finish this to have a momentum of the class I attended with Cindy Needham.

All it needs is a clean up of the design and then it is ready to go.

3. Another Baby quilt
This is already in production...the quilt top is finished by now and I am ready to pinbaste this together. Had a bit of a hold up as I needed to purchase a suitable backing, but basically this is ready to quilt. The quilt is for a work colleague and needs to be completed within the next month or so. Not sure yet on how to quilt this, i.e. whether to just meander over it or do something a bit more fancy.

4. Fox Table Runner
Decided to use up the leftover foxes and make a table runner out of it...just too cute to chuck away. They were my original trial blocks where I experimented with the ironing of the seams and also tested my accuracy. A little bit out here and there, but overall respectable enough. Used absolutely all of the grey and woodgrain fabric up, down to the last scrap (photo only shows three, have made four by now). Will use this for some ruler practice.

5. Hexagon Project
Did not get very far with that, but made a start after having had to order a new glue pen in. Goal would be to make more. Doubt very much that I finish a hexagon quilt in this time frame. This is a bit of an on-going project
I do remember where I got this fabric from but lost the label...I believe the fabric is from a Moda fabric range.
6. Practice Panel
Got this panel at the last quilt show and thought it would be a good piece to use for practice, i.e. outline the major elements with some decorative stitches and then freemotionquilt various designs in the background. 

7. Challenge Quilt
This is a monthly challenge project from our local Handiquilter group that theoretically should be completed by the end of the year. So far, I have kept up with it. Blocks all done and now for something in the zigzags. Will find out next week. This could get very intense

Linking up to Studio Sew of Course. 

Karin

Second Finish of The 2019 Finish Along Third Quarter

My Fancy Fox Quilt is finished. 
This is the second item from my goal list for the 2019 Finish Along. You can find the information about the 2019 Finish-A- Long on  Leanne's blog She Can Quilt. There you will find more detail on how this link up works and also find the list of bloggers who are hosting this great event. The link up for this quarter opens on 1st October.

I did the Baby Quilt version of Elizabeth Hartman's Fancy Fox Quilt (had just enough grey fabric for that size). The quilt measures 34 x 46in

I used my favourite fabric for this...the Dryad fabric range by Shannon Brinkley for Paintbrush Studio.

For the background I chose some cool woodgrain fabric

As explained in previous posts I used the backing fabric to follow the woodgrain pattern as an overall design and quilted this back to front, so to speak. Love how this turned out! For the thread I used a brownish-grey SoFine thread from Superior.

So cute! I think I am going through a bit of an Elizabeth Hartman phase...already eyeing out her Hedgehog pattern and definitely will do another fox quilt, this time with a brownish background and slightly bigger.

Linking up to Studio Sew of Course for the Q3 Finish-A-Long.

Karin

First Finish of the 2019 Finish Along Third Quarter

Have blogged about my Funky Bird Quilt extensively in previous posts, but here is the post on the actual finish for the 2019 Finish-A-Long.

You can find my goal list HERE

The finished Bird Quilt

The quilt measures 40in x 49.5in and is quilted with Aurifil 50/2 white thread using a variety of rulers  in the blocks and a swirly freemotionquilting filler in the bird blocks

Linking up to Meadow Mist Favourite Finish Monthly Linky Party

Linking up to Studio Sew of Course for the Q3 Finish-A-Long

Karin 

Taking Shape

Definitely over-blogging on my funky Bird Quilt, however this is all I have been working on in the last week while on leave.

This is how far I got

The circles are probably the hardest part to get exactly into the two echo lines...a bit of  a headache at times as my piecing is not that great. The block should be exactly 8in, but of course, it is not, hence to fit 8 circles in an orderly way into the sashing is a bit of a challenge. I ended up not only drawing a centre line but also marked every 1in spot to get a sense of when I was out. Sometimes then I did a bit of a side step with the needle and made them slightly overlap to hit the next mark properly. Definitely some patience required!
Also did some more ditch quilting inside the 'foot' shape (the part that I missed before), so that the area was not puffing out. Stitched this with invisible thread first and then followed my stitching path diagram with the white thread. So a bit of extra work.
For the bird background I chose simple swirls...had a laugh at myself as they all look a bit different...found it hard to work out how to exactly swirl around the bird as there was not a lot of room on the sides, so a lot of improvisation going on. Never mind, looks great!
Initially I was also going to take the circles into the very small border to mirror the sashings. However, again the accuracy is slightly out and I would not be able to achieve a 1/4in echo on both sides, so I will probably just do lines in there to finish it off.

Well, I must say, this is most enjoyable...learning heaps about the rulers and also about the Sweet 16, i.e. which foot to use when, how to use the invisible thread and what speed works best for what part. Next time maybe I should go for a different colour thread. Have the hardest time seeing the white thread on the white background. Great for hiding those little glitches, but not great for the eyes.

No more photos now until it is finished!

Joining QuiltFabrication for their midweek makers linky

Also linking up to Quilting and Learning- What a Combo Linky Party

Karin

2019 Finish-A-Long Proposed List Q3

The Third Quarter of the 2019 Finish-A-Long is starting. At least this time I did not miss the link-up for the second quarter!
You can find the information about the Finish-A- Long on  Leanne's blog She Can Quilt. There you will find more detail on how this link up works and also find the list of bloggers who are hosting this great event.

My goal list for the third quarter will again be smallish and some projects have definitely dropped off...there is just no point in adding them when I already know that I am not going to do it.

1. Funky Bird Quilt

Have started quilting this which will take a while. I decided in the end to make use of the many rulers that I have accumulated...did not want to go over the applique (which took forever!) with an overall design.

2. Wholecloth Quilt
Embarrassed to say but that one is still on the list. Made absolutely no progress on this as I was finishing  my other wholecloth for the show.

The design just needs to be cleaned up a bit and thought through and then the marking can begin. Have the fabric sorted (even got extra fabric for binding ready!) so there is really no excuse! This wholecloth was started at a workshop with Cindy Needham using her many stencils. Really want to do this to have a memento of that workshop.

3. Fox Quilt

I love Elizabeth Hartman's patterns. I got this for Christmas, I think...this is definitely a quilt waiting to be made. Decided to use my very special, special fabric for this...The Dryad fabric range by Shannon Brinkley! Have done her Drifting Leaves quilt and just love the fabric, so much so when I saw it advertised on special overseas, I jumped at it. Had actually not considered doing the foxes with this fabric, but the other day I was thinking...how ridiculous...what am I saving this fabric for?

4. Hexie Quilt
Finally bought myself a whole stack of hexagons to make a start on a hexagon quilt. I have been collecting the fabric for some years for this purpose.
Don't think I will get around to sewing this yet, but if I could at least start cutting the hexagons and prepare them for sewing, that would be a start.

This will be an on-going project for the year.

Linking up to she can quilt for the FAL Q3 List of Finishes Link-up

Karin

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

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

Completed my first finish for the second quarter of the 2019 Finish-A-Long. You can find my goal list HERE.

Admittedly, I was almost at the end of this, had just the binding to do, but a finish nevertheless.

This came together very quickly. I bought a packet of 6 1/2in strips of the baby blue fabric at our recent quilt show and just cut this into squares. To pretty it up a bit I put a few appliqued hearts on it and I was done. For the quilting I chose a simple allover clamshell design, done with the HQ Versa tool. 

Quilting the clamshell design

And that was it. Done!

The quilt measures 36 1/2 x 36 1/2in.
My next baby quilt will be a bit more involved, with applique and piecing...a fun and colourful design which I designed a while back. But first I will have a few other tasks to finish...

Karin

2019 Finish-A-Long Proposed List Q2

Cannot believe it...I missed the link up for the first quarter! I thought I was so organised...even made a tab at the top so I would find my posts quickly to link up. For some reason, I had the 10th April in my head and when I looked today I realised that that was the date for the proposed list for the second quarter. What a bugger...and I was so productive in the first quarter! I finished 4 projects of my list in the first quarter...if you are interested to see them go to the tab on the top of the page to view them.

Definitely need to make a note on the calendar for the next link up date! 

You can find the information about the Finish-A- Long on  Leanne's blog She Can Quilt. There you will find more detail on how this link up works and also find the list of bloggers who are hosting this great event.

My goal list for the second quarter will be small. I am in a bit of a lull at the moment, contemplating what to do next.

1. Another Baby Quilt

Currently quilting this with an overall clamshell design. This is unexpectedly quick, only got a few more rows left.

2. Wholecloth Quilt

This is leftover from the first quarter. I did do some work on the design, but stopped half way through to finish another Wholecloth UFO which was not on the list. Still in the designing stages

Got everything ready...the fabric, ordered some more binding fabric etc....however not 100% happy with my design, so will have to keep going on re-drawing it until I am happy with it. Over the years I have learned the hard way not to rush Wholecloth quilts...just too much work that goes into it, so you have to be absolutely happy with your design.

3. Scrappy Spiderweb quilt

Also a leftover from the first quarter. Made absolutely no progress on this.

4. Funky Bird Quilt

This is a project I would like to do...did a bit of a test block to see how work intensive this would be. Found that I was a bit rusty with my applique (put the bird the wrong way around), but thought overall that this would be fun.

However, I also got one of Elizabeth Hartmann's patterns recently (The Fox) and am a bit torn as to which one to make. Decisions, decisions!

5. The Camden Bowl

Having way too much fun over here... saw a video the other day which explained how to put this together, so I did a trial piece 

Definitely need to do one of those bowls...maybe I can then graduate towards a jelly roll rug. Would love to do that, but maybe not in this quarter 😃

Linking up to the Proposed Finishes List over at She Can Quilt for the first quarter.

Karin

2019 Finish-A-Long: Fourth Finish

The word for this year is 'Focus' and so far I am doing really well, going through my list one by one.

My fourth finish for this quarter is the Ruler Practice Quilt which I started when I joined the Handiquilter Ruler of the Month Club 3. You can find my list of proposed finishes for the 2019 Finish-A-Long HERE.

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 First Quarter Finishes is on April 10th.

I had a packet of Bali Snaps that I did get in one of the Fat Quarter Shops Flash sales, so I used them up for this, just setting them in an irregular sashings setting.

The quilt measures 37in x 44in and there are a lot of weird and wonderful examples of ruler work on this. I did a fair few grids to practice them a bit more and liked using the Petal Pusher ruler which just gave you a simple floral motif which I thought was perfect for using with charm packs. In the end though I ended up trying all sorts of other rulers on this to practice particular designs. Did a lot of arcs with the newly acquired Pro Echo curves from Lisa Calle...absolutely love using them!

In addition, I used one of Cindy Needham's Border designs from her Border Stencil Collection. Love the way this turned out! The zigzag design was easy to mark onto the quilt as her stencils have registration dots and stretching the zigzags out a bit to make them fit worked really well.

I only used a single line of zigzags and put some pebbles in that...you could, of course extend this and add a 1/4in echo to make the border even more prominent. Lots of options!

Karin