Friday, June 30, 2017

Free Motion Friday - Finishing Peacock

Today I'm sharing with you the finish of my quilt Peacock.  The large center circle in the middle needed some quilting.  I simply followed the print of the batik.



For the outer edges I chose to do some collage quilting.  I used a crying clamshell, a swirl, and a twirly circle over and over again to create texture.



The top is done!  Time to bind...


I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Island Batik Ambassador's June Challenge - Curvalicious Quilts

Curves.  I find piecing them scary.  There.  I admitted it.  When Island Batik asked the Ambassadors to do a curved quilt project this month my first though was...can't I just applique them?  But, I decided to follow the rules and do some curved piecing.  It's not that I've never done any before, it's that it hasn't always worked out well.

Here's what I came up with.




I started by smiling really big at my mother and asking her if she'd get the Drunkard's Path Accuquilt set for her Go cutter.  She said sure (thanks mom!).  Off she went to the store and picked it up for me.  I love how many Just Sew Studio in Woodbury, MN carries!

Then we got busy cutting pieces.  I used two lovely prints from the Island Batik's Dazzle collection.  I adore this circular print with all the different colors.  Before becoming and Ambassador I would never have bought a print this busy.  But now, I see the fun you can have with them and buy them all the time.  Who knew?


I decided to add a few squares with triangles in the corners just to add a bit of variety and then I had a blast quilting with threads from Aurifil!


I chose to quilt the dark purple batik in a more medium purple color so you could see  all the feathers.  I like the result.  The fabric still shines, but so do the feathers.  The busy print was quilted with large scale pebbles.  It already had circles so it made sense and it was so busy no patterns were going to show.



And the final quilt!  it is 2 feet square and will make a great table topper (but not at my house....6 and 8 year old boys and table toppers don't mix....).



I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Clam Flower #6 - Part 1

I had a blast speaking at the Lakeshore Quilters in Shoreview, MN last night!  What a fun group.  Here's the start of Clam Flower #6.  The orange pieces have a star shape in them.


If you look closely at the flowers below you an see that the purple teardrops have a much smaller stitch size than the orange flowers underneath.  Small pieces make for small stitching.  Unless the fabric is very plain and then I might use a larger stitch size.


Layer two.  Isn't the purple tulip shape fabric fun?  I wanted the purpleness of it to stand out so I outlined it in purple thread instead or orange.


And the back.


For those of you who would like to follow my blog via Facebook be sure to join my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group.  I post links to my blog and other fun quilt related things.  And people share their applique projects.

I hope you get to quilt today!  
Suzy

Monday, June 26, 2017

Bag Inspriation

Here are two pictures I've taken recently.  The first is a bag.  I love the different half circle pattern on them.  It would be a great border!


This is a decorate lamp I saw in the window at Wall Drug in South Dakota while on vacation.


 I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Clam Flower #5 - Part 2

So you thought this flower was all blue...not quite!  The last piece is a gorgeous orange and blue print.  Below you can see I added some more pieces to the flower and the central leaf on the bottom which echoes the outer leaves.


The back.


And the final block.  I LOVE this print!  I started picking fabrics for this flower with the blue and orange print and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I chose to outline the orange piece with orange thread.  I could've used blue and it would have a very different effect.



The back.
 

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Friday, June 23, 2017

Free Motion Friday - How Many Echoes?

It's summer!  And I'm off!  Time to quilt.  I recently got back to working on my Peacock quilt.  I did some feathers around the edges.  Here's just the feathers.  I knew that I would at least one echo around it to separate the feathers from the background quilting.



Here's one echo.  This is my usual choice.



However, this blog is about learning new things, so I did a second echo.  I like it.



More on this quilt next week!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Clam Flower #5 - Part 1

I absolutely adore the leaves on this flower.  In my original drawing the leaf you see was about an inch wide at the left.  I decided it was too wide to be one piece of fabric.  So I drew an accent line.  Then randomly I decided to add two bumps to it.  So fun!  I love the result.  

While I was picking fabric for this quilt I decided I wanted the leaf to be dots so that the bumps made sense.  I am in love with the way it turned out.  I want to do it again soon!


All of Layer 1


The back of layer 1.  If you look closely you can see that the light blue was stitched in a smaller stitch size than the green to keep the emphasis on the green fabric.


I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Monday, June 19, 2017

Wildflower Inspiration

We just got back from a trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota and had a blast!  I took a ton of wildflower pictures for inspiration.  Here are a few.






I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Clam Flower #4 - Part 2

Here's the second part of Clam Flower #4.  I had a lot of fun playing with fabric to get just the right dark orange for this block.  


Here's the back at this stage.


And the finished block.  Silly me forgot to take a last picture, so here it is in the finished top. You'll have to wait to see the whole quilt!  You can see that I fussy cut a batik fabric that was green with orange dots for the bases of the flowers.  Fussy cutting is so much fun!


This picture also shows the finished shape of the blocks...indeed they are clam shells!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Friday, June 16, 2017

Free Motion Friday - Inspiration - My Solo Exhibit!

I must admit that I don't have something new to show you today.  The end of the school year has been hectic as well as going on vacation.  So...I'm sharing my recent solo exhibit from the Minnesota Quilter's Show!

I was so excited to have a special exhibit of 20 quilts from my blog!  Here are pictures.  It's an amazing retrospective of the first 18 months or so of the blog.  And my handsome son who had his first quilt in the show in the youth category this year was happy to pose in a few of the photos.  








I'll be back with new Free Motion work next week!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Clam Flower #4 - Part 1

Here's the next Clam Flower.  I wanted to add some blocks that had more than one flower, so I decided to create some that had three flowers.

Layer One:


The back of layer one:


Layer Two.  It's amazing to see the difference a few pieces add to the block.  


The back of layer two


I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Monday, June 12, 2017

Inspired by the Minnesota Quilters Show

I just got back from the Minnesota Quilter's Show in Duluth, MN.  It was a FANTASTIC show this year with lots of gorgeous quilts and great vendors!

Here are a few favorite pictures of mine.

Be sure to join my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook Group to see even more!

This quilt is two sided and was done using the quilt as you go method.  It was absolutely fantastic!  And gives me ideas....

Here's the front.


A close-up of the back.


The back...wow!


This is a quilt by Beth Nufer and Clem Buzick.  I met Clem at the show and she was wonderful.  The quilt is made of silks and it just glows...hmmm....more food for thought!  Enjoy.





I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy