June Free Motion Quilting Challenge

SewCalGal, the hostess for the Free Motion Quilting Challenge, invited Cindy Needham to be June's free motion instructor. Cindy's incredible talent blows me away with not only her fabulous quilts but with her free motion quilting style and method of teaching! Cindy's work is very detailed yet she is quite laid back in creating her art. Her specialty is quilting with antique linens. Check out Cindy's website. I printed all her pages as they will always be a great read for reviewing and future reference.

The picture to the left is my first practice attempt. More practice needed! Yet I am inspired! I really focused on making my machine hum and purr!

Background music helped me to stay in rhythm. My favorite was listening to Shamrock and Thistle. Try it! You will absolutely find the Irish music perfect for when free motion quilting. Check some of the line ups at NPR Online Radio.

Time to get serious by making a drawing that will work with my fabric size. If you have been following me you know that I have been making each monthly sample into a wall hanging.

I love the idea of filling in around the main design, though my drawing doesn't reflect but one fill in style my finished piece included many more.

Being a novice I was being brave to use color thread that shows all the oops! Maybe I will learn from them.

Cindy Needham thank you so much for giving of your time! I had so much fun making this piece and using your ideas.

Free Motion Quilting Challenge April & May with SewCaGal

This display was an effort to kill two birds with one stone. Having been 3 months behind with SewCaGal's Free Motion Quilting Challenge. I used this piece for April's and May's Free Motion Quilting Challenge of the month.

Don Linn was April's instructor who shared a new way on transferring a quilting motif on a quilt being prepared to be quilted. Though I didn't use Don's particular motif I did use a motif from "Follow-the-Line Quilting Designs Volume Three" by Mary Covey. I used the continuous line feather pattern which became the stem and leaves for my large hexagon flower.

Don's method of transferring is a nice way of drawing a motif. He traces the pattern on tulle that is placed in an embroidery hoop. He uses permanent ink (Sharpie) to draw on the tulle. Once that is done the ink is set by placing your iron on nylon heat temperature. From there the drawn motif now can be traced onto the quilt with an water removable marking pen.

May's FMQ Challenge instructor was Leah Day. Her Free Motion Quilting tip was creating a curvy line and going back over it with stippling. Leah terms this as foundation quilting which I used for the background of my project. I love how this looks. It is a fun and easy free motion quilting motif. I like the idea of just going for it and not having to draw a design on the quilt top. This to me equates to being free. But for now and until the day comes that I perfect my free motion quilting skills - which I think will take another 150 hours or so I may need to rely on drawing my quilting designs on the quilt top.

I will be using this piece as a part of a wall hanging which is becoming even more improvisational than originally planned as I now have deviated from my original layout design.

I haven't sewn it together yet, but here is a picture that shows the pieces side by side.

Now I need to think about June's. Almost there.

Craftsy's June BOM & Graduation Weekend

  Craftsy's June Block of the Month

This month's blocks are from the nine block family. Blocks are Octagon Block and Greek Cross Block.I have made my fair share of nine block quilts, one of my favorite patterns that is simple but yet has many various designs that create a total new look for a quilt.

Octagon Block

Greek Cross Block

 Weekend with the Family

Tyler 

How quickly they grow up! Tyler is my oldest grandson. 

Tyler with his dad, my son and me on graduation day.

Tyler graduated with a 4.25% grade average from Wake Forest-Rolesville High School. 

I am so proud of him.

While in town for Tyler's graduation I went along to watch Caleb at baseball practice. 

Caleb is on a college showcase traveling team. He is an outfielder.

Caleb Suited Up 

 This is only one dresser top filled with Caleb's and his teams' baseball trophies.

Baseball Trophies

And here is Parker my youngest grandson. Oh my as I am writing this I am reminded that I need to go get him a birthday card. He will be 13 this upcoming Saturday.  In the picture below his dad allowed him to steer the boat while cruising on Falls Lake. 

Mindy was giving Parker instructions on how to get up on the wake board. Parker never did get there. More practice. Mindy didn't easily give up, but Parker got to the place where he was tired.

Flying Biscuit, FLAWs and Craftsy May BOM

FLAWs at Flying Biscuit Restaurant

Breakfast was divine not because of the food, though it was tasty and inviting, but it was due to sharing it with dear friends, and that is priceless. Hugs were offered before sitting down. How comfortable we have become with each other after working many years together in a ministry that supports women who face a crisis pregnancy or suffers from the after affects of having an abortion.

 The chattering began each bringing each other up to speed with the latest happenings in our lives. Karen had us in stitches telling about her day with her 90 year old mother-in-law riding a scooter as though she was on a race track through Target. Nanette with much pizzaz talked about her new job and the latest with her two sons. She is the encourager in our group. Teresa always so creative with scrap booking, photography, cooking, a fan of Pinterest and who loves RVing always has her techy toys. She is quite gifted. Louise who loves her family now volunteers at Samaritan's Purse and the Food Pantry. She has an awesome gift for hospitality who can talk to anyone. Not only can she talk to anyone she can do just about anything that she puts her mind to. We called her the "mom" at the Center. And then there is me bringing the latest going on in my family and business building. I love these ladies. There were two missing from the group today and we were sad that they couldn't be with us today. We missed you Bobbie and Leslie!

 Our waitress at Flying Biscuit had to come back to our table 3 times before we were settled enough to read the menu. What a great way to begin a weekend!

Craftsy May Block of the Month - Wonky 6-sided Log Cabin

Prior to meeting with the FLAWs (former ladies at work) I completed one of two of Craftsy's May block of the month. It is a Wonky 6-Sided Log Cabin Block, a great scrap buster beginning with a fussy cut butterfly as the center piece. I didn't watch the video so what was to be 5-sided wonky is now 6-sided wonky, but that is okay with me. It is an easy block where you sew fabric strips and trim on an angle to create a rounded wrap-a-round appearance. I chose to frame my wonky design rather than continuing sewing logs to each corner. Hopefully, before going to bed I will complete the second block which will also have a fussy cut block.

Works in Progress on the Design Board

 My design board is supporting 5 projects in the making. I have been working diligently during the past week to catch up with my challenges: Craftsy Block of the Month and Free Motion Quilting Challenge. Now that we have changed over to June I am now 3 months behind with FMQ and 1 month with Craftsy.

My day was completed by planting a Cleyera shrub and various plants: Caladium, Hosta, Coral Bells, the sweetest succulent plant, Ajuga and WireVine ground cover.  There was an area in my garden that needed some attention. Check out this website to see a great idea on how to use succulents  for wedding place cards.. I have recently grown a fondness for succulent plants. Mostly due to seeing some great ideas on Pinterest. Check out my Brilliant Garden Board on Pinterest.

Feel free to tell me about your latest quilting project, friend story or your day. I love hearing from each one that drops by. If you are not a blogger choose anonymous. Be sure to leave your name or screen name if you know that I will recognize it at the end of the message so I can respond.

April's Craftsy BOM - Hexi Love and Redwork Christmas Tree

 Hexie Love

Craftsy's April Block of the Month was all about making Hexies using the English Paper Piecing technique. I have been wanting to try making them. Surfing quilting blogs and seeing many quilters making quilts and projects using this old, tried and true block pattern has certainly tantalized the desire to make something with them. It took this April's block of the month to motivate and inspire me to do so. Thank you Amy Gibson for choosing this block pattern. This is actually not a pattern that Craftsy promoted for the second block. It was a sun with rays. My color and fabric choices definitely didn't lend to making a sunshine with rays so I made a common flower using a 1-1/4 inch hexagon shaped template. Every flower needs a stem and leaves so I designed the stem and leaves by laying a layer of Golden Thread Paper (transparent paper that can be used for multiple purposes) and drawing them on to the paper. Once drawn I cut them out and pasted the pieces to freezer paper on the non-shiny side, ironed the freezer paper to the fabric and cut 1/4" seam around each piece.

I'm quite pleased with the results.

The smaller picture was taken outside where natural light enhances the picture.

The first block demonstrated was with a double strip of hexies sewn together using 13 different fabrics. It's so cute!

I also finished block #6 out of 12 for my redwork Winter Twitterings quilt. Well I thought it was finished until I noticed I missed a snowflake. Since it is starched, pressed and a picture has been taken I am going to call it finished!

Craftsy BOM, Garden Pics & More

Craftsy Block of the Month

Finally done! The second Craftsy Block of the Month for March. Yep! I am working to catch up!

It was so wonderful to turn on my sewing machine again. It has been several weeks - seems longer than that.

I love how this block turned out! 

It is a broken spider web block that is foundation pieced - well in the initial stages it is since the only pieces that had a foundation are the strips along the star edge. After the first strip was sewn to the foundation I sewed the remaining strips matching seams together right sides together until the foundation pieced is covered. After covering the foundation piece I trimmed the edges along the lines of the foundation and then trimmed the foundation to reduce bulk.

Modern Quilt Blocks from Members of the 

Charlotte Modern Quilt Guild

These wonderful and amazing blocks are for the Quiltcon Challenge. Check out their website to see some WOW! quilts.  I missed the April CLTMQG meeting and missed out on the opportunity to participate.

An Afternoon in the Garden

I was looking out my sliding glass doors and noticed how the birds were lining up to take a bath. I had filled the bird bath to full yesterday morning and the birds came. I ran upstairs to grab my camera to grab a picture of what looked like an airport with with flights waiting to land. I opened the door and they all flew away. So I thought I would sit on the garden bench to see if they would return so I could get a picture of them. One did!

While sitting on my bench I looked up and noticed my sweet Cassie staring out at the door wanting to come out and sit with me on the bench, something she loves doing. She was getting quite persistent about wanting to come out, barking and pawing at the door. I ran to let her out as I was concerned she would awaken my napping hubby. 

Aren't you glad I came out to help make your flower look pretty?

As we sat on the bench Cassie was talkng in all the critters. There is a new bird that has been visiting us. I'm not sure what it is but it has a beautiful song. While Cassie looks for the critters I was looking for pretty things in the garden. I love my garden bunny. I picked it up on the way home from vacation one summer.

 The gardenias are blooming and giving off their wonderful scent.

A potted plant brimmed full with color!

It has been a good day! It ended a bit different than usual though. Hubby and I made a difficult decision to move his autistic son to another group home after having lived there for 14 years. In the last year we took measures to wean Jason from high power medications that was causing him to be listless, not enjoying life, and sleeping all the time. He was so drugged! We wanted Jason back! Well Jason is back! Now that he has returned he doesn't fit in with the other residents because they are satisfied with doing nothing. Not only that staff had been instructed not to talk to them. All the residents are not able to speak, but that doesn't mean that don't want people to talk to them. They used to be an active group home going bowling, skating, swimming, beach trips, outings in the community and etc. This is no more or so reduced that Jason is bored out of his mind. 

If you know anything about autism you know that they do not like changes!! I should add more exclamation points because changes are big adjustments that can set them off. The plan was to keep him in the same work shelter to keep something in place that is familiar. Well that is not to be because the organization that owns the group home also owns the work shelter and they are forcing Jason out of it because of our decision to pull him out of the group home. We have found a wonderful work shelter for him! We feel as though God handed us an amazing blessing as we didn't know that we would find something that offers so many choices and flexibility. It is operated with smiling staff members who love what they do. The facility is bright and cheerful in the Uptown area of Charlotte. 

In an effort for transitioning Jason, Jason spent an afternoon with the guys from his new group home. Jason will officially be a part of them on May 31st. They went out to dinner. Jason had such a good time that when the van from his current group home came to pick him up he wouldn't get on it! No! No! No! he proclaimed and no bribing him with food that usually works would work to change his mind. Mike had to go and pick him up which is clear across town and let me tell you Charlotte is a sprawling town. When Mike drove up to the group home Jason refused. After a couple of hours Jason finally cooperated. Though this may sound like a frustrating event we actually are rejoicing because we are so thrilled that Jason is going to love his new life. We don't know what adjustments he will endure but we are hopeful that it will go beyond our wildest dreams for him.

Wishing all a Happy Memorial Day!

Bloggers Quilt Festival Hosted by Amy's Creative Side

Thank you to Amy's Creative Side for hosting the Bloggers Quilt Festival. It has become an opportunity to get excited about quilting again after a month and a half of not having time to do what I love to do. So today I touched and felt different quilts that I have made.

Now the big decision was which one was I going to show? I first picked out a Modern Quilt and then decided against it since I noticed Amy wanted a story behind the quilt.

The quilt I have chosen to share with you is one that really got me excited about making different blocks and introduced me to the world of sharing quilt making with people across the country online via Eons Quilting groups. It was amazing that I could learn along with others the art of quilting with many wonderful quilters throughout the US. Quilting online has opened so many new doors, making new friends, blogging, becoming aware of all the nationally known quilters and their specialty areas of quilting and more. I learned about the new Modern Quilt Guilds springing up throughout the U.S. and joined my local chapter.

Challenge Block of the Month

The Challenge Block of the Month quilt was made from fabric in my stash. The red was intended for making a quilt for my dad that never happened. All the blocks are foundation pieced on muslin. It was fun to make the same block pattern and come up with a variety of blocks by changing the fabric for pieces of the block.  The quilt is machine quilted with the Baptist Fan motif and the border is feathers. I used a stencil for the feathers. The one thing that I am proud about with this quilt is I achieved not to have wavy borders, something that later quilts I have not been so successful in doing. Anyone else have frustrations with getting quilts to lay flat?

The back is a large Ohio Star using the same fabrics as the top.

Again, thank you to Amy's Creative Side for hosting the Bloggers Quilt Festival. Today I will be back to my sewing machine now once again to get back to it.