Gecko Fabulous! - A Wall Hanging

When I was doing my quilt group's bag challenge - I knew that I wanted to do something else with the little geckos.  this is what I came up with........

Click on the photos for a close up view.

I machine stitched the leaves with just a line of stitching down the center - I wanted them to lift up at the edges.

This time I added a few beads to the back of the gecko.

The photograph below was taken under my sewing light - we have not seen sunshine for days, which is really frustrating when you want to take good shots.

I really like the postage stamp border on this piece -  it was simple, fun to do and easy to quilt.

So that is my finish for the week.

Linking up with  : 

Color Me Quilty in the hope I can win some gorgeous sparkly threads.

Wishing you all a great weekend.  See you all next time.

Rhianon.

I prepared this post last night and low and behold this morning we have brilliant sunshine - so here's a few extra shots.

What a difference the sun makes!

Work in progress........McTavishing

I love it when one project leads onto another - all totally unplanned of course.
This is what happened here.

I picked out some batiks and cut them into 11/2" strips to make a 1" postage stamp border.

Next, I sewed these around a piece of hand dyed (not by me) cotton.

This was my first attempt at McTavishing quilting.  I love how it turned out and will definitely be using this pattern again.

This is the back....

.....

Next I quilted a simple pattern over the postage stamps - I wanted them to look like mosiac tiles.

After adding some gold coloured binding, it's ready for the next stage....
I hope to get it finished today so I'll be back soon to show you the rest of it.
Enjoy your day.
Rhianon.

Linking to Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday - lots and lots of links to look at !

I won an award !

Hello everyone.

I woke up this  morning and discovered that I have been awarded a Sunshine Award for my blog.

                                                    

I have to thank Kay Bell, The Borderline Quilter for the nomination.
Kay is a super talented, award winning long arm quilter so head on over to her blog to see her work.

I have seen on a few blogs that some quilters do not like awards, but for me, I am delighted, thrilled, over the moon, honoured and just down right chuffed that someone thinks enough of my work to nominate ME!
Thank you Kay.

As part of the nomination I have to tell you something about myself.  I've been a quilter for over 12 years.
I have been free motion quilting for just over a year now and am so happy because I finally feel like more well rounded quilter who can tackle anything! The last 12 years have been spent learning my craft.  I love all aspects of quilting , from piecing to the quilting itself.
I will forever be a quilter!

Now I have to nominate a few people who I think deserves an award. 
I hope you will all accept because you all do fantastic work and have great blogs!

1 :   Ginny, The Brooklyn Quilter  - A great quilter who I think deserves to have more followers!

2:   Edit ,http://editfoltmuhelye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/masodik-nekifutasra.html  - a lovely lady who has been on a free motion quilting journey with me as we have both been doing the Free Motion Quilting Challenge.

3: Deborah , from A Pilgrim's Quilts - a great quilter with a great blog.

4 : Julie from My Quilt Diary - talented quilter whose blog I always enjoy.

5:  Connie from Quilting by the River.  I love going to visit Connie's blog - she always has interesting work going on.

When you get your award - all you have to do is :
create a post with the following details:

Thank the person who nominated you for this Sunshine Award and link them back.
Then tell something about yourself.
Spread the joy by nominating your fellow bloggers and friends, its a way of appreciation.
Lastly but most important tell the bloggers about their nomination.
So those are my nominees, I hope you will enjoy going to visit.
See you all next time.
Rhianon.

Bag Challenge - finished!

I finished my bag last night -took me all day and I thought I'd get it done in a couple of hours!

Actually I decided not to use the leaves you saw in my last post , I felt this bag needed bigger leaves and I was so glad I made new ones.  It was really tough sewing everything onto the bag because the hessian had a coating on the back - I had to use a thimble on both hands.

I started by hand stitching the leaves and flowers down. 

Last to go on was the gecko.....

I'm pretty pleased with how he turned out.

Looks more or less like the picture I had in my head although I think it needs just one more flower in the center.  Thats becasue I moved the position of the gecko and now there is a green space in the middle of the bag.   Should I put another flower on ?  I can't decide.

Enjoy your day !
Rhianon.

Just had a nano -second of sunshine there so managed to get a well lit photo.

Last one:

Work in Progress - Little Gecko

Hello everyone.

Hope you have had a good week.  I've not had much time for my own sewing but I did manage to start a challenge we were given at quilt group on monday.

We were handed these bags.....

........ and our challenge is to decorate them in any way we wish.
Using some of the 3D techniques I've been playing about with, I decided to do a 3D gecko.
I took my inspiration from these little clay ones that my brother brought back from Cancun, Mexico.

After I had a drawing I was happy with, I made a template of the gecko and transfered it onto fabric.

I used one layer of wadding and a piece of backing fabric, then machine quilted patterns on the gecko's body.

When that was complete, I added another layer of wadding and a piece of fabric in gecko colour to the back. 

Going slowly, I then sewed a small close together zig zag stitch all around the edge.  It was quite tricky going round his feet. Once done, I very carefully cut him out, going as close to the stitching as possible.

At this point I decided he was a little flat so I slit open his belly and stuffed with some spare wadding.

That's better....

He's a bit plumper now.
I am going to sit him on a bed of leaves which are made in exactly the same way.

That is as far as I've got at the moment but I have a clear day ahead of me so hope to have him finished later.

Next time you see him, he will be on the bag........
Going to get sewing now ...........

Rhianon.

Easy Scrappy Table Runner Tutorial

Make this colourful scrappy table runner in a day.

From your stash of scraps make a crazy patchwork square.
Start with a 5 sided small piece of fabric and working clockwise, add strings of any thickness to each side, pressing as you go, until you have a piece big enough to cut out a square measuring 8"

To your trimmed up square - add a strip measuring 2" x 8" to each side.
Then add a strip measuring  2" x 12" to the top and bottom.

Next cut 14 strips measuring 2" x 5" from different coloured scraps of fabric.
Sew 6 together and sew to one side.  Do the same for the other side.

Make up your quilt sandwich and quilt as desired.  I did simple stippling in the center and outer edges and some feathery leaves around the center square - you can do whatever takes your fancy.

Now bind your runner in the usual way.  If you don't know how to bind a quilt with mitred corners, then click here to watch a very helpful video.

Et voila!  Your table runner is complete.  It measures 21" x 12" finished.

See you all next time.
Rhianon.

Fantasy Flowers Finished !

As promised I worked hard and got my flower project completed.

I know it's completely over the top but it is an experimental piece and I was enjoying playing around with the fabrics.

I used a variety of buttons and beads for the flowers.

Don't forget you can click on the photos for even bigger close ups.

I 'borrowed' the fuzzy ball centers of the peachy flowers from my daughters Easter bonnet craft kit.

Couldn't resist adding this cute little ladybird button:

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out and I think some elements of this could be used in the making of a bed quilt.  I already have some ideas in my head.

The surprising thing about this is how much it weighs - it's pretty heavy!

I hope you enjoyed my post today and I'd love for you to leave me a comment.

I have disabled word verification on my blog as I know it puts me off leaving comments on others - only becasue I can hardly read the words. Sometimes they are so distorted - drives me nuts!

Linking up with Color Me Quilty.

Have a relaxing weekend - I hope it is filled with lots of sewing!

See you next time.

Rhianon.