3D Flowers -

Just a short post today to let you see a little bit of the flowers which are now ready to be sewn onto the background piece.

I have made 3 different kinds of flowers....

I'm on a roll to try and get this finished for tomorrow...

Come back then and I will show you the whole piece.
Enjoy your day !
Rhianon.

A Work in Progress - adding texture.

I've been working on a project this week which is all about adding texture.
Thought you would like to have a sneaky peek......

I must apologise for the slightly dark photo but it is a very dull and wet day here.

You will see more about this project as it progresses and I will be doing a tutorial on how to make 3D flowers as part of a project I am involved in for quilting for blind and partially sighted people.
I'll keep you posted.
Enjoy your weekend.
Rhianon.

A Few Little Friday Finishes!!!

Well Christmas is fast approaching and I've been busy finishing up a few little mug rugs.
I know you are all probably getting a bit fed up with these but my sister said to me " If I only get one present from you - please let it be a mug rug with a flower!"
 Then my girls chipped in, " we want a mug rug too Mum - with a flower".   I couldn't deny them now, could I?

First up is an oversized mug rug for my DH.  He has a little table that sits beside his spot on the settee, so this was made to fit that.

Yes, I've been playing with my Lil Twister again.  Pretty pleased with how it turned out, although I'm not sure about the meandering in the border with the variagted thread.  Too bad, it is staying as I don't have the time or the inclination to unpick it all.  I'm sure hubby won't mind!

This one is for my youngest daughter.

These cute little panels were in a big bag of scraps that Irene from quilt group gave me.  Irene calls her scraps 'leavings', I am always grateful to get Irene's 'leavings' as she dyes a lot of her own fabrics and the colour assortment is always fantastic!

Flower detail.

This one is for my eldest daughter - similar to the last one but a little different.

What girl doesn't love shoes ???

Finally , the last one is for my sister :

I'm glad to get these finished and under my belt. 

Today I'm linking up with  Lucy from Charm About You.  she is hosting this weeks TGIFF party, so click this link : http://charmaboutyou.blogspot.com/2011/12/so-bleeping-awesome-thank-goodness-its.html
and go and have a look at all the finishes.

I'm off to wrap a few presents now while I wait for Part 5 of Bonnie's mystery.
Have a great weekend.
Happy Stitching
Rhianon.

Friday Finishes!

Must say, I've had a really busy week with my regalia work and Part 1 of Orca Bay ( mystery quilt) but I did manage two small finishes.
I've been making a stack of mug rugs as Christmas gifts and got two finished last night.

This first one  is two strips of seminole patchwork.  We did this at our last meeting of quilt group.
I'm not sure I got my measurements correct as the contrast fabric in the center of the fat strip is an ablong and not a square.  mmmm ?   Still I think it turned out okay.

Close up of my tribally / swirly free motion quilting.

Next up is an old faithful :

I don't think I could ever get sick of making these and I love getting the chance to practice feathers !

I used a satin fabric for the flower this time , a bit tricky and slippery to work with but I think the end result is worth it.

So that is it for now.
Being Friday means I am linking up with Shanna from Sparrow in Flight who is hosting this weeks TGIFF party.
http://ssparrowinflight.blogspot.com/2011/11/tgiff4-santa-claus-is-coming-to-town.html

Why not head on over there and check out the finishes ?

Have a good weekend everyone
Rhianon.

Friday Finish - Anniversary Wall Hanging

I didn't think I was going to manage a finish but a few hours work last night and this was done !

It is a wall hanging for my sister in law and her husband to celebrate 20 years of marriage.

I decided to go with blacks and whites becasue that is the colour scheme of their living room.

Top - with decorative flowers.

Middle section - with hand embroidered details

Bottom section.

I machine quilted the whole piece, with feathers in the outer border.

I invested in one of those cute little hangers.  first time I've used one of them and I think they are great.  I can see me buying more of them.  It just finishes it off nicely and makes it easy to hang.

I'm linking this post to Laura's blog, Quokka Quilts.  She is very kindly hosting this weeks  TGIFF party.
So if you have something finished, head over there and post your link.  We'd love to see what you have been up to.

http://quokkaquilts.blogspot.com/2011/11/tgiff-black-n-white-and-red-all-over.html


Have a great weekend everyone!
Rhianon.

3D Flower Mug Rug Tutorial.

Hi there,
Today I thought I would do a tutorial on my 3D flower mug rug.  In the past week I have made 6 !

They are pretty straight forward, so why not give it a go ?

Using 4 different fabrics and referring to the photo above, make up the rug as follows :  Left hand side is a 4.5" square bordered with 2 x 2.5" x 4.5" strips in a contrast fabric, then 2 x 2.5" x 8.5" strips.

Right hand side : 4 squares of each fabric measuring 2.5" each.  Make up your checkerboard and join to the left hand side.
Layer, and quilt as desired.  I used a meandering pattern on the checkerboard and in the center square. I filled the border on the left hand side with a continuous feather.

Trim away the excess wadding and backing.  Your mug rug should measure 8" x 16"

Bind in the usual way.

Now for the fun bit - making the flower.
You need 5 circles for the petals and one contrasting for the flower center.
I use just whatever I lay my hands on which in this case was a little glass bowl.  It has a diameter of 4"  Perfect size for the petals.

Fold each of the petal circles in half and press, then fold them in half again and press.  Leave the center one for the moment.

To make the leaves, put 2 small pieces of green fabric right sides together and draw a leaf shape.
Add a piece of wadding to the back and machine stitch ALL the way around.  Cut out leaving a very small seam allowance.
Now with a sharp pair of scissors and bieng very careful to only cut one layer of fabric, make an incision and turn right side out.   You will need 3 leaves.

Using a double thread in a matching colour, work a running stitch along the curved edge of the petal.  Make sure you have the folded edges all facing the same way.  Pull the thread so as to gather the petal.

Add then next petal, then the remainder.  When you get to the last one pull up tightly then join to the first one. Work a couple of extra stitches just to hold it securely.

Do not fasten off the thread.

Make a Suffolk Puff or a Yoyo with the center circle.  Do not fasten off this thread either. 

Using your flower as a guide, position the 3 leaves in a nice arrangement and pin.

To attach the leaves to the rug, I machine quilted mine but this could easily be done by hand. 

Now using the thread already attached, stitch the flower to the rug.  Use small stiches and 'hide' them in the folds of the petals.

Add the Suffolk Puff in the same way and finish off with a nice button.

Taaa Daaaa!!!  All done!
Here are some of the other rugs I made earlier.

I hope you enjoyed my wee tutorial.  Please let me know if it was useful or if you would like to see tutorials on anything else and if you make one of these mug rugs, I'd love to see it.  Why not post a pic on my Nifty Stitcher Facebook page.
Thanks for visiting - I'll be back with more quilty stuff soon.
Rhianon.

Update :  Seen as I finished the last mug rug last night and added it to my post this morning,I am going to link this post to  http://tgiffriday.blogspot.com/2011/10/tgiff-party-here-today.html
It's lots of little finishes for me this week.
Click the linky and head on over to see what everyone else has been up to this week, or even add your own link.  The more the merrier and everyone is welcome.