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. 

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.

Stars and Butterfly Quilt - Part 1

Hello everyone,

I missed posting last week but I was just so busy with work and family stuff and kept putting it off, but I have been getting some sewing done despite having an inferior machine to work with.

I actually started this quilt before my machine broke but was able to keep piecing on the stand in.

It started with this block, taken from Carol Doak's book Simply Sensational Stars.  Have to say it is an excellent book especially if you like foundation piecing.

Mine was a gift from a quilter friend - thank you Irene!

I made 4 of these blocks and set them on point around a center block with a butterfly.

I love this blue fabric with the big flowers on it and I didn't want to cut it too small so it was perfect for the setting triangles.

I don't know about mixing batik and non batik fabrics in a quilt, but I'm doing it anyway.  This is a gorgeous rainbow stripe batik.

Next up I added a border which was also foundation pieced.

                                                     
                                                            Close up of the border.

It's getting bigger and look at all that space for the applique!

More foundation pieced blocks joined to gether to make the next border that will frame the applique.

.... and this is the story so far. 

I am still waiting for my machine to be repaired and returned to me so I am hanging off doing the applique. I love how this quilt is progressing - it looks just like the picture in my head.  I did do a small sketch of how I wanted it to look but forgot to take a photo. Next time.

Before I go I'll just share my good news.  DH has bought me a new machine (from a different dealer). I've opted for the Janome 1600P.

It's being delivered on monday and I cannot wait!
Enjoy your weekend.
Rhianon.

Butterfly Quilt - from start to finish........

No words today - just photos.

From start........

To finish.......

Linking this post to Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Quokka Quilts

Kaylee's Owl Cushion

Over the weekend I found time to make this cushion for a little 3 year old girl who is fighting ( and winning !) cancer.   She is the great grandaughter of my friend Miriam who lives in America.

It all started with this fabric, which Miriam had sent me quite a while ago...

Cute eh?

I drew my version onto card and used this to work the applique from.

Then I added Kaylee's name, a few borders and it was tme to quilt.

I kept the quilting simple - a bit of stippling behind the owl and stitching in the ditch with invisible thread.

For the back I used this cute lime green owl fabric - I love purples and greens together.

A little ruffled edging finishes the cushion nicely and it is all ready to be posted.

Today I'm linking up with Connie's excellent blog, Quilting by the River for her linky party. 
Back to quilting the butterfly quilt for me today - nearly at the outer border!!!!
See you all again soon.
Rhianon.