feathers
Showing posts with label feathers. Show all posts
I wish all Mondays were like this one
because look what arrived first thing this morning!!
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| even the baby couldn't keep her hands off them |
I adore this mix of gorgeous colours, they are beautiful. This is my incredible prize from the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side. Huge thanks to Amy and the amazing Aurifil for this wonderful prize! Thank you!
Again I would like to say thank you to all my wonderful Bee mates who helped me win by making such beautiful feather blocks for the quilt! I should really send you all some of this thread but... urm... I'm not going to. I'm going to be selfish. I don't do that often so forgive me. Also two Bees were involved and that would mean cutting the spools in half and I'm just not willing to do that ;)
Isn't it funny that I bound the Bees of a Feather quilt using an Alison Glass Feathers print? Serendipity.
divide and order - le challenge
This month's theme at le challenge was order. Something that we need lots of around here! I chose to use Noodleheads fabulous Divided Basket pattern to make a basket for all my rose star fabrics and papers (see an update on the quilt here).
For the main part of the basket I used Cactus Calico in Fiesta, Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt; the pocket is Wallflower in Piney Woods, Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt and the binding is Feathers in Grass, Sun Print by Alison Glass; the lining is Dotty curtain fabric in lime and the handles are cotton webbing.
It goes rather nicely with the thread catcher fabric basket I made last month!
So now everything's in order and I can get on with getting the quilt finished. I will try not to make another basket for next months link though I really could use these cute baskets in every room!
Head over to le challenge to see what everyone else made and link up your 'order' projects (anything you've made this month that fits that theme). The new theme will be announced tomorrow.
Bees of a Feather quilt and a GIVEAWAY!
**The giveaway is now closed**
Ta Dah!
Here is my Bees of a Feather quilt:
Ok these are clearly not the grand reveal photos I was hoping for. No that's my 6' tall husband standing on a ladder after it totally poured with rain and was rather windy!
I did get some pictures earlier in the week before I washed the quilt. I snuck into my neighbours garden and threw it over their big fence and then their slightly worse for the weather shed!
The quilt measures approximately 85 x 100" and is VERY hard to take a nice picture of in winter, in the wet, in my little suburban house with a rubbish camera. So forgive me and I hope you gain some sense of its magnificence!
The feather block is from this Anna Maria Horner pattern.
This quilt would simply not exist without the help of two very wonderful groups of ladies. My Scrappy? Sew Bee It! bee made me the first round of feathers back in October 2012 and then the Bee A Brit Stingy crew made me another set in January 2013. They did a fantastic job and I love having a quilt made by friends that have taught me so much and really inspired me.
Thank you to Annika, Carla, Catherine, Charlotte, Christiane, Collette, Deborah, Debra, Di, Emily, Erin,
Helen, Jan, Janet, Janine, Jeanne, Jess, Jodi, Karen, Lisa, May, Nicky (twice!), Rosa, Sana and Sheila for making the feather blocks and making it such a special quilt. Honorary thanks to Helen for her always excellent advice.
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| there's another row on the other side of the fence! |
I had a lot of fun piecing the feathers, though at times it was like a puzzle. I added some low volume prints here and there to make the rows the same size.
The back was done 'jelly roll race' style with wide strips of prints I love that I cut from stash. A couple of these prints were given to me by other friends so it's nice to include them.
Thankfully I was able to use the fusible wadding to baste the quilt, I wouldn't have enough pins and just couldn't face anything else! It worked like a dream, has been through the wash and is lovely and crinkly soft. I would definitely use it again and for those that hate basting you should give it a go.
I hand quilted with Aurifil 12wt cotton in 4241 for the stems and 2214 (a gorgeous deep golden colour) around the feathers. I used a milliners needle and had no problem hand quilting the fusible wadding with the thicker thread.
Since the weather is still miserable and cold this will keep us snug on top of the duvet and brighten up our bedroom. Another check off my FAL list :)
**GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED**
Now for the giveaway!
My sponsor Minerva Crafts are kindly offering one reader the chance to win your choice of four fat quarters of The Design Studio Collection by Camelot Fabrics. These are really beautiful prints and you get to pick any four!
If you are No Reply or unsure then please leave your email address in the comment so I can contact you.
Good luck, I'm off to work on another quilt that's been in progress for the last 2 years!
Linking up to TGIFF at Amy's Crafty Shenanigans this week and finish it up friday at Crazy Mom Quilts
happy dancing
There's been some happy dancing going on, partly because I've done a little productive sewing on projects I REALLY love and some secret sewing but here's what I can show you...
First up I have finally got the binding sewn on my feather quilt so just an epic amount of hand stitching it down and then I'll be able to show you the finish. I can tell you that the fusible wadding was amazing and I will definitely order more - it was still stuck while I sewed the binding and it's been through a lot since I have hand quilted it, constantly thrown it around and dragged it about! I can still feel a little stiffness so I will let you know what happens to that when I wash it. I'm madly in love with the Sun Print feathers I'm using for the binding (available here and here):
And after the initial hiccup of tracing the pattern the wrong way I've done some more needle turn applique. Now I will probably gasp in horror when I look at it in the future (you know when I've been doing it for the next thirty years) but for a first try I'm pretty happy with it and I had a lot of curves to do with those first pink/purple flowers. I am so thrilled I found Jan Patek's tutorials on YouTube, she explains things really well and is so entertaining - I've watched some of them a few times!
So a bit more to do on this one and then a couple more applique blocks to add to the butterfly quilt for my eldest daughter. I've had amazing butterfly blocks from my Bee A Brit Stingy mates and I will show you them all together when I get a chance.
Finally I did a happy dance tonight when I placed an order at the Fat Quarter Shop, they've got 30% off international shipping, so hurry and place your order it ends on the 6th. They've also got Bella Solids on sale (precuts, yardage and 108" wide - perfect for backings!) and 20% off the binding tool - one of my favourite notions! No codes required for discounts, they are applied automatically. So go shop and join the happy dancing!
owl love you
Welcome to my round of TGIFF, if you're new here please stay and have a look around!
I'm also linking up to Quilt Story:
My finish is one of the most special quilts I've made - in a way each one is special - but this is extraordinary for a number of reasons...
I'm also linking up to Quilt Story:
My finish is one of the most special quilts I've made - in a way each one is special - but this is extraordinary for a number of reasons...
Primarily because this quilt is for my sister and her husband - they are getting married today!!
It is also my first collaboration. The top was pieced by me, sent to my amazing cousin Jackie in California, who made the back and long arm quilted it. She sent it back to me and I bound it.
I was so pleased when I finished the owl, it is the Hootenanny pattern from the book 'Dare To Be Square' by Boo Davis. The fabrics in the owl are all from My Fabric House - they do seriously cute bundles!
The eagle eyed amongst you might have spotted an error though...
OH NO!! The owl is missing part of it's claw! I pieced a section of the blocks upside down and only realised when I had already put the quilt top in the post to Jackie. DUH!
Thankfully she is that awesome that she fixed it. phew.
Here is the 'Owl Love You' quilt:
Yes Jackie is totally awesome... look at the 'back' she made:
beautiful, traditional wedding rings.
She quilted such fabulous patterns that really show off the owl but also work amazingly well on the rings too:
The icing on the quilt, the newly weds names and date of their wedding:
If you want to see more of Jackie's long arm skills, or would like to contact her about her long arm service or custom quilting please see her Facebook page - Bar XX Quilting
Here it is draped over our double bed so you get an idea of the size and scale of it, sorry the room isn't even big enough for me to get proper shots:
I adore every part of this quilt and know that Jackie and I have poured love into it.
I am so proud to have Chris be my brother-in-law and (official) Uncle to my children.
I hope the quilt will be a wonderful reminder of their special day, how much their family love them, and help keep them warm throughout their happy marriage.
My baby sister is a 'Mrs'!!
This was the quilt I have been calling the May quilt and it is another check off my FAL list:
So now it's your turn...
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