Free Motion Friday - Formal vs. Informal

If you follow me then by now you know that I love to quilt feathers.  However, I learned a long time ago that there is a difference between formal and informal feathers.  Look at my two drawings.  The one on the left is more informal whereas the one on the right is more formal.  WHY?

Well, when you make your feathers approximately all the same size and shape they look way more formal.  That's why!  Neither is right or wrong, just different.

Let's look at a few examples.  These red feathers are fairly even and are definitely formal.

These feathers are more informal as they have lots of different shapes.

This feather is fairly formal, mostly the same size.

This feather is more informal, all sorts of things going on.

These feathers are formal, about the same size and shape, but I think the clouds inside them make them more informal.

These feathers are fairly formal too.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Island Batik Ambassadors Vintage Reimagined Challenge

For the month of March the Island Batik Ambassadors were challenged to take a vintage quilt and reimagine it in a newer way.  

I immediately thought of this quilt I've slept under during the summer all my life.  My great grandmother Grace made this quilt.  She made a lot of this same pattern with scraps.  She called it a snowball quilt.  I decided I wanted to do something with this block.  

Here are some closeups of the quilt.  It's a four patch with pumpkin seed shapes going around each block.

The original quilt was hand pieced.  I decided I wanted to do it by machine.  So I ordered some leaf pieces from Paper Pieces and used a gray solid Island Batik to make a bunch of leaves EPP style.  I then removed the papers and glued them down to the quilt top.  Next was stitching carefully around each leaf. I also went and cut out the backs so the seams wouldn't show through the gray leaves.  Next time I'm going to try Appliquik paper which I can keep in!

I also decided not to do all the areas with leaves.  I created this fun shape.  All the background fabrics are scraps of Island Batik from being an Ambassador the last four years.

Next up was quilting. I layered it with my favorite Hobbs 80/20 cotton/poly batting and went to work.  The gray was stitched with large match sticks using Aurifil thread.  For all the colors of the background squares I decided to use a variegated thread to blend in and do some simple continuous curve quilting.

Every time I look at this quilt I am reminded of my great grandma.  It makes me so happy!

Have you ever made a quilt inspired by your ancestors?

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Thread Inspiration

I love color!  I find these threads VERY inspiring.  I needed the rest of the colors.  So I don't have all the browns and grays, but I don't tend to quilt in those colors often anyways.  But now I have all the blues, and reds, and yellows, and greens, and....you see what I mean!  It makes for a happy quilter!

Here's the whole stash.  This is Glide by Hab + Dash.  It's a forty weight poly and I love to use it for machine applique stitches.  This is the whole collection stored in boxes by color so I can quickly grab what I need if I'm going sewing somewhere away from home.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Quilt Qwazy Queens 2019 Blog Hop and Giveaway

Today Marian from Seams To Be Sew starts the Quilt Qwazy Queens blog hop!  This year she has challenged us to show you some of the craziest projects we have done. 

Today I donated these two pillows to the Senior Scholarship fundraiser in our school district.

The background fabric is this amazing purple taffeta.  Yes, taffeta.  You read that right.

I took some leather scraps I had and did an inset of the mesh fabric with sequins.  Then I stitched them down to the taffeta.  I used a blanket stitch around the leather pieces.  Sometimes the leather gets attracted to the foot of the machine so the blanket stitches aren't always as even as I'd like.

For this pillow I decided to do something different.  I did a straight stitch instead of a blanket stitch.  It's leather, so I didn't have to worry about it fraying.  I like the flowers this way, but the small dots were better with the blanket stitching.

I had fun quilting feathers and pebbles for this pillow.  The thread is all Glide 40 weight poly.

And here they are!  

Be sure to check out all the amazing bloggers on the hop which continues next week!

Marian is offering a giveaway over on her website - two gift certificates to the Fat Quarter Shop!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

March 15, 2019
Melva Loves Scraps
Words & Stitches
Websterquilt
Seams To Be Sew

March 18, 2019
Quiltscapes
Days Filled With Joy
Life In the Scrapatch
Rainbows. Bunnies. Cupcakes

March 19, 2019
Bumbleberry Stitches
Kathy's Kwilts and More
Ms. P. Designs USA
Quilt Schmilt
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

March 20, 2019
MooseStashQuilting
Thrift Shop Commando
Karrin’s Crazy World
Songbird Designs

Peculiar Posies Part 5

Time to quilt my Peculiar Posies.  The background fabric is a chambray.  My usual 50 weight Aurifil didn't show up much so I switched to a 40 weight instead which was much better.  I decided to do feathers and leaves around the edge of the quilt.

This amazing "board" of Hobbs Tuscany Silk batting came home from Houston with me.  It' amazing that it fit into my suitcase.  I had to open it to start on this project.

First I stitched around all the flowers with monofilament.  Then I had fun stitched around the vase.

This feather includes some interesting insides.

A filled leaf.

Where I'm at so far.  The blue tape.  Well, you can see my flowers are a little off center so I needed to know where the true edge would be.

More fun feathers.

I think this leaf is my favorite so far.

I am also in love with this feather.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Flower Center Inspiration

I was sitting in the doctor's office when I noticed the chairs had some interesting flower centers.  So of course I took pictures!  

These are really fun centers.   Food for thought.

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Lloyd and Lola Part 2

I keep working away.  Here's the final Llama blanket on Lloyd and Lola.  I had fun with the feathers. 

There are half octagons at the edges of the quilt.  This is how I chose to quilt it to give it the same texture as the full octagons.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy