Leaf Table Runner

The Mayflower Quilters' Guild organised a one day workshop on 16 September 2017 taught by Sherida Giddings to make the pattern "One" from the Quiltworx.com Leaf Series by Judy and Brad Niemeyer.  I was able to finish my leaf during the workshop and here is a picture just before I added the binding:

Shortly after the workshop I finished the background to put the leaf on by quilting it with a pantograph called "Tea Leaves" by Marjorie Busby, but then the project stalled.

I decided this morning to get this project finished and by noon I was done! I changed the stem by adding more of the central vein of the leaf fabric instead of turning one of the side bindings into the stem.  I added batting to the back of the leaf and quilted it with my walking foot in the dark coloured triangles.  I then attached the leaf to the background by stitching very close to the edges of the central vein of the leaf and then stitching in the ditch of the binding on each edge of the leaf.  I bound it using the same fabric as the central vein.

Here's a close up of the tip of the leaf  showing the quilting:

I was glad to learn more tips on paper piecing, especially curved paper piecing and to learn how to use the Add-A-Quarter ruler which I had not seen before.  I can see myself tackling a quilt such as a New York Beauty in the future but maybe I should start with a wall hanging or something smaller first.

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday

Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Mystery "On Ringo Lake" Parts 7, 8 & 9

Last Thursday, I completed Part 7, sewing the coral and brown flying geese together:

I then had all the components of the block made:

Here is my first completed block for Part 8:

And here are a few more completed blocks:

Yesterday and today I started Part 9 even though I haven't put all the blocks together yet.  Here are a few more completed blocks with the sashing and cornerstones laid out around them:

Tomorrow I will have to work on some other projects but would like to get a couple of blocks added per day and then will have to decide if I want turquoise triangles to finish it off.  I've see one that used the background colour which looked quite good too.

#quiltvillemystery #onringolakequilt

Linking to http://quiltville.blogspot.ca/2018/01/mystery-monday-link-up-part-6-7-8-9.html

Two more Sew Together Bags

I made Sew Together Bags 3 and 4.  One was for my son's partner Catherine for her birthday in mid-December. Her favourite colour is green:

And the other was for my sister's birthday in early January:

I still haven't managed to make one for myself but know that there will be one or more!

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday 5 Jan 2018

Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Mystery "On Ringo Lake" Parts 5 & 6

I have now finished all of the brown flying geese blocks for part 5:

I have added the peach triangle to these blocks to finish up part 6 and I only had to resew two that the corner of the square was chopped off:

With all this sewing, I have already emptied a spool of thread so my spool collecting jar was only empty for one day!

#quiltvillemystery #onringolakequilt

Empty Spools of Thread & Happy New Year!

Just for fun, at some point last year I started saving my empty spools of thread, just to see how many I would go through in a year.  I know I used a few more than this, but anyway, care to take a guess how many empty spools are in this jar?  Take a guess and then check the answer at the bottom of the blog:

I will dump these out and start collecting all over again for next year!

At this time, I would also like to wish everyone who has visited my blog a very Happy New Year with lots of sewing projects to come!

The answer is twenty-one, more than I guessed!

Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Mystery "On Ringo Lake" Parts 3 & 4

I  finished all my blocks for part 3 yesterday.  I found these parallelograms the most challenging block so far:

I got all the pieces for part 4 cut yesterday and sewed the blocks today:

The clues for parts 6, 7 and 8 have all come out in the last three days but most of them are for sewing parts made in the first several clues together so I don't feel I am far behind, and as Bonnie says, it's not a race....

#quiltvillemystery #onringolakequilt

Christmas Tree Table Runner

This year my son's partner Catherine's mother joined us for Christmas dinner.  I had been wanting to make a Christmas tree table runner for awhile so decided to make one for her.  I went looking for a pattern and found a tutorial by Jenny from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp6eVzKF34w)



I didn't have the wedge tool called for but cut triangles that I thought looked the right size.  I used a 9 inch strip of fabric and cut the base of the triangles 8 inches wide.  Also, instead of having half a tree at each end, I used the background fabric for these pieces and only made 12 trees.  Here is my completed runner:

I used wood grain fabric for the tree trunks and used gold metallic thread to stitch in the ditch all the seam lines and create some wavy lines on the trees themselves.  The ditch stitching went well as I used my walking foot, but the wavy lines ended up being a bit tight.  Here's a close up:

I'll try to quilt a wavy line with my walking foot next time because now I want a tree table runner for myself!  I also need to make myself a tree skirt like I made the "kids" last year.(http://allikatquilts.blogspot.ca/search/label/Tree%20Skirt)
So, now I already have Christmas sewing  projects for next year!

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.ca/2017/12/maine-socks-and-stash-organization.html