A little of this and a little of that

Small things started

 I now have two feathers sewn and tried the Inktense paints with a drawn feather first. 

I need more brushes...I am not sure I like what I have done...

Luckily I had some Josonja's Textile Medium...

I will wait to do one of the feathers that are quilted  when I have a better selection of brushes! 

I lost my finger thimble - made another - and found the one I lost  :) 

Lucky me!  I now have two!

Oh - and half of a Zentangle on fabric!



Playing with FMQ

Between my DH sleeping I played a bit :)

Feather is a bit different.. I was trying out a new pink ceramic pencil that my friend Liz got for me at Quiltwest. 

 Luckily I have several pieces of fabric ready to sew on when I get some minutes free.

I am wanting to try to use my Inktense water-colour pencils to paint on my fabric, so may have a go on this piece to see what happens.

This is with a single layer of wool wadding.

FMQ - Last one of this quilt!!

Julia of Julia's Place went back to the show and took this photo...thank you Julia...

I so appreciate this, as I was unable to go the show myself!

Its great to see it as it was !

Now it can go back to Jean :)

Machine quilting

I am so delighted -
 I won a Special Best Domestic Machine  Quilting at the WAQA QUILTWEST Show that  is currently on in Perth at the Perth Convention Center in Western Australia.

How very wonderful is that!!!!
This could not have come at a better time :)

This is my winning quilt - Jean's Birthday Celebration.  You may see more photos and details of this quilt here .

Isn't that wonderful - I would like to thank Carla Barret of Feathered Fibers for encouraging me to enter.
This was something I had never considered. 
Also Jean kindly let me have the quilt back to enter, so no doublt she will be pleased to know her quilt has had a fantastic win for me - and to have it back :)
I had done one of Carla's classes with Quilt Whispering late last year, and this really encouraged me
to keep practising with my Machine quilting and the designing!!

FMQ

I have finished this quilt a while ago, but didn't show it before as Wendy of  Ivory Springs was so kind and let me use her quilt design which can be seen here 

They are fairly similar, but different :) 

So - here is my quilt Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dogs tails - Thats what Little Boys Are Made Of

Its all FMQ and I quilted around the design in the border

Frogs

and Snails

And Puppy Dogs Tails

Made for William Henry John O'Hara -

Now doesn't he have a wonderful name?

Thank you to Wendy :)

And yes!! There is a ladybug in there somewhere :)

Home

Just a brief note.

As my Dh is quite unwell - and has been so for a while....

I am not actually getting a great deal done sewing wise as he needs my TLC :)

However here is what came in the post for me today

Now I just need time to get this done - never mind all the rest of the UPO's...

Will catch up again soon.

FMQ

Having a problem working out my pages  cant get them to link properly...check out the Family and Friends pages to see the visitors I had here on Saturday.

This is what I got to do in the (way too early) hours of this morning ..

Just the outline.
I also want to make a page for FMQ... but that will have to wait!!

Playing

Did a small piece today - started to do a Zentangle - but the feathers got me...again!!

So I quilted the drawing!

Cream silk thread on the top and ...

Varigated Aurifil in the bobbin

No more now till Friday - if I am lucky!!

Free Motion Quilting

Black piece completed apart from the binding.

My camera is playing up, so the photos are not crash hot...and its night which doesnt help!

The piece measures 20" x 20"

I changed to a dark brown Aurafil thread for the fillers on the back.

Silk thread for all the fillers on the top

Silver gold burgundy and deep purple.

These colours are more the ones...but the exposures were not at all good.

Hope that gives some idea of what I have done.

I am VERY thankful that this is finished - the binding can keep!

May have a day of nothing tomorrow... ha!!

Free Motion Quilting

I have added to my sampler piece

I took this photo in the sun so its a bit bright.

You can see my leaf samples - the circle and the rectangle.

I took this wonderful book I have from Kim Stotsenberg

of sewnsewquilting and I took the book, a book to draw in and a few pencils and drew most of the designs in the leaf it book, while I watied for my DH to have his appointment, and thought I would have a go with what I had learnt. 

Its a great book and I know I will use it lots.  Thank you Kim :)

So I am still experimenting with coloured silk thread

and will do some more of my feather later today/tonight

FMC Challenge Day 14 Thursday

Day 14...the last dayof the FMQ

Photos didn't work out last night, so here is what I actually completed yesterday.

\

There is still a lot to do and I am experimenting with different colours

I am using a brown Aurafil thread in the back now

Some of the samples of colour - silk thread -  I need to do some more of these later today.

Its really cold here and I am off to light the fire, so the house can get warm!

I apologise for not visiting all my favorite blogs - I have lots of issues going on here, and will visit when I can



FMC Challenge Day 13 Wednesday

Day 13!

Nearly there - one more day to go.

I think there are now 4 lots of echoing round the feather, The circles in the spine are done, the sun was shining as you can see .... and after much trial and error

I am using a deep purple silk thread...and have changed to a dark brown on the back.  Not too thrilled with it, but there you are.

I may do some more tonight as its way too bright in the Studio for now.

I am working out the filling as I go!

Thread Basting

This is what I was up to last night.

I watched Sharon Schambers video on Thread basting and decided to go back to it...

I have used a polyester wadding in this, that I have not tried before.

Another blogger sideways photo :)

Showing the basting completed .... it didnt take long.

Difference  between thread and pins.



Showing the back.

I am going to unpin the lefthand quilt and do the thread basting there too.

I think when I did this before I used the opentoe hopping foot to quilt - which is the one I prefer...but the hook bits kept getting caught up in the thread, so I will try this time with the closed hopping foot .

Then I can get some more quilting done... today I have some choices.

FMQ Challenge Day 12 Tuesday

Day 12

I started this piece tonight ... May continue with it tomorrow - or start another one.

I started to echo round the edge...and wondered what to do the fill with...

Not sure!

maybe I will stick with the same varigated thread to see what it looks like - I can always make another cushion .... I guess. 

 I did draw the feathers roughly to give me a guide where to quilt, and changed them as I was sewing.  Curved the centres into the stem more than I had drawn.  It seems to be easier to sew than draw at times.

This is black homespun  cotton on a Kona beige cotton backing , it has a cotton wadding, and I am using Aurifil thread top and bobbin.  The tension is set on 2.0

FMC Challenge Day 11

Almost done now, just the echoing to do.

Front.

For some reason or other the photo has turned sideways .

Taken in the evening and not good light.

Showing the back - sideways again - no idea why this happens.

I may try to finish this sometime tomorrow, and/or start something else.

You can check out the other FMQ's in the Challenge ... here

I am off for an early night - for me.