Whole cloth quilt

A close up sneak peek at my WCQ.

The edge oif the photo on the right will be the edges of the actual quilt -

It doesnt look much to do, but its a long way round and I have to make sure I can get the quilt squared. before I do the next lot of quilting.

Its a slow work, but I am really enjoying it.

I can see the end in sight...I think :)

  

Sketchbook Challenge -Up Close

Playing with my Up Close theme today ...

for the Sketch Book Challenge...and FMQ some of the leaves I drew yesterday.

Varigated Aurifil 50 on the top and Auriful 50 in the bobbin.

This is the first one painted - it really is a mess!

Its done some with Intense pencils and the leaf on the right ...

is done with Art Spectrum paints.

I like to plain quilting so much better.

Green silk thread in the top and Aurifil in the bobbin.

Wasnt going to show the painted one, but I just finished playing with it, and decided to put it up anyway.

Now I am back to my WCQ soon... I am hand sewing some of my Patchwork Of The Crosses...one more block to attach to the fifth row - YAY

Sketchbook Challenge -Up Close

A very brief moment of sketching some Wisteria leaves up close...

For the February Sketchbook Challenge

As I put this photo up, my thoughts were - Maybe I should sew this - and quilt it :)

Light bulb moment !!

Maybe I shall later today.

Health in the family is now great - fingers crossed for next week !!!



Home and Family

Still not getting sewing done 

 

But in a few quiet moments Andrea

wrote this on the new whiteboard I

bought to practice more feathers on. 

 

I thought it was really good, lots of hidden meanings.

Too good to just wipe off.

 

She did the drawings too.

 

 

Free Motion Quilt Challenge 2012

Havn't done a great deal of anything foe a while - for the Free Motion Quilt Challenge... due to issues of health with Andrea ... 

Did manage to get 2 small pieces sewn...and I was really a bit rusty.  I was using sik thread and playing with colours - not something I will keep.

Then I stared to play with a 3" square... then a feather and some filler.

Was happier with the feather... and worked well when I changed the needle and the thread stopped breaking.

I like the red on black too.

Andrea's health continues to be a problem.

Yesterday we went to Perth to see a specialist... away for the day so I took

my sketch book with me. This is what a

drew while we were travelling in the car :)

So .... I hope to get some sewing done  .... of something ....tonight as its Friday here in Oz...and its FNSI :)

We will see.

Free Motion Quilt Challenge 2012

More February FMQ Challenge today.

Plumed feather  -  learning from the February tutorial by Diane Gaudynski.  There is also great info on her blog This photo didn't come out blue - obviously the exposure was wrong..

This is sewn on satin fabric - a piece that was left over from making a Tutu for Andrea for her ballet.

I have never sewn on satin for quilting before - I really enjoyed it...

I must admit that this small piece - approximately 6" x 12"took me All day to sew - but I did have a few breaks between. 

My concentration left me a few times...hence some lines that were a bit skewd ..

There is one of my trademark ladybugs in amongst the stippling.

This was my practise piece :)

A close up of the top corner cection

and a close up of the lower corner.

This was my Practise Practise piece where I tried out some of what I wanted to do.

This lovely satin fabric was a different blue and is from the very first Tutu I made Andrea.

My Sample is sewn with a very pale greenish YLI #100 silk thread on the top, Aurifil 50 in the bobbin. 

I used a 70/10 Superior Topstitch Titanium needle and had no problems with it.

I used my 820 Bernina DSM,   (Nessie), quilting stitch  #1324,   the tension was set at 2.0 and the presser foot was at 15.

I do love my sewing machine!

Andrea is going well - and I hope to get back to my WCQ tomorrow.

Free Motion Quilt Challenge 2012

February- Free Motion Quilt Challenge  with Diane Gaudynski's great tutorial.

Diane has also got some wonderful information on her blog that is really helpful.

First I did some drawings...

And then I did some quilting.

It didn't quite happen as I meant it to - but hey !! ....  it happened :)

I have been away from sewing for just over a week, as we had some health problems with Andrea, however she is on the mend... and I have been to school with her for 3 days  - the first days of the 2012  school term-  to make sure she was OK.  Next week it is just taking her to school and picking her up - so hopefully I will get back to the sewing then.

Free Motion Quilt Challenge 2012

This is my sample for Free Motion Quilt Challenge 2012

I forgot to put my Challenge sample up on my blog - so here it is

a day late as I got muddled and put it on my facebook page only  :)

This has been a wonderful tutorial from Frances Moore, and has been very inspirational for all those taking part I know - and a HUGE thankyou to

SewCalGal and Frances Moore. The Challenge site can be found on the link above.

A big thank you to Frances for her help and instructions.

Our next monthlyfree Challenge tutorial for the month of February is from Diane Gaudynski ...  who happens to be one of my favorite quilters, ...  I have both her books, and they are fantastic.

I have had a very quilt look at the tutorial and it looks wonderful - cant wait to get to it!

Sketchbook Challenge - Doodling

More doodling while I was away in Perth, and WAY too hot to do any sewing.
I have added some things for The Sketchbook Challenge as its nearly the end of the January theme..

First I did this in black and white, and then, as my good firend Liz had lots of lovely paints....

like the ones she very kindly gave me for Christmas.....

I got to play with the colours on it......

'Fraid the poor lady bug is about to be eaten    :)

Then.....

I made a quick sketch of one of the bays we have stayed at on Rottnest Island...

This time using some of Liz's water colour pencils, which I have never used before...

that was a bit different...

Then just to finish off my time in Perth... I did another Zentangle/Zendoodle

The whale was the last thing I drew, as it just seemed to pop out at me... and it was a bit of a giggle.

Must have had fish on my mind..

Its still terribly hot here with 42C forecast for Perth tomorrow - mercifully it will  hopefully be a degree or two cooler here.

I am going to go in the main bedroom and set up some hand sewing there- as the refridgerated air con is in there.

Till next time.

Doodling

Too hot here to quilt.

We have forecasts of nearly every day being 40C ( about 104F)  and on Saturday 42C  (107.6F)

Longest hottest run of temperatures for 47 years!  A cyclone is seeming to form off the West Australian coast west of Exmouth....

Definitely NOT sewing weather...and sadly  I have to go to Perth tomorrow with Andrea as she has a Doctors appointment.  We have her younger brother Patrick with us, and will go back to their father's after that for a couple of days - earlier than the 42C I hope.

Because of no sewing, I ran up a quick drawing of some feathers on fabric and hope to get it sewn and maybe painted on later.

Its drawn with a fine permanent black pen. 

Will think about what to do with it when I get back

I am onto the last couple of borders with my WCQ, but it really is way too hot to work on! 

Hopefully I will post some photos when it is near completion - if the weather would get cooler!

FNSI

FNSI with Joanne

Mostly my Friday night comes earlier than most ,

 so my FNSI was Friday morning for Joanne in Canada

As its near midnight for me here, I did some playing with FMQ

feathers...

As I look at this photo now, I can see where I missed a double line in the nestled feathers. 

Was early in the morning at that stage!

There is Joanne in Canada and I am in Western Australia.

Isn't technology amazing?

Whole cloth quilt

I am still working away at my WCQ.

Not good in the heat we have at present! 

Am now well into the borders being filled.

Front

Back

You may be able to see my trade mark lady bug in one of the stippled borders :)

I did small circles in the centre - which took me a week to do...

Micro stippling in the next border.... not so long.

Today I am going to start on some echo quilting, then maybe back to micro stippling on the final filler before the outer border

I think the outer border will be piano keys with a double line - I think... waiting till I get there.

I am sorry not to be able to show you much else, but I need to get this finished.

Its a heavy quilt as it has double batting - one of wool and one of cotton!

Quilted in silk YLI 100 and Aurifil 50 in the bobbin.  I am not having problems with this and it is quilting well with the tension I have.

Using my DSM Nessie - a Bernina 820.  The bobbin is set with the  inside bobbin case dot slightly to the right of the dot on the bobbin...the top tension is on 2.  and  the pressure foot is set on Zero.  Took me a while to get the pressure right but its all working fantastically now.

Now back to my quilt till I get too hot again!

Whole cloth quilt

Slowly a little at a time getting sewn.

The front view - these small circles take a bit of time - especially in the heat we have here at present.



The back view.

Off to have a game of tennis on the Wii with Andrea :)

Then back to some sewing for a bit. I still have a heap of those small circles to do.

Doodling

To have a small break from my WCQ  I have done some doodling .

Long time since I have done any, and I really enjoyed it.

This is for the Sketchbook Challenge - which this month is Doodling!

Now I will get back to my WCQ for a bit and may do some different doodling later :)

Whole cloth quilt

I have almost completed all the borders of my WCQ but went back to my practise piece to try to work out which filler to do.

It was quite interesting, as the quilting in the lower left hand quarter is the very first practise I did monthe ago when I first started the actual quilting. Most of the rest of this piece of quilting I have done tonight. feathers circles and fillers.

I have still to work out what to do in the centre ( this is just part of 1/4 of the quilt)

I think I may concentrate on the micro stippling for the fillers.

I took the  photo tonight so the exposure isn't the best.

I will take some more photos tomorrow and put up...of the actual quilt ...maybe.

Sketchbook Challenge 2012

I have decided to also go in the Sketchbook Challenge.

Not quite sure how it all works, but it sounds good,  especially as my very good friend Liz of

Lizard of Oz gave me some coloured inks for Christmas.

You can find out about the challenge by checking out the link above.

 had thought I may use these for Mug Rugs...

This one I may use my new paints on to see what happens.

Apparently these are OK on fabric.

Whan I draw on fabric directly - I iron it to freezer paper... it is so much easier to draw on.

Now - back to my whole Cloth quilting.

Some doodling or Zentangling I have done before

Now I have a reson to do some more. 

Free Motion Quilt Challenge 2012

FIRSTLY - A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL.

My first post for the New Year is my sample of the new Free Motion Quilt Challenge 2012

Our First Month's challenge is from Frances Moore

The top.

I have used a Silk YLI thread in the top and a varigatedAurifil 50 in the bobbin. 

The needle is a gold Schmetz Stick Nadel

Embroidery neede 75/11

I had no trouble with the thread,

This is the reverse side - and I di however have an incorrect tension - which I should have tried out more than I did

I am using my Nessie - a Bernina 820 DSM

This is some drawings I did of the design in my sketch book I keep all my designs in.

The top desings here was some practise I was doing for my last quilt - the Labyrinth quilt.

Below is a photos of our family Christmas Dinner , which was held at my Younger DD house on the 25th. It was really wonderful to haveus all together :)

I think there were 19 of us.  The only ones missing were our eldest Grandson and his partner. 

It was a very happy time for us all.

Then we went back to our eldest sons house and had another lovely meal.

A great Christmas all round!

.



Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hoping every one has a merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year.

Merry Christmas

Some hand felted Christmas decorations I made some time ago

Top of this larger one

and the base.

These next two are smaller

Some Christmas beading - also did these some time ago.

Have a safe and prosperous New Year

Friday Night Sew in

Thank you to Heidi for hosting the Friday Night Sew In.

I did nearly forget about it, but made it in time...my Friday night comes a bit sooner than most countries 

so I am lucky and can do two :)

So - I have done some more work on my WCQ

I need to keep going on this as some of the markings are really fading. 

I am nearly round another section.

This is the top of course

and this is from the back.

Also ....

I have also sewn around another block ...Row 5 block 7 - so I can now sew this to the fifth row and I will have only one more blockto go for that row.

Then a heap of sewing to get the 4th row to the third row..Lots of hand sewing there...

Once those 5 rows are all together, I think I will add the bocks one by one to those rows

It won't seem such a lot to do that way.  I hope.

Only another 32 of the white surrounds, small squares and the smaller of the blocks to go.

Andrea has kindly said she will sew some of the 'threesies' of the white for me. 

She has done this lots for me before and it is such a help.

Now I am off to sew some more of the WCQ

My Labyrinth quilt is soaking :)