A Picture for Sunday - A Lane in May

Rolling clouds, hedge parsley, skylarks singing...  May is definitely a glorious month in this country.  These hedges are full of yellowhammers.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 95 - How to Quilt Oak Leaves

Dilemma solved!  I was wondering how to work on a secret project, showing as little as possible on the blog, yet still finish little items (to keep myself interested) and make the blog interesting at the same time.

So here is this week's discreet preview of the mega project, oak leaves quilted on a striped shot cotton...

...and here is this week's finish, a little mat which might just end up as page 1 of a sample book...

...and here is the video, so that anyone who wants to try quilting oak leaves can see how easy they are - provided your thread doesn't break, as mine did.  Twice.  I plead special circumstances.  The camera was in the way.

I must confess that I am really looking forward to seeing if anyone quilts oak leaves and then links up with Free Motion Mavericks in the near future.

Here goes for week 95...

The project in Week 94 that caught my eye was Bernie's interpretation of some of

Lori Kennedy's designs.  The little yachts are just too sweet for words!  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now, and also see some gorgeous photos taken on a day out.

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

Linking up to 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 Nina-Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

A Picture for Sunday - Yellowhammer

Looking out from the top of a hedgerow, this smart little yellowhammer stayed put long enough for me to get a few photos.  This picture is a bit fuzzy, but I don't care.  I have been hoping to get a half decent picture of one of these little chaps for years.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 94 - A New Project

It has to be a boring picture because I have just made a start on a secret project.  This quilt is going to take some time, because it will be made up of eleven panels, all approximately the size of a cot quilt.  The similarity with cot quilts ends there - these are seriously grown up colours.  I am breaking into my stash of discontinued Oakshott cottons and will be using plenty of the quilting designs featured in the free motion sampler quilt that I completed a couple of weeks ago. 

So far I have made the tops of two panels, and started the quilting on the first one.  I am a little afraid that making this quilt might drive me slightly nuts, especially as I can't show or say much on the blog, so I shall have to give myself some miniature projects to run alongside the main feature.  The blog might get terribly tedious otherwise.

Here goes for week 94...

 

The project in Week 93 that caught my eye was Connie's Chinese forget-me-not quilt, quilted on her vintage Singer 15-91 - a girl after my own heart!  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more photos.

 

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

A Picture for Sunday - Balconies in Alicante

How I would love to be able to grow geraniums like these and have them blooming outdoors in May.

Welcome to Mary Nocker and ChevyDude65, the latest followers - thank you for joining!

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 93 - A Few Days Off

Can you believe it?  Southern Spain was no warmer than Southern England a few days ago.  The grey skies and wind suited me fine.  Then the weather cleared up just when it was time to come home.

There has been no sewing going on here this week, so I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been up to.

 

Here goes for week 93...

 

The project in Week 92 that caught my eye was Andrée's art quilt based on a favourite painting that she owns, painted by an artist who was very dear to her.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more photos.

 

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

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 92 - Free Motion Sampler Quilt

Deadlines seem redundant when speaking of a project started over two years ago, but I was determined to finish this quilt this week. 

At last - the FMQ sampler quilt is finished!  It measures approximately 45 x 51 inches and is made up of all the experimental panels that I quilted using my stash of Oakshott cottons.  All the colours in this quilt have been discontinued, so it is my own little piece of fabric history.  Virtually all the fabrics are shot cottons, so they have a lovely sheen when the light catches them. 

Possibly what took me so long to finish the quilt is that I could never decide how to arrange the panels, so I selected the best nine and set the remaining two aside and shall probably use them for cushion covers.  Firstly I arranged them by size, so I could make a rectangle, then I placed the colours as best I could.

This is the darkest red, which ended up next to the darkest blue.

Next, I made sure that quilting designs that have a definite direction were all the same way up.  The most obvious case is the rudbeckia design, on the bright yellow panel.

All the quilting has been worked in variegated threads.  In some cases I aimed for contrast, as in the case of the leaves on the pale blue striped background, whereas there is very little contrast between thread and background fabric with the black bryony design on the right. 

The rosehips design on the left is one of my favourites, and I just love the rich shade of red.

 

The binding is the only fabric on the front that isn't from Oakshott.  I had a fat quarter in a dark blue shot cotton and managed to squeeze the binding out of it.  I cut my binding strips one and five eighths of an inch wide, so a fat quarter can go a long way. 

 

Now that I have finally finished this quilt I want to make another one using these quilting designs all over again.  Time will tell.  I'm not exactly Mrs. Organised.

 

 

Here goes for week 92...

 

The project in Week 91 that really caught my eye was Maartje's guinea fowl table mat.  It made me laugh, because I love guinea fowl.  Far tastier than chicken.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more photos.

 

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 the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau and Russia 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 Nina-Marie's blog Creations... Quilts, Art... Whatever for Off The Wall Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.
 

A Picture for Sunday - Threatening Clouds

Eerily beautiful light just before sunset.  This photo was taken earlier this week when a bitterly cold wind was blowing.