The Winner and some reverse sewing is required

Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a comment on my blog for the Grow Your Blog event. I read and replied to every single comment (except for those who are no-reply bloggers). All of the names went in a hat and one was pulled out.

The prize!

The winner is Wendy. She wrote "I have been following you for a couple of yrs now and I love your blog and all the inspiration on here. I am actually going to make my rendition of your 81 Giant Monstrosity quilt this coming year. I am gathering fabrics now."  I've emailed Wendy to let her know that she won the draw! I also would like to extend a very special thank you to Vicki of 2 Bags Full for organizing this terrific event!

I really appreciate the comments you leave on my blog post. A reader asked a question about my Birds in the Loft quilt that is in the works right now. She wanted to know if I planned on repeating the teal colour elsewhere in the medallion. This is the diagram of the medallion with the blue fabric at the top and bottom. The little black dots represent a fussy cut bee.

The fabric I used is actually an aqua colour with bees. This is the medallion with the aqua bees in place.

On the sides I fussy cut bees from an off white fabric and I was quite happy with the look until the question of the fabric colour was raised.

That got me thinking - what would happen if I replaced the off white bees on the side with aqua bees. I got up this morning, cut and basted two aqua bees and took before and after pictures.

Birds in the Loft medallion "before"

This is the after picture with the aqua bees pinned in place on the medallion and the medallion is much improved with this small change. I  have some reverse sewing to do today! I construct all of my hexagons in the same way; I create an "open donut" and then sew in the middle hexagon using a thread colour than matches the "donut". It makes for fast sewing and equally fast reverse sewing!

Birds in the Loft medallion "after"

I'm going to need 270 hexagon rosettes for this quilt so I've been cutting and sewing. Here's today's installment of what I've managed to create. Love, love, love the fabric in the middle. See how just one fussy cut combined with a tone-on-tone print can create a lovely effect?

This rosette is made from an old scrap of Christmas fabric. Although I'm not usually a fan of holiday prints I thought I would give this scrap a try to see what happens and I was pleased with the result. I will likely use it in the quilt but if not it will just go in a box of hexagons to be used at a later time!

Before I sign off I want to once again mention that I reply to every comment so if you don't hear back from me it means you are a no reply blogger and as such I have no way to contact you. Kathyinozarks published an explanation about how you can update your profile so that your email address is available. You will find it here.

It is time for me to get out the seam ripper so until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H

Combining techniques and methods and introducing Brain Rock

For my daily readers, I won't be posting tomorrow because I'll be out having fun all day! But I'll be back on Wednesday with some hexagon ideas that I think you might like!

I like to do what works for me and that could be entirely different from what works for you. In order to get the effect I want I might have to combine techniques. For example, yesterday I showed you how I combined applique, inking and beading to make a bee!

 

Sometimes I add a little embroidery! Here are some bees that combines applique, ink and embroidery.

 

 

And I’ve also combined ink and watercolour paints with textile medium to make these bugs on a quilt that I call “Bed Bugs”.

 

You can combine other techniques such as hand and machine quilting. Why not? I have a hexagon and diamonds quilt that I will show you one of these days. I hand quilted inside each hexagon and diamond.

 

When I got to the border I wanted feathers and I was not going to hand quilt them. The main reason is that I really don’t like marking quilts and the few times I’ve tried to mark feathers on a border it was more frustration that fun. Secondly I’m a little on the lazy side and I just wanted the quilt done! I had read enough books and was confident enough with my machine quilting skills that I was sure I could machine quilt feathers and the only marking I would need is the spine. And that’s exactly what I did!

 

I am pleased with the result. I even popped a little bit of machine quilting in the half hexagons. Don’t let anyone tell you can’t combine techniques or methods OR colours. As far as I know there is no prison for wayward quilters so go for it! Do what works for you, makes you happy and gets you excited! If it just doesn't work, it will be your little secret!

 

I’ve added a few more bugs to the tote bag including a couple of spiders. I used my Pigma pen to draw on the spider webs and I had a small scrap of fabric with circles. I thought it would make a nice spider body so I appliqued them down.

 

 

Then I embroidered the head and used my Pigma pen to draw on the legs. It isn’t realistic but it works and I like them a lot!

 

It is a rainy day today so I’m not going out in the garden to take pictures. I inevitably hear a crunch and suffer terrible guilt for ending the life of a snail. So instead I’ll leave you with a picture of another curio from the garden, Brain Rock! This fossilized coral is large and lovely! It keeps Saturn Rick company out in the garden!

 

 

Until I post again, happy sewing!

Post Script: I couldn't get out to the garden so the garden came to me!

 

Centre Ice finished!

I finally finished Alex’s quilt all but for the label which I will do sometime in the next few days. You can see more pictures of the quilt in progress here. Alex is a huge hockey fan so I’ve settled on the name “Centre Ice”. The light coloured centre reminds me of the part of the rink where the hockey players face-off, centre ice, and the red border reminds me of the boards around the rink. So here it is….Centre Ice!

I had previously told you that I learn something with every quilt I make and here is what I learned (actually relearned!) with this one…..don’t skip the stitch in the ditch! I wrote about the important of stitch in the ditch last month. I had this quilt pinned and decided to jump right into the circular quilting. As I went along I removed pins and smoothed out the quilt and continued to quilt. I didn’t think to check the back until I was more than half way done. It was a dog’s breakfast! While the top was flat and smooth the back was riddled with creases and folds. So I spent a week ripping out all of the quilting! Then I had to press everything and pin-baste it for the second time. This time I stitched in the ditch and it turned out perfectly!

I quilted the circles by drawing an off centre circle in the white area. I quilted that circle and from there I used my walking foot to machine quilt the remaining circles with no marking required…I just used the width of my walking foot as the guide. It was a fast easy way to quilt and perfect design for a young fellow!

If you read my post about my Mom’s quilt “Afrika” you will know the story about why the killer bees came to be and why they sometimes appear in her quilts (although less often these days)! Well I had need for a killer bee of my own in Alex’s quilt. As I was stitching down the binding I noticed that there was a small nick just near the binding. I don’t know if I did it or if it was a flaw in the fabric. I darned it with matching thread but decided it wasn’t a very nice finish so what to do? Applique and embroider a little grasshopper to cover the flaw! Not sure if I’ll tell him about it or just let it be a surprise.

 

I hope Alex will like his quilt. It is perfect for a boy and I think it is a quilt that will grow with him over the years!

 

My next job is to finish the quilt for his sister, Christina’s. There’s lots of orange in that one so I’ve got a name in mind but I’ll hold off sharing until I finish the quilt!

Until I post again, happy sewing!

 

Family Day at Faeries and Fibres!

I'm working away on my baskets and nine patches. It is bound. I'm quilting the nine patches and then it will time to figure out what will go inside the feathered wreaths in the solid squares. Come on inspiration....don't fail me now! I think I'm going to have to do some doodling tonight. All suggestions are welcomed!

I come from an artsy craftsy family. Dad was a painter and woodworker (and an inveterate fixer of all things even if they weren't broken)! My brother does fine woodwork including wood turning, instrument making and watercolour paintings. Mom quilts, embroiders and does assorted crafts. And she makes the BEST apple pie in the world! Daughter is a knitter and right now is hooked on knitting lace. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of her work but I do have some pictures of work by Mom, Dad and Brother.

One of Mom's favourite quilts that she has made is heavily embroidered on flour sack type cotton and it is called "Nostalgia". There is a lovely story that goes with this quilt and I plan to tell you that story in a future post but for now you'll just have to be happy with a few lovely little pictures!

 Bees are my Mom's trademark

 

My brother has started making musical nstruments. He has a long list of what he wants to make. Today I am sharing a picture of his dulcimer. I love the sound of this instrument...it reminds me of summer and the outdoors.

Close-up of the rose he carved for dulcimer

He also likes to turn wood on his lathe. He makes beautiful pens and peppermills but he also likes to turn impossibly small things. The little pot with lid, cup and bowl are about 1/2" tall. He ground the turquoise and mixed it with epoxy. He then turned the entire piece on the lathe so that the cup has a ring of blue and the blow is lined with blue. Notice the tiny little knob on top of the pot!

Finally I would like to show you our pub sign made for us by our Dad a few years before he died. He was from Penzance, Cornwall and pubs are a key feature of life in that part of the world. We like to sit out on the patio in the jungle we call a garden and sup a pint of London Pride (wish we could get some St. Austell ales) or some other fine ale. So Dad made us this pub sign which we hung on the patio for several years. After Dad died we decided to bring in indoors to protect it from the elements. We cherish this pub sign!

I hope you've enjoyed this little mini show and tell.

Until I post again, happy sewing!