Appliqued Butterfly Cushions.

Over the last couple of weeks I've been working on these commissioned cushions.
An appliqued butterfly with 3D flowers please.
I love these type of projects.

 I used a batik as the background and for the butterfly I used hand dyed fabrics that I get from a lovely lady at the Edinburgh quilt show.

I used a blanket stitch on my little Janome 601 to do the applique

This one has half square triangle borders....

.. and this one has plain borders.  I free motion quilted both of them on the table top.

Next I made some 3D leaves and sewed them in position.

 These are the 3D flowers, handmade.  Click here for my tutorial for these flowers.
I think they add a nice touch to these decorative cushions.

 Of course feathers had to be featured somewhere! Well everywhere actually :)

 Both cushions measure 20" square finished.

                            
I really enjoyed making these but now it is almost time for Bonnie's mystery quilt.
Next week.........
Thanks for visiting today.
Rhianon.

Patches and Pinwheels Quilt

 Way back in February of this year I decided I wanted a vintage sewing machine so I bought one from Ebay.

Its an old Jones, 1929 and is called The Royal Ruby.

Isn't she lovely?  After some initial problems with the tension, my clever husband got it sewing beautifully.  I find it very relaxing cranking that handle.

Of course I had to make a quilt on it..........

I was very kindly given a lot of batik scraps which I couldn't wait to use.   Where do you go when you want to make a scrappy quilt ?   Bonnie Hunter's website of course, www.quiltville.com
She has lots of free patterns and Bonnie is the Queen of scrap quilts.

This one is Patches and Pinwheels.

I used scrappy neutrals as a contrast to the batiks.

Here I am playing around with borders.

I made a stack of batik string blocks but decided not to use them.
So, onto the frame now......

I had a bit of a break from sewing over the summer so this was my first quilt on the frame for around 3 months.  For anyone who doesn't know, my set up is a Janome 1600P on a queen sized Gracie frame.

Borders.....

It was quite a slog finishing this one with all the small feathers but I got there in the end.

Now it is waiting to be trimmed and bound.

I'll be doing Bonnie's Grand Illusion mystery quilt this year but I am doing it half the size.  I don't often make other quilters designs but I love the way Bonnie constructs a quilt and she is a master piecer. If you'd like to improve your piecing skills, then do a Bonnie quilt.  She makes it easy and fun!  I'll be posting here regularly and joining in with Bonnie's linky parties.
I'm working on a couple of cushions just now and will get them finished before the start date.  Might even get Luna's quilt finished!!

This just happens to be another Bonnie design - Blue Ridge Beauty from her Adventures with Leaders and Enders book.
Off to sew for the day now.
Have a great weekend. See you next time
Rhianon.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Hi everyone.
I was very happy to find out that my Owl Baby quilt won 1st place in the Bloggers Quilt Festival, superbly organised by Amy from Amy's Creative Side.  It was in the home machine quilted category.

                                             

Thank you to everyone who voted.  The standard of entries was very high and I feel very happy to have won.
Congratulations to all the winners and if you would like to see the full list, click here.
Here's looking forward to the next one in spring!

Thanks for visiting.  Back soon with more quilty stuff.
Rhianon.