Charm Dance!

Welcome back to the Autumn Quilt Bloggers Festival.  Thank you to Amy from Amy's Creative side and to all of the sponsors for your support and making this possible

I would love you to vote for me when voting opens here, for my charm dance quilt
I have also entered my Sydney Swans Quilt here in original designs. 
I would also love you to nominate me now for viewers choice with my Sydney Swans quilt by filling out the form on this link, thank you

Let Charm Dance begin, first we will play the music!  So grab your partner and lets rock!

A new friend from Texas asked if I could help her make a quilt online for her daughter.  She showed me what she wanted and asked if it was possible.  I said of course!  I had some charms that were given to me and I wanted to do something with them.  So out came my Kona solids and I decided on the grey and pool as my solids.

beginning stages

My husband and I found out a friend was feeling not well and needed some treatment.  I was suppose to make her a big quilt but decided I would make this quilt alongside my friend from Texas (via msgs etc) and I would gift mine once finished to our sick friend.  As sometime I take way to long on a big quilt.

starting to come together

I started working on this and realised I needed some more charms.  I was at my sewing group and a friend had a pack so I was able to buy the pack from her...a little bit further I decided I would need another pack so later that day a search with another friend located some not far from me.  So the very next morning I rang and purchased that pack.  I had to wait a day for them to arrive and then back into the sewing of the top and the border to complete my flimsy.

one quilt top ready to go on the frame

This quilt top without the delays of waiting for a charm pack really only took two days at maximum to complete.  The finished size of the flimsy is 53"

commencement of quilting

Next delay was waiting on the Wadding to arrive.  I decided as we are coming into summer it might be nice to use a cotton batting, so I ordered Quilters Dream Request and it was magic. I also needed a batting so around to the local lady who has some backings I needed this quilt to be done fast.  I had also decided that using 12 wt Aurifil would be the go.  After using it on my Sydney Swans quilt I knew I could quilt fast.  

Next to decide was on the design.  I decided a nice large overall pattern would work well.  So i drew a large daisy and laid it on top of the quilt on my frame.  and it looked great so off to work I went.

quilting away

Between the daisy I decided big loops to link were the way to go and to even out the quilting.  I managed to do a row a day so 4 days of quilting and I just loved how it all came to life.

finishing stages

As soon as I had it off the frame the sun had just come out in the morning so out onto the front verandah to see the sun sparkle on that quilt.  Then back into to start the binding and the label.

my little label to complete the quilt

Once the label was on and it was into the machine for washing and then drying.

washed and drying

We then had to take a little journey for a lovely photo shoot.  Here she is waiting on the station for the train that doesn't come to town anymore!  So instead I had to deliver this little beauty to the recipient myself.

waiting on the platform before delivery

Once again I would love to thank Amy for hosting and I encourage you all to check out her blog and site and all of the eye candy in this years festival.

Thanks again for reading my little charm dance story, I hope your feet were tapping to the beat.

Until next time have a wonderful read of all the blogs and keep on smiling,

Wendy

Big Stitching Charm Dance

Charm Dance Quilt Top

I would love to share my big stitch quilting adventure with you!  Earlier this year i received a surprise parcel from my very good friend Kathi from http://designoriginalsbykc.blogspot.com.au with a lovely charm pack by Moda called Happy go Lucky!  I stored this pack away to do something with later and another new friend from the States Bobbie Jo asked about doing a charm quilt for her daughter.  I decided the easiest way to do this was to do one myself so out came those charms from Kathi and off I started cutting and piecing with my Kona from my Kona Club to get the top above.  I love to use the Aurifil 50 wt for piecing and I always piece with grey thread, I have a light, medium and dark grey and it blends beautiful and helps me piece so much better.

Trial of quilting idea

flower now taking shape

happy with this flower for my template

Whilst I am making a top I always consider my quilting design.  I had decided an overall pattern would be good, I find playing with a drawing app which I can take a photo of my quilt into and then just doodle different designs on helps with this process.   I needed to make this quilt and have it quilted quickly.  This brings me to my new love in hand quilting - the BIG STITCH or utility quilting.  I love to use Aurifil 12 wt for these projects.  This quilt measures 53" which will be a good lap size quilt.  I recently quilted a single bed size quillow also in big stitch and had it completed in 2 weeks and who said hand quilting takes forever.  I am using a Shashiko smaller needle and it makes quilting a breeze, I also use a clover adjustable thimble, one for my thumb to quilt away from me and one for my middle finger so I can quilt towards me.

choosing thread colour for backing purposes

choosing thread colour for quilt top purposes

So I have my quilting design all ready to go with the flower and I will just wing some swirls between those flowers to connect it all together and make sure the quilting is all around the same amount of denseness.  I am then deciding on the right colour for the job.  My thoughts this time was between a lemon or a white thread.  I ended up choosing the lemon as it just seemed to give more warmth to this project and blended well with the back as with the front.  I want my design to pop so I don't want to hide my stitches.

starting of quilting

flower and loops beginning 

halfway through within a few days and getting ready for the happy dance

last night before bed the last row of stitching waiting for me

So this morning I woke to the last row of stitching.  This quilt will be finished today with the binding hand stitched down tonight.  If you would like to see how I do this I have a blog tutorial here

I am linking this with Sew simple Saturday with Sew and Sow Farm and with Kathy's slow stitching Sunday  Be sure to check them out and make sure you follow me as I have lots of exciting news to come in the next few weeks.  

So until next time have a wonderful day and keep on smiling and stitching up a storm,

Wendy

Hand quilting a perfect end to the day!

Love calms the seas

I just love to finish my day sitting and hand quilting at my frame.  It really helps me wind down from the hectic daily chores

a bit of a larger view

I did manage to find some time to organise another little area tonight after we came home from a shopping trip with a visit to the Waverley Patchworkers and quilters show in Mt Waverley today.

These are just a few of the beauties I found at the show

This is a handquilted Beauty by Judy Leckie

This is another quilt from Judy Leckie

This is the centre of her quilt

This was a quirky cute quilt

So you can see I had a good time and there were lots of other nice quilts to see also.  Sunday will be spent slow stitching and spending time with family.

Until next time, enjoy your day

Wendy

Special Sunday!

What a wonderful day I have had.  This morning started with a wonderful breakfast of  French toast with fried bananas drizzled with maple syrup and a good cup of coffee.

I then returned to do some more tidying in my sewing area before going for a motorbike ride to Phillip Island Race Track Cafe for Lunch.  It was a perfect autumn day and a wonderful ride following a few bike lengths behind hubby.

Now that I have finished tidying the sewing area and am sitting for the evening watching the Motogp racing from Le Mans it is perfect to be Slow stitching with Kathy on Sunday

On my love calms the seas quilt, I am excited as I am about to change colour threads again and I will be rolling the rods on the frame so that I can reach a bit further into the quilt.  I really want to get a lot of this quilt done this week and I am sure I can.  I seem to have a lot of my work caught up and am making lots of progress.  I really would like this quilt finished by the end of this month.  So that is my goal for this month and I hope for my linky that I can blog about how I have achieved this goal.  I would love you to be able to link with me and I hope you are thinking about your blog for this.  Please leave me a comment to let me know you are thinking of joining me in this setting of goals for the month.

Until next blog have a great time and enjoy your slow stitching Sunday and I hope it is as special as mine has been.

Wendy

Fabulous Friday and sensational Saturday makes me whoop!

Let me tell you why I want to whoop about my Friday and Saturdays achievements.  Firstly Friday I decided to clean up all of my fabric.  All of my bins were just horrendous and looking like this one above.

After a short time I managed to get them looking like this.

I have sorted the boxes into a box of yardage and three small boxes of fat quarters and smaller usable pieces.  Then there are three boxes of scraps which I am going to cut  I to 2.5" squares and charm squares.  These can then be used for quick quilts or borders.

But look at this little lovely and this would be a great whooping find, I did this in 2004 and all it needs is a border, but I have an idea and may include it in a quilt I am planning on making in the next couple of months.

My other little whoop is this darling little fabric bowl basket, which I have posted to someone who needs a bit of cheer in her life right now.

My sensational Saturday found me outside mowing my lawn and I am finishing the evening off nicely at the hand quilting frame.  I am linking this post with Confessions of a fabric addict

Exciting news!

I am announcing a linky which I will be hosting at the last Friday of every month. This will be celebrating the goals I have met and the goals I hope to meet for the future month.  I am asking for you to think of what you might like to blog about in this regard and link with me.  I am really looking forward to this and so you don't miss out on all of the fun be sure to follow me whichever way you find easiest.

Until the next time we meet,

Have a wonderful whooping weekend, I know I am going to,

Wendy