Free motion quilting practice

I'm practising my free motion quilting.

This isn't something I've tried before.

I needed a small project on which to practise, so another hot water bottle cover was whipped up.

I like these loopy loops.  They remind me of those handwriting practice sheets my youngest son brings home from school.

Free motion quilting is relatively easy on a small piece like this.  It's when you try it on a bulky quilt that it gets harder.  

I'm thinking of purchasing one of those unattractive sewing tables that your machine sits flat in. Do you have one of these?  

My industrial machine sits flat within a table.  It's as ugly as can be, but is lovely to sew at.  I'm sure it will make all the difference to machine quilting.  My machine currently sits on a rickety little Ikea table with my overlocker.  Not really ideal.

(By the way, does anyone else get confused between 'practice' and 'practise'.  I'm having to recall primary school grammar to write this post.)

Finished Ribbon Quilt

Finishing a quilt was such a good feeling, I was inspired to finish another.

This quilt is from way back.  I started it years ago.

I call it the ribbon quilt as the background fabric looks like a ribbon running through the blocks.

The Purl Bee did a cute version and called it the Masking Tape Quilt.

Most of the fabrics in it have been in my stash for 15 to 20 years; back in the days when I was drawn more to antique quilts and reproduction fabrics.

The quilt isn't that large (I ran out of the background fabric). It's cot quilt size.

It will be more at home at our place at the snow, where the interior has red touches.  This can sit over the back of the red armchair there (yes, red chair, a la Graham Norton). An old print from our first house has gone there, which has the same muddy reds and yellows in it.

I think it will all hang together quite well.

Now, which quilt will I finish next?  I must make the most of this momentum.

Finished Tide Pool Quilt

Oh my, I've finished a quilt.  This is a rarity.

The quilt top has been hanging around since mid 2010.  And it's not the only quilt that has stalled at the quilting stage.

But nearly two years later I'm still fond of it, so it was on the top of the To Do list of quilt finishes.

As I said in my earlier post about this quilt, it really has no place in our current house.  It's too fresh and modern.

So this might be relegated to the linen cupboard with my other quilts that don't see the light of day.

Or maybe I could clear a shelf or two in the armoire in my studio.  Now that I don't have a lot of Townmouse stock left, it might be better use of that storage space.

I'm so excited to have finished a quilt, I'm going to post it over on the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's blog. Do head over and take a look at the many hundreds of quilts that are popping up there.

Quick quilting project

Recently I've moved my many thousands of family photos onto an external hard drive.  My previous external hard drive hit the floor that many times that it started to really falter.

Family photos are too precious to lose, so I decided to satisfy a sewing urge and whip up a simple protective pouch for it.

I decided to put a buttonhole at the top so it can remain closed even while in use.

I just plug it in through the buttonhole.  Now if it gets knocked off the table the photos aren't lost.

One of Adelaide's hair elastics, stitched into the binding, serves as a button loop.

Quilts in the making

This airing rack I bought a while ago seems to have become the place where my quilt tops hang out while they wait to be completed.

There are a couple of swoon blocks hiding there; there's my half square triangle star quilt (3 blocks complete) and some blocks made with the Quick Curve Ruler that are awaiting sashing.

Adelaide has taken a liking to this quilt because it's in the favourite colours of most little girls - pink and purple.  Not my favourite colours but this quilt seemed to call for bright fabrics.  These are Joel Dewberry Heirloom prints.

I've decided I'm going to take my quilt tops to a long arm quilter and get them finished.  There are too many now that at are the quilt top stage and aren't progressing any further.