Nearly there...........

Quilting on the butterfly quilt is coming on at a cracking pace this week.  I've really been working hard and it's paying off.

Click on the photo for a close up view.

This is the back.

After working all those pebbles it was a nice change to move onto the flowers.  These were the only part of the quilt top that I marked before stitching. Everything else is freehand.

I worked a swirly circle pattern on the rainbow border, changing my thread according to the colours. I used Guterman Sulky varigated threads.

I still have to go back and do some more work on the butterflies and also on the churn dash blocks but it is not far from being finished now.  I even have the binding all made and ready to go!

This is how it's looking on my bed ... I'm loving how this one is turning out - pity it doesn't match the decor in my room!

Off to do the food shop now then back to my workroom.
See you all next time.
Rhianon.

Kaylee's Owl Cushion

Over the weekend I found time to make this cushion for a little 3 year old girl who is fighting ( and winning !) cancer.   She is the great grandaughter of my friend Miriam who lives in America.

It all started with this fabric, which Miriam had sent me quite a while ago...

Cute eh?

I drew my version onto card and used this to work the applique from.

Then I added Kaylee's name, a few borders and it was tme to quilt.

I kept the quilting simple - a bit of stippling behind the owl and stitching in the ditch with invisible thread.

For the back I used this cute lime green owl fabric - I love purples and greens together.

A little ruffled edging finishes the cushion nicely and it is all ready to be posted.

Today I'm linking up with Connie's excellent blog, Quilting by the River for her linky party. 
Back to quilting the butterfly quilt for me today - nearly at the outer border!!!!
See you all again soon.
Rhianon.

A Fishy Throw - Part 1

Sometimes it's nice to sew without having to think too much and string blocks fit the bill exactly.
 I decided to make a colourful throw using the string blocks as the center piece.    I cut up all my batik scraps to make the blocks however, I wanted something to break up the strings.

I decided on a few fishies and a couple of seahorses.

I machine appliqued the shapes then set about pimping them up a bit!

This is what I used next - transfer foils which I got at the last quilt show.
I'd never used these before but they were easy to use and I loved the effect.

I cut out slithers of bondaweb and ironed them onto the design.

 Simply peel the paper off the bondaweb and lay the foil (shiney side up ) over the area to be jazzed up.

Cover with a piece of baking parchment and press with a hot iron.

When you pull the foil back, some of it will be transfered onto your design.

Before I appliqued the fish/seahorses, I added a layer of wadding to the back first.

I didn't do much quilting on these fish but added a little more detail to the seahorses....

After I finished the sewing, I turned the blocks over and trimmed away the excess wadding.....

This will give the fish and seahorses a raised look (trapunto) when I come to quilt them.

So these are my blocks all finished and ready to be sewn into the quilt.
I will show you more progress soon I hope!

I've also been quilting the butterfly quilt and I'm pleased with the progress I'm making.  Shouldn't be long until that's finished.

Rhianon.

More Quilting !

Hi everyone

I've spent the week quilting the butterfly quilt.

This is by far the largest quilt I have machine quilted.

I'm working pebbles in the turquoise border and a small stippling in the churn dash blocks.  In this photo they still have to be worked in the center.

So far I am up to the second turquoise border.

I don't know if i will be doing much on this today as I have a very sore back - must've pulled a muscle and didn't sleep much last night because of it.

I have started another project using up leftovers.  I will show it to you soon. In fact I might work on that today as it is much smaller.

Have a good weekend .

Rhianon.

PS today I'm linking up with Sarah from Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Head over to her blog - she has a beautiful, colourful Jacobs Ladder quilt today.  enjoy.

A Little Catch Up

Hello there.

I hope you have all been having a good week.
First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who voted for my Geckos in last weeks Quilting Bloggers competition.

To my delight, I won!  My prize is a set of 4 patterns from JoJo's Quilt Shoppe .  I cannot wait to receive them.
Also the same quilt made it into the final selections for Bloggers Quilt Festival - amazed at this as there were over 600 entries - a lot of beautiful quilts!  So thank you everyone who voted for my work!

Ok, so what have I been up to this week?  Well I've been working ( or should I say wrestling) with the butterfly quilt.

Not easy tryng to squish a quilt of that size through a 6" throat space but I am getting there.

I started by outlining the butterflies and stippling the blue background with a very light lilac thread which has a high sheen to it.

For the center of the sunflowers, I worked tiny pebbles in brown to give the effect I wanted.

For the leaves, I quilted some veins using a varigated thread.

I'm pleased to have the bulk of the center quilted now although I still have to go back and work into the butterflies.

In the next border I decided to quilt pebbles becasue I love the effect......

So this is it so far.......

I confess I have started another quilt/ throw.  I needed a mindless little project to do in between quilting this so I've been having some fun making string blocks.   I also have a pile of multi coloured squares left over from the rainbow border of the butterfly quilt so  I had to do something with them now didn't I ?
I'll show pictures in tmy next post.

Til next time
Happy Stitching
Rhianon.