Feathers, bags and more feathers!

Hi everyone

It been a busy week here, getting quite a few little pieces finished.
First off, an order for a couple of bags and my first excuse to do some feathers :

                                                                                and.....

                                                                        this... became...

                                                                           these!

Next up I finished this Kindle cover - it has feathers quilted all over but they are hard to see.

In between this I have pieced together two bed runners for twin 6 year old boys.  I will be quilting them next week so photos soon.
Yesterday I started making a couple of ipad covers - just yet another excuse for some FMQ.

This was the first one - done on some pretty fabric with dragonflies on it.  I used a 4oz polyester wadding for a nice puffy effect.

This is the second one.  I really went to town and played with different threads.  Gutermann varigated Sulky and Wonderfil metallic threads which if I'l honest are a pain to work with but worth the effect.

The fabric I used for this was hand dyed by a lady who comes to our quilt show every year.  Her stall is called Images of Egypt but unfortunately she does not have a website.  I LOVE her fabrics!!

I used Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 wadding for this one.

So that's what I've been up to this week.
I'm planning  to get these covers made up today then onto other projects.
Hope you all have a lovely Easter.
Rhianon.

Snow Dyed Quilt - Part 2

I got the little quilt finished.  Here it is:

It measures 42" x 47" and unfortunately the light was not at its best the day I took this photo.

I finished doing all the pebbling in the background.....

..... but then to my horror, I discovered you could see the turquoise border through the red butterflies.
Doesn't show up too well in this photo but believe me you could see them.
I had to think of a solution fast.  This is what I came up with:

3 dimensional butterflies !

They were quite easy to make - just used my template cut a bit smaller, to draw around on a piece of folded fabric, right sides together.  After sewing, cut a hole in the back and turn right side out.  They are free motion quilted into position and will NEVER come off!

I finished them off with a crocheted body using funky fur yarn.

We had a bit of brightness this day and the light shows up the true colours of the quilt.

Back to the dull shots now, but they do show up the quilting nicely. BTW, the quilting was done freehand on a Janome 1600 which is not on a frame.

Enjoy the weekend.

Rhianon. :)

Snow Dyed Quilt - Part 1

Last week, after a heavy snowfall I tried snow dyeing some fabrics for the first time.

This is how they turned out.  Walking past them, I thought all the colours looked good together and I couldn't resist doing something with them.  Hadn't planned to start a new quilt, didn't have time to start a new quilt but sometimes you just have to go with the flow!

My original plan was to do pinwheels in the center but I didn't like how they looked so opted for a more random look.

Here I'm making the outer border and trying out the butterfly templates I made.

This was my final placement of the butterflies.

Now for the really fun bit - the quilting!!

FMQ'd on my domestic machine, I worked this loopy clamshell pattern in the center.

It is nearly finished now, just sewing the binding on.  I'll be back to show you the end result soon. 

Oh and its snowing today and I just happened to order new dyes yesterday.

I feel another 'accidental' quilt coming on already!

Enjoy your day :)

Rhianon.

Tortoise Cushion

I have another finish to show you today - the second custom ordered cushion.

                                                     This time I went with a tortoise theme.

After I'd found this cute nursery Noah's Ark fabric, I decided to recreate the tortoise -this is my drawing.

I used my favourite method of applique - bondaweb followed by machine stitching.......

.........added the lettering and a couple of borders and it was ready to quilt.

After quilting, I thought the center block looked a little bare so I added some flowers.

The flowers were ready made, crocheted in cotton and I embroidered the stems with stranded cottons.

Here it is with the ruffle sewn down and just awaiting it's soft fleece backing.

Finished!

Hope you have all had a great weekend celebrating International Quilting Day.

Be back soon with more quilty stuff!

Rhianon.

Quilted Bags

I had a bit of a bag making frenzy last week, thanks to Jenny Doan from the Missourri Star Quilt Co.
I watched Jenny's video and thought it would be great to make one for my Mum for Mother's day.

I've used all batiks for my bags - the blue ones were a Tonga Treats (Coastal) charm pack from The Fat Quarter Shop in the US and the reds were a charm pack I was gifted from Crafts and Quilts here in the UK.

This bag used 12 charms and the bigger one used 24.

I used a spare piece of the handles to make a tab for closing it.  A simple press stud fastener cover by a Suffolk puff just finishes it off nicely I think.

Couldn't resist working some feathers....

These bags have got to be the easiest pattern I've ever done.  If you'd like to make one, you can find Jenny's tutorial here.

I tried my hand at some snow dying this week, it was fun and I'll show you the results in my next post.

Til then

Happy Stitchin'

Rhianon.