I Wish You a Merry Quilt-a-long Extra Block - Christmas Tree

The original pattern for this was ripped out of something....not sure what....many years ago and hung on my design wall for years.  I finally made it up into a table runner last year.  I knew I wanted to include it in this quilt so I sized it appropriately.  It was fun using all sorts of different greens to make this tree.  I also varied the size of the blanket stitches depending on the sized of the feather.  Big stitches for big feathers and little ones for little feathers.

You can see the difference in the stitching on the back.

I had fun stitching around a snowflake I cut out of a white print for the star.

And the final block!  Such fun.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Clam Flower #13 - Part 1

It's orange and blue again.  I love those colors.  If you look at the orange pieces below you can see that I had a lot of fun placing the blue dots so they ran down the flower in a line.  Such fun.  I love to fussy cut.

You can also see that the stitching on the green leave is a lot thicker.  I've been playing with thicknesses of blanket stitching and it's fun.

The back of layer 2. 

And the front of layer two.

There are TWO blog hop posts coming Friday and one Saturday!  Be sure to check back for all the fun!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Clam Flower #12 - Part 1

Clam Flower #12 is here!  And there are two more coming this month.  Then all 14 will be done.  I can't wait to share.  

Here's the first step of this flower:  I love the orange and blue combination.  It really sparkles.

Here's the back.

This is a closeup of the two petals so far.  If you look closely you can see that the blue stitches are a little longer than the orange stitches. I have been doing that a lot lately and it adds some extra pizzazz.  I may be the only one that notices, but it makes me happy.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Clam Flower #9 - Part 2

Here's a close-up of Clam Flower #9 with some added detail.  You can see I chose a shorter stitch length for the orange than I did for the yellow to let it recede some.

Layer 3 

A closeup of where the seam overlaps on the two greens.

The back of layer 3

The back of layer 4

Layer 4.  

And I forgot to take a picture with the final dot on the top.  Oops.  You'll have to wait until the whole quilt is done to see it!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

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

Clam Flower #2

Here's the start of Clam Flower #2!  I had a lot of fun making a blue flower.

Here's layer 1:

And the back:

Layers 2 and 3.  You can see that I used a piece of light blue, then put on the pistils coming out of the top of the flower, and then put a piece of the same fabric in the front.  If you look closely you can see that the front piece uses a much longer stitch length.  It was fun to change it up a bit.

And the back.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Clam Flower #1 - Part 2

Clam Flowers has become a bit of an obsession for me of late.  It's getting done a lot faster than I thought it would and I can't wait to keep working on it!  

Here's a link to Part One.

This is the back of layer three.  You can see that I am using a variety of sizes of blanket stitching.  I have come to using this because I think it adds a bit more variety to my blocks.

Here's the front of layer three.

This piece of green fabric at the bottom of the stem was giving me a few problems because I couldn't decide which thread to stitch it in.

I ended up picking a neutral green thread so it wouldn't stand out a lot (the right most spool above).

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

A Project Found

As I was digging for a project to take to Quilter's Night Out the other day, I came upon a project that was leftover fused down onto a background.  It was all circles I'd cut with a circle cutter or scissors for the smaller ones during a class in Colorado 3 years ago.

Those of you who read my blog often are aware that I try to learn something new with each project.  This project was all about using different kinds of blanket stitching on the circles.  Different widths and lengths.  I like the overall effect because you have to look closely.  If you stare at the picture below you can see than the circle on the right has a much larger stitch width than the green circle on the left.  

Here's another look at some of the different circles.

Now you can see some of the Echo Curls I did as part of my Brick Wall Free Motion Quilt Along which is culminating Friday!  I can't believe the quilt is done.

The final quilt. It's a cute little piece done with leftovers.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Black and White Flower #15

Black and White Flower #15 is one of my favorites.    It was really fun to fussy cut the petals for this block!

Here's layer one.  A lonely pink petal.

And the back.

And some purple petals came along to keep the pink petal company!

The back.  You can see that the purple blanket stitching is smaller than the pink.  I have been using longer stitches on more solid fabrics to add depth to my work.

And the first black and white appears!  Aren't the fussy cuts great?

The back.

All done!  So much fun.

The back.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Black and White Flower #9

This flower was a blast to make.  One thing I liked about it is that I could put so may pieces on for the first layer!  That made it quick to sew.

If you look closely at the back of layer one, you can see that the red stitches are fairly large.  I have been playing around a lot with larger stitch size and I think this is effective.

Here is the block with the final piece put in.  I really like the play on dots in this block.

And the back.  Even though it was a lot of layers this was easier to sew since I used poly thread instead of rayon.

Come back Monday for the start of my Folk Art Quilted Traditions Blog Hop!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Black and White Flower #6

Flower #6 was actually the first flower I cut pieces for in this project.  I love the way these white waves and dots flow over the pieces.  I cut them from a 2 1/2 inch strip and had to be careful!

You can't see much, but here's the back.  I'm glad I chose to outline these pieces in white instead of black.  I think black would've taken away from the white waves.

Here's layer number two!  I fussy cut the petals at the bottom and the light purple clamshell in the middle.  I love to fussy cut geometric prints.  It's such a blast.

If you look carefully at the dark purple piece on the top part of this flower you can see that I switched the size of the blanket stitching on the inside and the outside of the piece.  I used a larger size on the outside to emphasize the shape and a smaller size on the inside because I didn't want to take away from the fussy cut clamshell piece underneath.

Look at that dot!  I was debating what to put in the center of this flower when I realized that this motif was the exact right size to go in the center.  I was glad to have some extra black fabric around the edge though so that when I did my blanket stitching it didn't cut into the pattern at all.

And the back!  All done!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy