Grandmother's Fan Quilt / Hummingbird Wall Hanging

Hello,
A few posts back, I wrote about how I wanted to make a Grandmother's fan quilt.

This was me playing with layouts....and I decided to go with this one:

I added a couple of  wide plain borders with the intention of doing appliqued hummingbirds and flowers all around but it just didn't look right.

So, I thought how about some Dresdens around the border?

I spent 2 days making a stack and I didn't like how they looked either, So I have decided to leave the borders plain and will instead quilt my hummingbirds and flowers into the borders.

Of course I had spent time drawing out my hummingbirds design and rather than not use them, I started a new wall hanging.

I appliqued my design and loaded it onto my hand sewing frame.  Some nice embroidery will bring out the details.

I will make a pieced border to frame this then FMQ it.  Really enjoying the hand embroidery bit and I've managed to get two projects out of one idea.  

I'll be a while on this one as there are two more hummingbirds to embroider.

See you all next time.

Rhianon.

My New Gracie Frame

About 3 weeks ago my DH announced that he was going to buy me a frame to quilt on -  I've dreamed of owning one for quite a while now so you can imagine my excitement.
I chose the Gracie Queen frame and last weekend we got it put together.

Says in the instructions 2 - 4 hours to construct.  It took us the full four hours.

It wasn't difficult and slowly it started to look like a frame.

Almost done here.  I have a Janome 1600P sitting on the carriage   I used the printed cloth leaders from the Grace company.  The hardest part was putting the cloth leaders into the poles with the little tool they provide.  You have to use some brute force to get the piping in the slot ( holds the leader into the pole) and my hand was aching after doing 3 poles.  It was better by morning though and I'm glad I only have to do that bit once!

I loaded up a plain piece of cotton and off I went.  This is my very first try.  Of course it is so different to move the machine and not the fabric.  I felt as if I had no control but I know this will come with practice.
I've decided to do something everyday.

Day 2 and I'm trying some feathers here.  Back tracking has become difficult so I need to practice.

Day 3  Here I worked some flowers and leaves with a pebbled background.  I didn't mark the fabric for this.

Feeling that I am getting the hang of it now.  I didn't get the Stitch Regulator with my package but have decided I want one.  I have the Sure Stitch but find it a bit off putting if I have to turn the speed up or down when I am mid- flow.

Day 4 and I wanted to do more feathers.  Because I only have a 9" throat space in my machine, I was a bit worried about only having a 6 or 7" space to quilt in ( and this would become less as that space is taken up with rolled up quilt) but it is very easy just to roll the quilt back and forward to fill the space.

I was really pleased these feathers turned out as well as they did but I need to get much better at back tracking.  Of course using a contrasting thread shows everything up but that is good when you are learning.-  you can see your mistakes!

More feathers.

I've almost filled this practice piece and and excited at the thought of loading  a proper quilt in it.  Waiting for my flat headed pins to arrive and then it will be pedal to the metal.

So very happy with my new toy!

Today I'm off to an airshow in Edinburgh.but I'll be back soon with more quilty stuff.

Have a great weekend.

Rhianon.

Viking Longboat - Finished

Yes I'm back so soon, but I forgot I hadn't posted a picture of my finished viking longboat.
All I had to do was bind it and add the rigging to the mast.
Here it is:

Have a good weekend ...........
Rhianon.

Tropical Wall Hanging -finishing touches.

This week we have been having unusually hot weather in Scotland so its been a bit of a distraction.  I did try and find myself something that could be worked on while sitting outside and the finishing touches to my wall hanging were the perfect answer.

I made little flowers from Suffolk Puffs (yoyos) and sewed them around the edge.

For the flower centers I sewed  2 circles together, fringed the seam and stuffed them with a little wadding to make them 3D.

At first I made them in blue but it was not the right colour choice.

Finally decided to go with yellow.

Next I turned my attention to the gecko - he needed some more work.

I am still in the process of sewing on beads -slow work but worth it I think.

This is more or less finished now - which means I can start something new......  and I have !

Yesterday I found out I'd won a fat quarter giveaway on Karin's blog, My Love of Sewing and Quilting.
That certainly put me in a good mood.  Go and check it out and become a follower because Karin will be having more giveaways and interesting quilty stuff coming up.
She also keeps chickens and blogs about them too.  I'd love to keep chooky hens - must be so good to have fresh eggs every morning!
Anyway, that's all for now.
See you next time
Rhianon.

Tropical Wall Hanging - Part 1

Hello,
I hope you are all having a good week.  I am officially on holiday for the next fortnight - which means lots of quilting.  My favourite time of year :)
I started my first raw edge applique project.  It is so tempting to cover up those raw edges with a machine satin stitch or hand embroidery but I wanted to see what it would turn out like - so I resisted temptation!

Here I am playing with the design.  I used bondaweb to fuse my pieces to the background.

I stitched the pieces in place with a straight stitch, then free motion quilted over the top.

Wasn't sure I liked it at first, seems a bit raggy and messy but that kinda suits the palm leaves.

I love geckos - decided to give this one stripes.

I used a black Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 wadding to avoid bearding.  Been there, done that in the past and won't get caught again!
Here I am working some pebbles inter-mingled with some little leaves.

Took me 2 solid days to quilt this and I managed to sneak in some feathers!

This is the (messy) back.

It's not quite finished yet - a few embellishments to be added, which I hope to do today.

I'm not the only one inspired by lizards and geckos.  I'll leave you with a peek at a pencil drawing my daughter Natalya (15) is working on.  I thnk it's great - wonder if she'll let me 'borrow' the design?

Have a good weekend.  Back soon with more quilty stuff.
Rhianon.