KEEPING ON SEWING

I'm keeping on sewing in the camper.  Actually, while living in a camper, you don't have a lot of cleaning to do, no yard work, etc.  so there is more time to sew!  I have made a few little quilts that I plan to use on the back of our dining room chairs (6 of them).  I made this top using the left-over black fabric from my basket quilt and various shirtings.  I used only 2 squares from each shirting and a different one for the inner border.  I really love the black and wanted to use it in something else.  The squares finish at 1".

Here's another one that I showed you before and now it is quilted, but not bound.

I quilted a one sided feather in the border.  I love the hooked feathers and used them for this.  I used a dark grey thread that I am using for my basket quilt.

I'm quilting free motion hooked feathers for the basket quilt border without marking any lines.  First I go up on the right side, then sew a line back down to the bottom and then do the feathers going up on the left side.  I'm doing each side like that and I'm on the second side now.  I'm too lazy I guess to mark anything and since the scallops make it easy to make the feather spine curve, it works for me.

The dark grey thread doesn't really show up very well

Quilting from the back

I like to throw in a curly que feather every once in a while, or a fern looking one.  Sorry the pictures are kind of dark - It was early when I took them.

Soon I will be deciding on the name for my basket quilt.  I have received several good suggestions, so I'll pick one of them and let you know when I do.

Happy sewing this week!

DECEMBER FMQ CHALLENGE

The last lesson in the FMQ challenge is by Patsy Thompson and it is on borders.  This is a really helpful lesson and the video is so good!  We had to practice 5 different borders on a whole cloth.  Below is my practice piece.  Each border  (which are kind of hard to see - sorry) is different and the first 2 from the middle out, are only 1/2" wide.  Then there are 2 one inch borders and the final feather border is 2".

Luckily, I had a quilt ready and it has 3 borders, so it was perfect to use some of the ideas for it.  The yellow and brown borders are each 1 1/2" wide and the final wide border is 4 1/2" wide.  Patsy's video covered the instructions on how to do a feathered border.  She is such a good teacher and it was pretty easy to do.

This picture shows the borders from a different angle as well as some of the blocks.  The center blocks are done in an overall pattern.

Here is a view of the overall pattern on the back.

Another view of the back.

This view of the front shows the yellow border a little better.  I used a variegated thread for the yellow and final border.  The rest of the quilting was done with Essential Pro in Cocoa.  I used Essential Pro Natural on the bottom.  I still have the long sides to quilt and when it is all quilted and bound I will take a picture of the whole quilt.

I am lacking two months of the challenge and I have decided not to make them up due to lack of time.  I do want to thank SewCalGal for hosting the challenge, and all the quilting experts that shared their expertise with us.  It has been a huge help to me.

OCTOBER FMQ CHALLENGE AND MOUNTAIN TRAIL

SewCalGal has been hosting a Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) challenge all year, so I am submitting October's entries.  Teri Lucas is the quilting expert for this month and she gave a lesson with lots of ideas.  You can find out more about Teri and the challenge by clicking on the SewCalGal link.

My first practice piece was done on muslin with wool batting.  I used a few different threads:  the dark red was Essential Pro Turkey Red 70/3 that I got from Connecting Threads;  the yellow is Isacord 40; the variegated orange/green/yellow is Signature size 40 cotton; and variegated blue is Gutermann 100% cotton 50.  I used Essential Pro in the bobbin.

For my second and final piece, I used some shiny grey fabric (don't know what it is - some kind of satin?) and the yellow Isacord thread.  I like the way the yellow shows up on the grey and I really enjoyed quilting the nautilus shells and the pebbles - it was fun!  Thanks for all the pointers, Teri!

Next, I just finished my QAL from Lori:  Mountain Trail reproduction quilt.  At first, I was thinking about hand quilting it (very briefly), but then I thought that I would like to have feathers in the rows and hand quilting them would take a lot of time (which I don't have), so I machine quilted it yesterday with feathers in the rows and in the 2 borders, I quilted a Swirl Scroll from Angela Walters book, Free -Motion Quilting.  I also used that border in a table runner that I made and found that it is quite easy.

close-up of quilted feathers

close-up of swirl scroll border

View of fabric and quilting on back.  The fabric is Jo Morton fabric that I had left from my Jo's Little Women class last year.

It's hanging in my front hall above my desk.

Do any of you have this pattern or know where to get it?  Barb is looking for it and can't find it anywhere.  If you know where to get it, please contact Barb through her blog.

Some of my storage shelves came down in my guest room, so that bed is piled with linens, fabrics, items I have bought for gifts, etc. etc.  What a mess!  Hopefully, DH can get it fixed soon.  He is at the hardware store right now.  

QUILTING PROGRESS

After 6 days of practicing Free Motion Quilting, you can see some of my progress on this wall hanging.  The second picture of the back shows it best.  I am feeling a lot more confident doing feathers.

I did feathers around the center oval of the wall hanging and stippling in the middle.

This is my latest project from the Jo Morton's Little Women class at Lone Star House of Quilts in Arlington, TX.  I am almost finished binding it.

I turned the corner back so you could see what's on the back.  I love that fabric!

Saturday I am going to "Love's" home for a visit.  Her blog is here.  Jennifer, from Purple Heart OriJennals will be there too.  I'm sure it will be a fun time.