A fun day and a little sewing!

We had the honor of watching our 10-year-old grandson play his guitar and sing for the Pink Tour Benefit today. He is a fantastic guitarist and the place he recently bought a guitar asked him to be a part of the benefit. We are so proud that he was willing to perform. It was a fun day!

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I finally did a little sewing! I made a knitting project bag. I used a free pattern from AllPeopleQuilt.com and the bag is about 13" by 18". I bought the fabric at Missouri Star last month. I did a little quilting on the outside of the bag - I just HAD too!

The inside has pockets. The color of the inside is lime green.

The long handle slips through the short handle. I've heard these bags called a few different names so I'm really not sure what is correct.

I like this - I wasn't sure if I would since it doesn't securely close but I think it will be great.

FMQ Challenge 2015 - March

I am really enjoying the FMQ Challenge BUT this month I am a bad student! Instead of making a pillow, I made a table runner! I know I won't be eligible for prizes but I'm here to learn not win! 

The FMQ Challenge is hosted by QuiltShopGal and you might want to stop over there and see all the neat pillows that all the other good students made. This month's expert is Patsy Thompson who does gorgeous free motion quilting. Patsy was the expert for the December 2012 FMQ Challenge and I didn't get to do that month so I was happy to have this opportunity. 

I spent LOTS of time with pencil and paper while I sketched border designs. Then, while making some table mats/runners, I decided one was perfect to try what I was learning. You can see all 5 of my mats/runners here.

This mat is made from batiks, even the backing. The batting is Dream Poly. I used Aurifil thread to do the quilting.

The center is a small spiral with flower petals surround it. Sorry it's so hard to see. The petals are then echoed to fill the space. The inside cream 'border' is a wavy feather design that Patsy suggested. It was fun to do and I loved the way it turned out. The red 'border' is a wavy line of about a 1/2 inch scale going back and forth.

The next cream 'border' is more of the wavy feathers while the last red 'border' has more wavy lines with stones on each side.

The corners before the border each have a small 3 part feather. The outside border is a design that could be a lazy river or a tree bark.

I enjoyed the challenge this month - partly because I just happened to have the perfect project and mostly because I learned some new things.

FMQ Challenge 2015 - February

I'm not getting much time for quilting these days since our house is all torn up and we are getting new floors. It won't be much longer though or so I keep telling myself! By the end of February, the workmen will be long gone and we should be moved back.

I did get my pillow made for the FMQ Challenge though. I grabbed a few scraps and put this together. 

Leah Day was our expert for February. I was excited because I learned so much following her Free Motion Quilting Project in 2012. 

We had 3 options for quilting the pillow. 

1. Double Stippling which I learned in 2012 
2. Use a design(s) from Leah's Dancing Butterfly Quilt Along 
3. Use a design(s) from Leah's Craftsy class, Free-Motion Quilting A Sampler.

I chose option 3 and decided to use a variety of designs. First I did some Pebbling in the two outside solid strips. I really enjoyed quilting this design.

I thought the Wandering Clover was cute and pretty easy. I used this design on the two inside pieced strips.

Paisley is my favorite - I restrained myself and only used it in the middle solid strip.

I went outside my comfort zone and did Spiral Chain on both outside pieced strips. It was easier than it was the last time I tried it but I still need lots more practice!

The back of the pillow is a simple overlap with both pieces quilted in Wandering Clover.

This was a fun project and I did push myself to learn some new designs while I also enjoyed quilting an old standby.

The 2015 Free Motion Quilting Challenge is being hosted by Darlene at QuiltShopGal. You may want to hop over and check out some great pillows.

FMQ Challenge 2015 - January

The 2015 Free Motion Quilting Challenge is being hosted by Darlene at QuiltShopGal. I participated in the 2012 Challenge but then life sort of got in the way. I am excited to be doing this again! 

We are making pillows this year. For January, we have three choices of free motion quilting designs. Of course we could do all three. I chose to do the feathered heart. I don't have a lot of Valentine decor so I chose to do a red pillow. I couched white cording around the heart after I finished the quilting.

I haven't done a lot of free motion stitching lately and I NEED practice so I used red thread - I didn't want to show off my stitching too much!  

After drawing a heart, I drew a bunch of question marks to use as a stem for my feathers. I practiced on my sketch pad a few times; then I did my stitching. 

This is the first time I have actually done a feathered anything. With inspiration and the tutorial from LuAnn Kessi, it turned out pretty good. I love learning new things!