Pumpkin Time....

This months FMQ challenge hosted by Darlene at QuiltShopGal with guest tutor Lori Kennedy from The Inbox Jaunt  features Pumpkins...

I have followed Lori for some time and had great tips and ideas from her so this was fun for me to do...

My printer (supposedly wireless) has decided to resign duties so I drew out the provided pumpkin pattern freehand (luckily it is fairly easy shapes!)

... firstly I went over my pumpkin with a darker thread just to highlight it....

... then with a lighter thread I simply had fun using a number of Lori's filler ideas....

Even though I am scared of spiders I added one - he looks a friendly spider!!! the spider is another of Lori's quilting ideas...

I also sandwiched the pieces for the back of the cushion....

here it is finished and bound....

.. with the back done in my favourite envelope style (not too straight lines!!)

QuiltShopGal hosts heaps of things you can join in and Lori has heaps of free tutorials on her blog ... worth popping around to both of them ....

They really are worth doing... I am learning heaps each month and trying out things I would probably never do...

This week the Sampler girls and I finished a few more blocks....  fiddly blocks...

Night and Moon (29 pieces)

Road to Oklahoma (20 pieces)

we also caught up with this foundation pieced block

Crown of Thorns (41 pieces)

for homework we had to finish another which was a combination of foundation piecing and lots of Y seams.... not easy to do those on tiny pieces....

.. these corner tulip blocks are 2 1/2".....

.. there are a few wobbly bits a but it is such a sweet block - but I will only be doing one of them!!

Here is a picture of all of our blocks together this week

such different colours and the blocks end up looking quite different... and yet they go together rather prettily - we are having such fun

.. this is a new bird visitor ... a pair have started coming regularly for breakfast..... 

'Little Corella' ... they are quite shy so a bit of a blurry shot....

I also had a lovely surprise dropped off by the postie this week

Dear Cheryll from Gone Stichin' had a birthday and gives out a gift!! and I won!!

Look at all this loveliness... buttons, fabric, pins, thread, notebook, purse and pin helper (just perfect for me as I pin my quilts for quilting)

This week Cheryll has not Gone Stitchin' but Gone Cruising! happy holiday my friend and thank you so much for a lovely present

Righto, Gotto Go... new toys to play with ......

September quilting challenge

When I was demonstrating at the quilt show I had several pieces ready to work on...

One of them was my September challenge for QuiltShopGal's freemotion quilting challenge that I am working on each month....

This month featured Kaleidoscope Kreations software but an alternative design to trace was provided for use in Option 1, which is what I chose to use.

As in other challenges I have used a 'recycled' piece... this is a plain white napkin this time.. with a small detail at one corner....

I had already traced out the feathers and first up was placing the traced napkin on top of wadding and stitching carefully around the edge using a water soluble thread...

After that I trimmed the wadding back to behind the napkin hem and then that was then placed on a background fabric which had more wadding and backing on it - this was to give a bit of extra puff to the piece... 

I first sewed it carefull around the hem to stabilise the napkin onto the background fabric

... then the real fun started on the quilting of the feathers...... which I did using a pale blue embroidery thread 

I don't feel I am very good at keeping on the lines but when you iron/wash out what you have traced with it looks fine.... mistakes get hidden

... added more feathers on the outside of the feathered star....

.. and then stippled quite tightly on the background to make the feathered parts stand out more...

I have included a safety pin so you can get an idea of size.. they were pretty small feathers

I then did larger feathers in a circle around the square napkin...

... I always like the effect on the back... sometimes more than the front!

the challenge is for a finished cushion, which I am just not going to get done this month due to moving house, however I thought it was worth linking up anyway to show I have made use of this great tutorial and idea (saving up for the software as there are so many fun ideas!!)

Thanks Darlene for another great challenge, and thanks to Terri Lucas who was this months guest tutor.... I will be looking out for October's challenge.

Anybody else wanting to learn and practice your FMQ .. this is a great way of doing it ... you can join in anytime and of course read back to the challenges earlier in the year.... they are great reference material...

Righto, Gotto Go.... I am packing away my lovely sewing room things today... so only hand sewing from now on to keep me sane....

FMQ challenge for August

Lucky for me Darlene has given us extra time to get this challenge finished..... (I have to admit I did finish it a while ago and completely forgot about blogging it!!!)

Augusts feature tutor on QuiltShopGal was Angela Waters... I already had one of her books and found this the perfect excuse to purchase another - I do find good books a helpful means of inspiration and handy tips.  I have followed Angela's blog for some time too

I went for Option 2 of challenge  using Angela's book Shape by Shape ....

I divided my cushion top fabric  into 4 squares and then did that shape on the cover of the book....which is a bit modern and zentaglish... and which is like the snails trail block and does my head in seeing how things work....

I drew the lines first and then quilted over them using one of my handy rulers to keep the lines straight....

For this I used a thicker top stitching thread and needle as I wanted the lines very predominant....

.. for the back I changed to general size thread and did a long piece using Angela's signature design .... no marking necessary...

I struggled with the wavy look so I included a figure 8 design in some ....

 ... then I sliced it to get the two pieces for my favourite envelope finish...

... here is the completed top... I do like the secondary patterns that are created with this design.  it needed lots of turning of the fabric (I don't have a foot that can take a ruler in any direction) so I don't see this as being practical for me on a quilt....

.. and the back... which makes me think of corsets!!  your choice which way the waist fits best!!

.. the fabric looks very white in the pictures but it is more buttery-sandy with a light background design (which you can see in the first picture) ...

I like this look... more modern and masculine than what I am used to ... and I think this might be perfect for Hubz new office space (yes... he is getting an office in the new house - I had to trade off something for a sewing room!)

Thank you Darlene for hosting this challenge... anyone can join... it is not competitive but great for learning and practicing and wonderful inspiration looking at what others have made....

Thanks Angela for sharing your talents with us...thank goodness for quilters who do ...

Gotta love Fridays....

This week has sped by... but it's been full of fun...

I've had this quilt pinned for a while waiting for attention....

Monday I started ... I am experimenting a bit with 'going out the lines' of the block shapes but still in a designed way..... I'm also experimenting with metallic thread....

big pomegranate shape leaves in the coloured and plain squares.....

(I'm not sure about dark thread on my light squares - even if it is bling - but I'm not unpicking them!)

... up and down lines in the green joining spaces and little buds in the small cream triangles...

then on Tuesday some hand stitching with friends... this is a block from Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

Posies Around the Square (21 pieces)

 We had been given homework (thanks Lyn) Foundation Paper pieced block 

Amethyst (16 piecs)

I have to admit that I think foundation paper piecing is my least favourite .. and I think it has something to do with the amount of wasted fabric that happens 

The three of us sampler makers made it in print this week (Queensland Country Life newspaper)

this is when we went to the Jumpers and Jazz festival..... 

...we are famous you see....

Wednesday saw me back working on my quilt.... the wavy lines in the blue border

big loops in the pink border and the same pomegranate shape in the floral border

here is my 'design' perspex which helps me keep on track with what I am doing

this week we have had the heaviest frosts and coldest morning this winter....

.. which also brings stunning sunsets ....

On Thursday Hubz had work in the Gold Coast area so I hitchhiked with him and got dropped off HERE .... at Michelles place and we had a stitching day... she was cutting and sewing hexagons...

,, and I got some needleturn tips from her for my next sampler block

I also got so see some of her lovely projects and quilts... but didn't take pics... we were so busy talking sewing

Today... well I'm off to the Quilters Angel to sew and I'll be back there tonight for stitching and joining in with .....

hosted by Cheryl... sign ups are HERE...

Phew..... lovely week .....

Righto, Gotto Go.... I have to fight off the paparazi at the door (famous you see!!)