Breakfast at Tiffanys - a lap quilt.

Hello quilty people
I've been working on a new quilt this week.  Its an unplanned project that started with a Moda charm pack called "Breakfast at Tiffanys".  I only had one pack that was gifted to me by a friend.
I started with a disappearing 9 patch center and took it from there.

 I'm using bondaweb to do my applique.....

 Prairie points in the corners ?  Yes, why not!

 Big open spaces for quilting ?  Yes definitely!!

 For the first time I'm using a blanket stitch on my machine (Janome XL 601) and I really like how it turned out.
Usually I use a close together zig zag stitch.

 The variegated Gutermanns give a nice effect,

 Adding borders.....

 For the background fill I'm doing (or trying to do) a McTavishing with pebbles.

 There's a bit of fullness going on in the center here - I knew I shouldn't have trusted pre cut fabric but I will just have to deal with it as best I can.  Its all good experience for me.

So that is the story so far.  Hoping to get this finished next week - fingers crossed :)

Thanks for visiting.

Rhianon.

Friendship Star Baby Quilt

Hello
Hope you have all been having a good week.  I've had a great week.
I finally got my big Janome back on the frame and couldn't wait to get started on something.
Luckily I had this little Friendship star top all ready to go.

It's quite small as it is for a baby and measures 31" x 37". I used one layer of Soft and Bright wadding.

In the outer borders, I worked a freehand flowery design with echoes.

 I kept the stars lightly quilted and filled in the background with McTavishing.  I've always found McTavishing a bit tricky but it is easier to do on the frame than FMQ it and I guess it just takes practice!  To my absolute delight, Karen left me a lovely comment when I posted a photo on Facebook.  I cannot tell you how much that made my day.  Thank you Karen.

 Little half feathers in this border.  I only used 3 colours of thread - cream, lemon and pink.

                                                                McTavishing done!

                                                            Back view of flower filler.

   All done and I'm pleased I've managed to make a quilt with no feathers ( I'm not counting half feathers ) - probably a first for me!

              I am going to use either pink or yellow for the binding.

Before I go, thought I'd share some good news with you.  Here in the UK, its the National Quilt Championships at Sandown in Esher.  I entered this show for the first time and am delighted that both my quilts won ribbons.

Gecko quilt came 2nd in the Bed quilt category.......

....... and my Owl baby quilt came 3rd in Cot quilts.
I am so thrilled!!
Til next time
Happy sewing
Rhianon.

Place Mats and a Lap Quilt

This week I've been working a custom order for place mats - 6 of them - all the same.
Customer said she didn't mind what I did just as long as there was some red in them.
Here they are:

I kept the colours quite muted and used these gorgeous fabrics:  They are called Chicken and Egg from the Henley studio.   Beautiful quality fabrics.

I foundation pieced the main block......

.....then free motion quilted them on the table top and finished them off with a dotty taupe binding.

They measure 12" x 15" .

Next up is a little lap quilt I made for my father in law. It is Father's Day here in the UK tomorrow so this will do perfectly.  I find it quite difficult to choose fabric for a man's quilt and I didn't really have much in my stash. I used a Bonnie hunter pattern called Dancing Nine Patch.  It's free on her website.

I put my sewing machine back on the carriage and quilted this one on my frame.  I had been doing a few projects on the table top and was missing playing on the frame so it was good to get back to it.  Pretty please with how this turned out.

I kept the quilting plain and simple and only used one colour of thread - a nice dark tan.

Back of the quilt....

Next week I will be quilting another baby quilt and I have started a new quilt - well I have to keep up my supply of UFO's don't I ?

Thanks for visiting today.

Happy Sewing

Rhianon.

A Special Keepsake

Hi everyone

I've been working hard on a couple of commissions lately.  This is one of them.
My sister in law asked me to make a wall hanging to celebrate a silver wedding anniversary for a cousin.  I didn't have much time so decided to do a little applique and fancy quilting rather than something pieced.
I forgot to measure it but it turned out roughly 14" x 24",

I hand embroidered the lettering using stranded cottons (floss).

3D tartan flowers with appliqued leaves in the corners. I used one layer of Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 and free motion quilted it on the table top.

I made a little video of me doing the quilting.  All was going well until my bobbin thread ran out.  Here it is:

Ann and George love their hanging so that is always good to hear.
Here's a  sneaky peek of the other custom order I'm working on.  It is for 6 identical place mats
The fabrics are gorgeous - Chicken and Egg from the Henley Studio. Beautiful quality.  I'll show you them in my next post..

Before I go, can I just say thank you if you voted for me in the Bloggers Quilt Festival and thank you if you left a comment - sorry that I didn't have time to reply to you all individually but I seem to be pushed more and more for time these days.   I didn't win but it was a lot of fun and very inspiring to see all the beautiful work.  You can see all the winners  here.

Thanks for visiting.

Rhainon.