Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Mirror Image Done

I should mention that the design is by Kellie Wulfsohn of Don't Look Now. It is titled Oh Christmas Tree.


Kellie is the designer of Meg's Garden (my version) AND White Christmas (my version here).

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Sorry!!!

Sorry I haven't posted lately. I came down with a debilitating case of perfectionitis. I really, really thought I was completely and irrevocably over the perfectionism, but WHAM! to my absolute surprise I relapsed.

How did it happen? I started off so excited about Erin Russek's "My Tweets" Block of the Month. I fell completely in love with her designs. I ran out and tried to closely replicate her fabric palette, traced the images to wonderunder and I began to fuse the pieces to the background. As I posted, I LOVED the look! My excitement grew!

The problem (perfectionism) started when I began the satin stitching around the fused pieces. With this quilt, I splurged on nice, shiny, satiny thread. What I didn't realize was that the shiny satiny thread would pick up the light and highlight every misstep:( The problem seemed to aggravate with every stitch. I grew unhappier and unhappier.




























As I felt the stitching was getting continually worse, I felt so disappointed, I didn't want to continue. It sucked the joy out of the project for me. Because it brought me no joy, I didn't want to do it. So, I didn't.
After a couple of weeks, I worked up my resolve to try it again, this time I thought I might try the freezer paper method. I did like it, and I especially liked the fact that I could use the sooooo forgiving blanket stitch with it.















What I didn't like was the puckering. I figured it will only get worse once the quilt is washed.

But, this foray into the freezer paper method did give me the overdue breather I needed to step back and view the situation with a more realistic frame of reference.
So, with a brand new perspective I started a brand new block using my tried and true fusible method.































I am trying to keep in mind that it will never be perfect. That's not the point. The point is to ENJOY my hobby and try things that help me improve.
If I allow my expectations to become unreasonable and discouragement to run away with me, I'd never get anything done, I'd never try anything new and I would never stand back and admire a finished project!!!

So, look forward to more cherished and imperfect pictures of My Tweets in the months to come!


FYI: I do not pose them. This is just how they roll.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Displaying Quilts

I haven't really felt like sewing lately (gasp!). But I saw Thelma's post here and I was really taken by how she displays her quilts. Seeing as my quilts generally end up folded and unseen in a spare room, I thought I would try it. I like it! While it might seem like overkill, I am going to buy more rings so I can be sure the weight will not stretch the quilt out of shape.

























Thursday, February 24, 2011

Fused! Miss Kelly - Center Piece for My Tweets

Fused! Didn't I just say that for another quilt? :)
Here is the next quilt I'm working on. It is My Tweets by Erin Russek.
This is the center block called Miss Kelly. I absolutely LOVE the colours!!! Can't wait to start stitching! I;ve been bored since I finished the White Christmas quilt.



























Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Quilt Frame

I can not believe it! After 10 years, I finally have a quilt frame!!!! I am sooo excited.

I bought it used online and have it almost all assembled. There are a couple of connector brackets missing for the pantograph shelf. Hopefully, my LQS can order them, or I can buy them at Home Depot. I can not wait to use it! It it 10' long and barely fits in the room.











































My helpers.













My helpers two seconds later.




















Monday, February 14, 2011

It's Finished!!!White Christmas Conclusion

It's Finished! And I love it!
First, here is the original picture that appeared in Australian Quilter's Companion. The magazine is dated July, but I found it at my local bookstore on December 8th (guess it takes a long time for magazines to make it to Canada from Australia!). The designer is Kellie Wulfsohn, who also designed the Meg's Garden quilt I made in the summer. Love her designs!
















The customizations:
1) Size : the original in the magazine was a wall hanging (40" X 42"). I like my quilts to be inbetween lap & twin size, so decided to make the design larger. I used the same size flakes and simply expanded the background. I did this by buying 4.5 metres of backgroung fabric and 2.5 metres of white for the snowflakes (which was way too much! 1.5 would have been enough). My version ended up being 60" X 72:.

2) Pink Star : the original had no "tree topper". I decided to add a star. At first, I was going to add it in white; then thought a yellow star would be lovely. When going through my stash looking for yellow, I came across the pink and was just smitten! The pink was cute and more unexpected than white or yellow.

3) Peace on Earth : From the beginning I wanted to add lettering of some sort. Obvious choices were "Merry Christmas" or "Joyeux Noel", etc. But I felt "Peace on Earth" was, again, less expected. The orinial plan (in my mind), was to place "Peace" on the top of the tree arching downward, and "on Earth" on the bottom arching up, to form something of a broken circle around the tree. However, executing the arch was very difficult to perform precisely, so I settled on putting all the wording on the bottom. I love it!

4) Snowflakes in Corners: seeing as I made the quilt larger, I wanted to add something to break up the "white space" (or in this case, the "blue space") between the tree and the border. L-bracket snowflake formation came to mind. If I had to do it again, I might experiment and put mistletoe in the corners.

5) Scalloped Borders: I felt this quilt screamed for scalloped borders! I love them but had never tried them. I purchased the scallop ruler/template from Quilt in a Day, and it was easy-peasy! I will definitely do it again!

So without further ado, here is my completed White Christmas Quilt (warning - couldn't decide which picture was best, so I have uploaded a lot!)



































The back is super-snuggly flannel!






















I am just thrilled with the outcome!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Better Than Perfect!

Finished is better than perfect! While this picture probably looks like all the others I have posted lately, it is finally finished!!! Yeah!

Now, onto the quilting!








Monday, February 7, 2011

Almost There

I'm almost finished with the White Christmas quilt. Only 8 snowflakes left to satin stitch down!

Here is a picture of the back that shows the progress. You can see in the bottome right corner the 7 snowflakes that have been done. That means only 8 left!!! WhooHoo!

I have enjoyed this quilt and I think it is going to be lovely, but I am ready to move on. "To what", you ask? To the MY TWEETS BOM offered by Erin Russek. Beautiful, isn't it? I'm really excited about it!!!!






























Saturday, January 29, 2011

Still Working Away on White Christmas

Hi There!

The top 2 corners are now satin stitched down and the bottom 2 are fused on! I love it, but will be happy to see this project completed! I have another one that I want to move on to!

Once I got the 2 bottom corners fused on, I wondered if there was too much white. Oh well. I could see making this quilt again as a gift and if I do, I will probably do a couple of things differently. This would also be beautiful with colourful snowflakes as opposed to just white.

Now, just to satin stitch the bottom 2 corners down and then onto the last personalization!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Definitely...

...snowflakes in all 4 corners!




















Meet the team!
Quality Assurance Officer















HR Representative (aka Hug me then Rest)




Monday, January 3, 2011

More Progress on the White Christmas

In comparison to satin stitching around the snowflakes, stitching around the "Peace on Earth" was a peace of cake (sorry, I couldn't resist!). Anyway, it is done. Now onto the other customizations.

Although not on the orginal pattern, I have decided to add a star to the top of the tree. Using the same fabric as the snowflakes seemed the obvious choice and I think it would be elegant looking, but , then I thought a yellow star would be pretty. As I was looking through my stash for yellow, I came across a piece of pink. Squeal!!!!! I LOVE it! I think it adds a nice, unexpected "punch" of colour! And seeing as this quilt is for me - Why not use what I like, right?

So, the next decision was which type of star to use:

This one:





















Or this one:




I have decided to go with this second one. Fusing it now!
Bye!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year & White Christmas Continued

Happy New Year!

I am now finished satin stitching around all of the snowflakes and am excited to show you the first customization to the pattern! I have added "Peace on Earth" to the bottom of the tree! I really like the look! I was tempted to add "Merry Christmas", but I think "Peace on Earth" is a little less obvious.

Now on to satin stitching around the letters! I am contemplating adding a star to the top of the tree. We'll see.

Happy New Year!

Melanie