Hummingbirds -Finished!

Its been a while since I posted about this and I've only shown snippets.
I am very happy to say that this piece is now finished.

 It measures 27" x 35" and is bound with a plain dark blue cotton.  Sorry I don't have a photo of the edges.

I have used the traditional; method of trapunto ( ie, stuffing from the back) to fill out the body of the birds.
They were sagging a little and needed it!

The border is made up of crumb blocks and the whole piece was free motion quilted on my domestic machine.

 These photos were taken in direct sunlight - I love how it shows up the quilting and the texture of the hand embroidery on the birds.

It is now packed away and ready for my display.  I'm working like a crazy woman and will have lots to show you over the coming weeks/months.  

'Til the next time.....

Happy Stitching

Rhianon.

A Friday Finish - purple butterfly.

Ok, well I'm fibbing a little because I actually finished this yesterday.
Another trapunto butterfly made for Karen, a quilter friend of mine who lives in South Africa.

Karen had seen my butterfly and asked if I could do her one in purples.  No problem.

I used exactly the same method as before and I still don't like having to cut the wadding away from the back.
It's just so nerve wracking!

Preparing to quilt

Detail

I love  how the early morning light shows up the trapunto in this photo.

another angle

I have a full free day ahead of me - and a full list of works in progress - just don't know what to work on next.    DH modified my darning foot on my new sewing machine, so I can actually see where I am going now.   Have a great weekend - I'm off to do lots of sewing now.

Works in Progress - and a new sewing room!

I've had a busy week, working on a few diffirent projects.
The most exciting thing though, was the arrival of my new sewing table and new sewing machine!!!  I was working on the dining room table before that and had a permanent bruise on my thigh from walking into the corners when squeezing past to get to my stash!

With the ironing board set up just to the right of my chair ( out of shot ), I am now workingin total luxury.  Love it!

My new sewing machine.  It is not the most expensive one, but it is a great little machine and runs so smoothly.

Anyway, onto some sewing.

I've been wroking on this Tallships quilt.  Top is nearlt completed, I only have some dark blue borders to add then it will be ready for quilting.

Next up is a commission I have been working on.  A trapunto butterfly.  Hoping to get the binding put on this over the weekend.  I can only show a little of this as I don't want to spoil it for the lady I am making it for.

Also this week I have been making a braided border for a panel that I dyed and printed by hand at quilt group on Monday.   I love it when Irene does projects using dyes - she is realy into all that and has some great ideas.

Now the borders :

I'm looking forward to quilting this one.

Finally, at last weeks quilt show, I bought some back issues of a quilting magazine.  Lookng through them last Sunday morning look what I found;

You may need to click on the photo for a closer look , but it is a quilt I'd entered into the show in 2009.  I didn't know that it has been printed in a report about the show.  Made my day!

Have a great weekend everyone - hope you get lots of sewing done.

Rhianon.

Pretty Pinwheels Baby Quilt - Thank Goodness it's Finished, Friday Party.

Hello everyone.

Today I am taking part in a Thank Goodness It's Finished, Friday Party.
My quilt I've finished is this Pinwheel baby quilt.

I had a set of really pretty floral, girly fabrics that had been hanging about in my stash for a long time, so it is finally good to have them used up.

It was machine pieced and machine quilted.

                                                    Detail

Apologies for the poor lighting in this shot but I love how it shows up the puffy texture of the quilt.

I usually have several projects on the go at once and so I am going to sneak in a wee link to this little wall hanging I recently finished.

Here is the link to that post.
http://rhianontaylor.blogspot.com/2011/09/trapunto-butterfly.html

I loved working on this trapunto butterfly and have plans to do something on a larger scale.  Watch this space!!
If you have not visited my blog before, you would be very welcome to come and have a visit.

Do you have any work you have recently completed  ?  Want to join the Friday fun ?
All you have to do is head over to Quilt Matters and link your post. 
Here is the link  http://quiltmatters.blogspot.com/2011/09/thank-goodness-its-finished-friday.html

I can't wait to see what everyone else has been up to so I'm heading over there right now.  Hope to see you there.
Have a great weekend  - I hope it is filled with lots of sewing!
See you all next time
Rhianon.

Trapunto Butterfly

Last week at quilt group we worked a sample of  trapunto.  I have done trapunto before  but only a small sample and I didn't know how to incorporate it into a quilt.  Now I do.
I was so fired up I came home and started a little wallhanging.

I put on my artist hat and used Carron Dache water soluble pencils to create this butterfly on a piece of cream silk.
After layering it with 2 pieces of wadding I back stitched by hand using standed cottons all the way around the design.

Next the scary part !! Trimming away the excess wadding from the back.  Had to be very careful not to cut the silk on the front.

After adding a couple of borders, more wadding and a cotton back, I was ready to start machine quilting.

First I outline quilted very close to the butterfly and leaves to make them 'pop'.
Then I worked a very small stippling design all over the background.  I wanted this to make the background as flat as possible.

I love this effect - and I definately have plans for a bigger project.

                                                      Detail

                                                      Another angle

My butterfly measures 16" x 16" and is now hanging in my workroom.

So that's another unexpected piece of work finished.
I've finished my baby quilt too and will post about that the next time.
Till then , thanks for stopping by.
Rhianon.