Celtic Solstice part 2

This is part 2 of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt Celtic Solstice.

Make 100 of these cute chevron blocks.  They measure 3.5"

I'm at the half way mark with 50 completed so far.
If you'd like to make Bonnie's quilt then you can find all the information here.  If you don't have time right now, why not print off the instructions.  They will only be posted for a short while.
If you'd like to see how others are progressing, then head over to Bonnie's linky party.
I'll be ready for part 3 on Friday!!
I'm so glad I decided to do the mystery this year - enjoying it immensely!
Happy Stitchin'
Rhianon.

Something New From Something Old

Hi everyone

Many years ago my big brother was the first of us siblings to get married and I knew  I had to make him and his betrothed, Sylvia a special present.  They got married in 1990 making these butterflies 23 years old!
This was what I came up with:

It was a commemorative cushion with hand embroidered butterflies ( one to represent Sylvia and the other Allan) and goldwork lettering.
Seeing this again after so many years has been a blast.  I hadn't remembered all the leaves, nor the amount of couching around the leaves and butterflies.

The reason I have this back is because I stupidly used goldwire for the lettering.  Unfortunately this turns black after time if it is left in the open air.  I don't know what I was thinking as i knew this.

So, I have decided to give this piece a makeover.

I am going to cut out and applique the butterflies onto a new background and then quilt it. It will become a wall hanging.

I am not sure how I am going to tackle these little tendrils but I will figure it out.
I have some gorgeous purple batiks waiting in the wings but I probably won't get started until the Christmas festivities are over..

One thing I realised after seeing this again is that maybe I should be doing more embroidery in my quilts - after all embroidery was my first love!
Watch this space and I'll keep you up to date with my progress.
Thanks for visiting .
Til next time
Rhianon.

Celtic Solstice - Mystery Quilt by Bonnie Hunter 2013

I couldn't decide whether I wanted to do Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt this year or not but in the end I have decided to go for it.
I have done two of Bonnie's mysteries before - Roll Roll cotton Boll and Orca Bay.
They are a lot of fun and you will probably end up making a quilt you thought you would never make.
I know I did.
If you want to join in click here to take you to Bonnie's site and all the info you need.
This is a FREE pattern that Bonnie shares every year ( Thank you Bonnie!!).

Here are the colours I've chosen:  Only difference is that I've swapped orange for purples, mainly because I don't have hardly any orange in my stash.  I'm determined I am not buying any new fabric for this quilt

The task for part 1 is to make 188 triangle units.

Luckily and to my amazement, I already had the Tri Rec rulers that we are using to make these blocks.  I'd never heard of tri rec, but mine are called a Tall Triangle Unit set by Lynne Edwards and I got them from Creative Grids in the UK.

This is where I am now - pieces all cut out and I will work my way through these this week and be ready for part 2 on Friday.
Happy days!

I'm linking up with Bonnie's blog party so click here to go and see everyone else's progress.  I love seeing all the different interpretations. Great stuff!
Happy Stitchin'
Rhianon.

Hand Embroidered Tropical Fish Wall Hanging

Hello there

Another week flies by and I've been busy with my day job but still managing to get creative with my own work.
I did a post previously about my hand embroidered fish I did 25 years ago ( click here to see it).
It really was about time that these fish had a home.

I used a beautiful hand dyed (not by me) piece of fabric for the background.....

....and using bondaweb ( still not got around to trying Misty Fuse), I appliqued the coral and fish using my sewing machine.

Before quilting.

                                                                     During quilting.

I'm doing a mixture of seaweedy feathers and some pebbling.

Appliqueing the fish was quite a challenge as the lion fish has some very raised areas of embroidery which the foot on my machine did not like getting up close to!

It is not quite there yet - I still have a little quilting to do and some hand beading detail to the little fish in the foreground.

I hope you will come back and see it when its finished.  This piece will be apart of my display touring the UK from January to April next year.  Click here for details.
Thanks for visiting.
See you all again soon.
Happy Stitchin'
Rhianon.