Happy Christmas

Unto us a Child is born

King of all Creation

This beautiful carved Nativity scene is on the capital of one of the pillars in the cloister of San Pedro el Viejo in Huesca, Aragon.

A Pretty Picture for Sunday - Perched on a Crag

An 11th century church, Moorish ramparts, vultures circling overhead...  Alquézar in Aragon.

Welcome to Karen, the latest follower - thank you for joining!

A Dress for Meg - 8 - Attaching the Skirt

It is ages since Meg received her dress, and I have not done any posts showing the making of it since the post showing the collar being attached.

The next stage was attaching the skirt.  The skirt is made up of three rectangles, with French seams down the sides.  The width of the back of the skirt is approximately double the size of the back of the bodice, to allow for gathering.  The two front panels of the skirt both overlap for the buttons and buttonholes, in exactly the same way as on the bodice.  The gathers for the front of the skirt start just clear of the overlap.

Before putting in the initial gathers, with bit of red cotton I marked the central, quarter and three quarters points on the back panel of the skirt to match up with the corresponding points on the bodice.

Then I set in the first line of gathers, shown above, using the ruffler.

Perhaps somewhere there are mathematical geniuses who can regulate the size of the ruffle to give the correct amount of gather.  I am not one of them, so I do a second line of gathers alongside the ruffling.  The seam guide is there to keep the stitching straight.

The second line of stitching is done with the maximum stitch length and with the top tension loosened so that the bobbin thread is easy to pull to ease the gathers.

Before pinning the skirt to the bodice I put two tucks at the lower edge to give a bit of fullness across the back, and kept the fold secure with a few stitches.

Next, I pinned the skirt to the bodice, matching the side seams and the red thread markers, then eased the fullness by pulling the second line of gathers...

... and tacked the seam by hand.  There is a much wider seam allowance on the bodice, approximately an inch and a quarter.

Now the machine stitching could be done to finally attach the skirt to the bodice.  I made the stitching run about an eighth of an inch below the gathers and tacking.

Before neatening the seam I removed the tacking thread and machine gathering stitches, but I always find that it is better to leave in the machine stitching done with the ruffler because it keeps the gathered seam allowance reasonably flat.

To neaten the raw edges, the edge of the bodice is folded over.  Hair grips keep the fold down in place much more firmly than pins...

... and are easy to remove as the fold is stitched down.

Here is the finished seam, guaranteed to withstand the rigours of the washing machine!

I love this technique - I first came across it in an old pattern.

Linking up with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday.

It's Time For A Break

 

  

Free Motion Mavericks will be back in the New Year.  The next link up will be on Thursday 8th January.

If you wish to link up next time but have no new FMQ posts to show, feel free to show your favourite FMQ project of 2014.

Thank you to everyone who has linked up this year.  It has been great fun!

In the meantime I do not expect I shall be doing an enormous amount of sewing.  

A Pretty Picture for Sunday - Summer Daisies

Taken on a walk in the fields in early August - especially for everyone who is feeling particularly sun-deprived at the moment.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 25 - A Sampler and An Exhibition

Now that I am on the third thread sampler I am trying to persuade myself that I am not getting ever so slightly bored.  However the daylight is so short, and often so dull, that inspiration is lacking for a new free motion landscape, so I am getting on with the thread samplers because they don't exactly tax the imagination.  When the next burst of creativity comes I will be able to choose colours by just referring to the samplers.

The great highlight of the last fortnight has been two visits to the exhibition of 12 x 12 quilts at Midsomer Quilting.  Here is just one of the quilts that was on show...

... Midnight in Moscow by Olga Cottle...

.

... which has a fascinating story attached to it.

The entire exhibition can now be seen on Midsomer Quilting's Flickr page.  Enjoy the show!

Here goes for week 25...

Many thanks to Maartje, Leanne, Beth, Carole and Linda for linking up last time.  

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  .
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand and France have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday

The Cockerel is Taking Shape

It seems to be taking ages, but I'm getting there.  At the moment he looks a bit of a mess, but he will look a whole lot better once I have finished the blanket stitched outline and given him a beak, an eye and a pair of legs.

Welcome to Sujata Shah, the latest follower - thank you for joining!

Linking up with Esther's blog for WOW=WIPs on Wednesdays.

A Pretty Picture for Sunday - Half An Hour Before Sunset

Taken in late August in my favourite field.

Welcome to Ann X, the latest follower - thank you for joining!

A Bit of Maintenance for a Shuttle

Recently I had a frustrating day with the tension on my Singer 128K, and the only way I could tighten the bobbin tension was to fish the shuttle out of another machine and use it instead of the shuttle from the 128K.

This is the offending shuttle.  I have finally had a look at it.  First I unscrewed the tension spring and removed it.  Here is the shuttle with the tension spring removed, and you can see that there is a bit of residual muck which had been hiding underneath.  This took only a minute to remove with metal polish.

Here is the underneath of the tension spring, which also needed cleaning up.

On the right hand side there is a tiny groove visible, which is where the thread passes.  The bobbin tension had been too loose.  Even with the screw fully tightened, the tension spring was not holding the thread firmly enough against the shuttle.  

The solution was simple.  All I had to do was exert a little pressure with my fingers on that part of the tension spring to encourage it to lie closer to the shuttle: had I used too much force I would have risked breaking the metal at its thinnest points, so I hesitate to say I bent it.  The change in shape is imperceptible on mere inspection.  Once the shuttle was reassembled and I tried out the stitch, all I needed to do was make a tiny adjustment to the top tension and the stitch was fine.  

Job done.  Now the 128K has its own shuttle back in use. 

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 24 - Another Sampler Finished

Here is the second thread sampler that I have made, a companion to the first, sampling eleven more shades of Gutermann's Sulky Cotton 30 variegated threads.

This coppery orange in the centre lifts the whole colour scheme.

I gave the leaves curly hooks around the edges, and was treadling away happily thinking that I might try out a design based on teasels...

... until the darker leaves jumped out at me and all I could think of was woodlice.

Oh well, can't win them all.  The colours are nice, though.  It is impossible to convey the subtlety of the shades in photographs.  In fact, at first I thought there wasn't enough contrast between the different threads used in the background, but once the chocolate brown binding was on, it looked a whole lot better.

Here goes for week 24...

Many thanks to Gwyned and Hilary for linking up last time.  

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  .
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand and France have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

The Cock's Comb

This is the cockerel I started last week.  I have stitched around the red for his head, using darker red for the lower part and brighter red for the top.  He will look a whole lot better once I have done his beak and eye..  At the moment he is faintly reminiscent of one of the scarier scenes in Chicken Run.

Doing the blanket stitch around the zig zags for his comb was no fun at all.  Unfortunately I am not one of those calm and serene people who find hand sewing relaxing.  I find it all a bit of a chore.  I swore never to do fiddly edges on appliqué ever again when I did the thistle leaves a couple of years ago, but this cockerel got the better of me.

Now that I am about five eighths of the way through this piece of appliqué I have reached the seriously bored stage.  It might have something to do with the sun setting at 4.30 pm. Perhaps I need to hibernate.

Linking up with Esther's blog for WOW=WIPs on Wednesday 

A Pretty Picture for Sunday - A Spanish Wool Shop

A little haven for knitters in Huesca.  I love the faded elegance and peeling paint.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 23 - Starting Another Sampler

Not an enormous amount of free motion quilting done this week, but at least I have made a start on my second sampler.  This is as far as I got this afternoon, and then the bobbin thread ran out, which was just as well because I had to go out.

On this close-up you can see how I mark the outlines before filling in with the parallel lines of quilting.  If you look very carefully at the edges of the leaves, and also down the centre of the rust coloured leaf and rising vertically from the tip, there is a machine stitched outline in ivory thread. Because it is the same colour as the calico background it blends in and can't be seen once the whole piece is finished.

Here goes for week 23...

First, a big welcome to Béatrice, the first person to link up from France, showing beautiful quilted feathers on a quilt for a baby.  

Also, many thanks to Gwyned, Hilary and Chris for linking up last time  - a great collection of projects.  

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  .
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand and France have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday

A Strutting Cockerel

Eighteen leaves are now finished, and I have been getting a bit bored.

So I spent ages on the internet on Sunday evening looking for a bird to add to the appliqué, and eventually I found a photograph of a very smart colourful cockerel.  I ended up tracing him on greaseproof paper, and then making a pattern for appliqué, made in the same way as the pattern for the leaves, but rather more complicated because I have used five different colours.

This is as far as I have got.  At the moment it looks like a whole load of nothing.  I hope that it takes proper shape once I have trimmed the pieces and hand stitched around the raw edges.

Welcome to Ria Grand, the latest follower - thank you for joining!

Linking up with Esther's blog for WOW = WIPS on Wednesday

A Pretty Picture for Sunday - A Church Porch in Suffolk

Taken a few years ago, the 15th century timber porch of the church at Little Wenham.

Hilary's Quilts on Show

Last week I had a trip out to the West Country Quilt Show, held in Bristol.  Very handy for me, but not for Hilary, who couldn't get there.  I went with my friend Jo, her mum and her gorgeous little niece, who is posing so nicely in front of Cosmic Split.

Three of Hilary's quilts were on show, and the great excitement on arriving was finding the rosette for Best Machine Quilting pinned next to her quilt Going Round the Bend.

Congratulations Hilary!

Hilary's quilting is truly superb, to be seen to be believed.  The Judges must have had a job deciding which of her three quilts should have the ribbon.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 22 - Stitching by Numbers

Yes, I know, it has the look of early to mid 1960s wallpaper.  I can just imagine my mum and dad chatting with the decorator circa 1966.. "Oh yes, it would be ideal for the chimney breast above the gas fire, with the rest of the room done in magnolia emulsion..."

This is the sum total of my free motion quilting this week - an A4 sized sampler for my own reference.  Having enjoyed doing landscapes with variegated thread, I decided I needed something like a colour chart.  I have been using Gutermann Sulky Cotton 30 and building up the colour by quilting close parallel lines. The effect when working with variegated colours on undyed calico is fascinating, but sometimes it is hard to predict exactly how a particular shade will look once it is stitched.  Filling in rectangles would have been too boring for words - I wanted to do something that would serve its purpose as a colour reference and as a miniature wall hanging.

So I did leaves against a changing background.  The leaf on the left is very close in colour...

... to the leaf on the right.  On the reel it is hard to tell which one would look darker when stitched.  Once stitched the difference between the two shades is more apparent.

I love this fresh aqua green...

... and this green with russet has a definite autumnal feel.

It is very handy to have 11 shades stitched in a sampler already - especially at this time of year, when the subtler shades all fade into insignificance under the electric light in the evening.  If I know in advance which colours to use, I could get on with a landscape in the evenings.

Here goes for week 22...

Last week's participants showed a fascinating collection of projects.

First, a big welcome to Jen, the first person to link up from New Zealand.  Not only did she show us a lovely quilt, but also her peonies in her garden.  It is hard for us in the northern hemisphere to imagine spring coming in November!

Next, a special mention for Janine, who quilts on her Singer 115-1 treadle.  Truly a girl after my own heart!

And congratulations to Hilary who has some rather exciting news this week...

Also, many thanks to  Carole, Maartje, Gwyned and Linda  for linking up last time  - a great collection of projects.  

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  .
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland and New Zealand have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday

and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday

and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday

and Nina Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday

and Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday

and Barbara's blog Cat Patches for the November NewFO.  The October NewFO is now a finished 12 x 12 seascape, and the latest development in the September NewFO is a cockerel.

Twelve Leaves Done...

... and six in place ready for the hand stitching around the edge.

It is a while since I did any appliqué, and I had forgotten how time consuming it can be.  The fiddliest part of the process is sorting out the tiny scraps to make the leaves, but I am enjoying all the different colours, trying to make each leaf slightly different.

Linking up with Esther's blog for WOW = WIPs on Wednesday

A Pretty Picture for Sunday - A Turquoise Lake

This is a glimpse of a corner of an enormous reservoir in the valley of the Rio Cinca in Aragon.  The rivers flowing down from the Pyrenees have the most astonishingly clear turquoise water.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 21 - The Solent

Here is the second 12 x 12 quilt that I have made for the forthcoming show at Midsomer Quilting, because I enjoyed making the first one, In the Fen Country so much.  This seascape is also based on a piece by Vaughan Williams.

I spent a considerable amount of time watching this video on Youtube (which for some reason I cannot get to embed in this post) enjoying the music and the paintings.  The image that really caught my eye was this painting of The Needles on the Isle of Wight by Norman Wilkinson

Rather than doing fluffy summery clouds this time, I decided to have a go at glowering low grey clouds, complete with downpour.  The cloud on the left is perhaps a little too heavy...

... and I prefer this one.

The trickiest part of the whole picture was the distant grey coastline.  I had to go over it several times, piling one layer of thread over another to get the colours right.  Also, when I started work on the cliffs I had no white thread, only variegated neutrals, so I did an extra layer of white at the headland to give better contrast with the pale grey of the distant shoreline.  While I was busy piling on the colour I forgot about the back, which has such a stack of bobbin thread concentrated in one small area that this quilt could be turned over to double up as a relief map of the foothills of the Andes.

Adding the hand stitched detail at the end was far less of a tussle.  The white sails of the yachts have enough layers of stitches to give them a slight 3D effect...

... and the three birds in the sky took only a matter of minutes to sew.

So here it is hanging on the wall above the 1934 Singer 128K, which is the machine I used to put on the binding.  All the free motion quilting was done on the 1945 Singer 15K treadle.

Here goes for week 21...

Firstly, many thanks to  Maartje, Hilary, Gwyned and Mardi for linking up last time  - a great collection of projects.  

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  .
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far bloggers from USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany and Holland have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Welcome to Grit, the latest follower - thank you for joining!

Linking up with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday
and Lorna's blog Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social
and Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday