Quilting on Dress Quilt

Here is the promised post on the quilting designs used on my dress quilt.

I thought a lot about what to put on this quilt.  Over the years I had tried a variety of designs, some with easy to use marking tools that rubbed off, others required scrubbing.  Nothing pleased me and so I kept placing the top back in the fabric cupboard until guilt would make me drag it out again.  This year, I'm determined to get rid of the unnecessary stress of having unfinished projects, either I hand it on or complete it.  So far, I've had a lot of success.

What made this work for me?   I took pictures of the quilt and drew designs on the printed copies.  Over and over again, I tried.

This has become my motto and I repeat it until I believe that I will succeed.

Here are the designs that got chosen.  I used a long arm machine for the feathers and then a walking foot on my domestic machine for the straight lines.  This was my first and definitely not my last attempt at quilting feathers.  To see the quilt click here.

 A simple star pattern for the nine patch.

The nine patch variation with four patch corners got a feather treatment.

The rail fence received easy up and down straight lines.   The lines were marked using painters tape which worked really well.

The friendship star also got feathers.  The thread often broke when I went over the same spot as the intersection of 5 pieces of fabric and so I learnt the hard way to move the quilting line just slightly away from that point.

I drew my signature heart on the log cabin.  I've been dotting the i in my last name with a heart for many years now.

The final block in the sampler quilt is the flying geese which had more feathers.  Seams appropriate, no?

I hope this gives you ideas for your own quilts.  I'd love to see any you are working on.

Luv pauline

Warm memories wrap me up in this quilt

Hi!

When my girls were young I used to sew them beautiful dresses. 

I was never interested in easy to create outfits.  These projects would allow me to explore my creativity and to collect fabric.  At some point I realized I had more fabric than needed.  What could I do to continue justifying my desire for more?  Take a quilting class.  

This is the result.

The majority of fabrics used in the sampler quilt are remnants from my daughters' dresses.  I was worried I wouldn't like quilting and so I used up my scraps.  Thankfully, I loved the quilting but I was terrified of wrecking it so the top remained stashed away until this spring.  I've been in a finish it or give-it-away mode this year.  

There are only two tops remaining in the to-do list, both of them Bargello in the Round quilt tops.  Then there is the Wolf Quilt and the Fred the Fish Quilt which don't count because they are still being completed.

I'll be posting the quilting I used on this top, very soon and also a fantastic way to try out your designs before actually committing to the quilting.  Stay tuned!  (for more of your favourite programming)  hehehe, couldn't resist

Luv pauline

Feather Design 1 with Variations

I started drawing Evil Cat using my daughter's very, very, very old Wacom tablet.  I've used it twice before.  Once, I followed instructions from a youtube video and created a great tree.  Next use, I figured I had all the skills and so I just went for it.  Unfortunately, a  lot of shaky blobs appeared on the screen and nothing else.  This time, I figured it couldn't be too hard to trace an image.  Turns out I don't have the skill set for that either.  However, I can draw quilting feathers with it.  I'm very excited to show you my first attempts.

Okay, let me be honest, I had fun playing with the paint bucket in photoshop which is why the above images are  coloured differently in each quadrant

More of the same but just reflecting the image through different locations.  This was very easy to do and I hope it inspires you to get designing.

Luv pauline

Advice for Sore Eyes

Lately, I've been struggling to see.  My eyes are tired and so I decided to go visit my delightful optometrist,  Dr. Kimberly Dolman at http://www.dolmaneyecare.com/our-eye-care-clinic.  She checked inside and out of my eyes and decided that this wasn't the problem.   Don't you love seeing the inside of your eyes?

She went on to discuss my health issues.  Her diagnosis: I need more sleep!  There you go family, I need you to get up and feed the animals instead of having them drag me out of bed.  To make sure I got some extra sleep I put out the hammock.

Yes, Maggie followed me onto the deck.  Her favourite cookies are beside the strawberries.

Did I get into the hammock?  Nope, too much sun so I ended up on the front porch which was in the shade but the thought is there.  Maybe, tomorrow.  Hope you get some zzzzzzzzs.

Honey-do list for me and this blog

Welcome to post #1 of Know Scents of Thyme.  Can you tell I like puns?

Good start.  Makes it look like I'm going to post something of interest.  Ha!  As per usual, when put on the spot I have nothing to say.  Now,  if this was yesterday I would have been non-stop ideas but it isn't so what was I thinking about?

I left my computer, did some much needed tidying up and then came back to make the following list.

1. Patterns in real life to be used for designing
   Evil cat is going to be my inspiration for a Zentangle design both as an ink drawing and later as a small quilt.

Evil Cat, otherwise known as Charlotte's Web.

2. Whole cloth quilt design
   The only one I've done so far was a great success.  It is being used as a seat cover on a rarely used computer desk chair.  Vivid stripes and floral prints, might not have been the best fabric choice.

3. Smiling faces in photographs
   I can't wait to share my ideas for getting great looks.  Did my comments on my whole cloth make you smile?

4. Colour inspiration
    I love these colours together.

Macro shot of peony

5. Tutorials on ?????  photography, sewing, and....?
    Darn, I just realized I don't have a watermark for Know Sense of Thyme, brb.

Anyone interested in how to create a watermark that you can add to any picture?

6. Quilt stitch inspirations
     Curved lines with beading will look fabulous.

7.  Textural juxtaposition for designing gardens
   Soft curves with sharp edged triangle appeal to my eyes.  How about you?  What shapes do you like to see next to each other?

8.  Patterns for quilting
    I am currently creating non-traditional quilts, landscapes and animals using a technique that involves machine appliqué with no raw-edges but still gives me the freedom to easily make curved lines. More on this in other blog posts.

This rabbit was foolishly hiding in my garden, yesterday morning.  Did he not realize that Maggie, my golden retriever, was out and about?  I was lucky to get this photo.  A few seconds later Maggie chased the rabbit away and got some much needed exercise.  Maybe, a rabbit will appear in my next quilt.  Right after the wolf, the fish, the flags, the.....Well you get the idea, lots of thoughts not so much activity.

Until the next time, bee creative.
Luv pauline