Farewell F.U.N.C.!

The F.U.N.C. was hanging out with the pretty wall quilts, when a family trip to the biggest mall in North America was suggested. Well of course we brought him along, no sophisticated world traveller would miss the Mall.

You can read about the F.U.N.C. over at Quilter in the Gap here.



He really wanted to ride the slides at the waterpark. There are huge waves periodically too and jumping about in them looked fun. But, alas, he did not bring along his bathing suit.



We considered the spinning boats in the big lake while waiting for people who were tied up in the fancy tea store. But he did not bring his life jacket either. And we got dizzy just watching, so it was all for the best.



Skating was considered, but he thought the better of it. Oops.

Now the F.U.N.C. has ridden out of Dodge, so to speak, on an airmail voyage to somewhere else. Where will he end up - only time will tell.  Hopefully, we will hear from him soon. He might not be pretty, but he had some fun. Too bad we had no snow to show him this year, which is very unusual. Maybe he will come back this way next winter, to the wild west on the Canadian prairies.

Best,

Leanne

The internet ate my homework...

I have been making mosaics. You see, I signed up for a few swaps. And secret partners need inspiration and that means making mosaics. The one above is for the Love of Solids {a Modern Swap} round 2.



This mosaic is for a new swap called the Fab Little Quilt Swap. I find making mosaics difficult and time consuming (not the technical part, the selecting items part) and I feel like I am conveying a different style with each one. I really do like most everything.



Those pincushions are for another new group, Bee, a {modern} Swapper. I love pincushions and I have made and given away a lot over the last year. One day I will round up some pictures to share but they are not handy this morning. I spent all my free time in the last few evenings making mosaics.



And this mosaic is for another new swap, Mouthy Stitches. This group is run by my UK friends and there is no way I could not join, given the name.

[And Hadley, (Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle), really, how can you so adamantly hate brown? I cannot resist showing this off, my solids quilt from last summer - it is primarily brown. Oh and there is a bit of gold there too.



Oh and I joined a rainbow layer cake swap too. Seems that I have a case of January startitis. It is so bad that I set up a Google calendar just for quilting deadlines! Luckily most of them fall on the same few days, which means they are easy to remember but I will certainly be scrambling near to those dates.

Worse,  remember I am still going for broke on the Finish-A-Long and I am looking forward to Sarah, from Narcoleptic in the Cupboard's Stained QAL  which starts soon (beautiful button is over on my sidebar). And there are a few Bees that I forgot to mention.

So, little quilting has happened, I had no progress for Work in Progress Wednesday and I am still thinking about all the great suggestions and help you gave me for the kaleidoscope binding and quilting. Thank you and there will be more on that when I have time to quilt again. The internet ate my homework.

Best,

Leanne

A little help please.

Rhonda from Quilter in the Gap's Finish-A-Long is working! I have sandwiched and quilted, or mostly quilted, my kaleidoscope quilt. But I can't decide on two things. First, the binding. I have enough of three fabrics which match perfectly - which one should I use? I have taken pictures from three different angles.



My other question is the quilting. You can see I used light grey threat to quilt straight lines parallel to the seams running along the pointy bits on either side of the seams. That leaves the square in the middle of the aqua and chartreuse stars without quilting. The spacing between quilting is fine for my batting, it can go to 8" between quilting and I want this to be a soft and puffy quilt.

Should I leave it as is, add another line parallel to the ones I have quilted on both sides of the seams, say a 1/2" further over, or quilt around the squares?



I have trouble auditioning binding as there is so little that actually shows on the quilt. This last picture is my attempt at a view more like binding.



Here is the top before quilting, I did not have time to set up lighting to photograph the quilted top last night.

In other FAL news, I have about 35" left to hand stitch on the bed quilt, but I could not keep my eyes open last night to finish. I will be able to show it off very soon.

Have a great Monday and thank you for your thoughts!

Best,

Leanne

Stars

These are all 6 of my Stargazing blocks for my hive in the 4 x 5 Modern Quilt Bee. This block is called Stargazing from the Modern Blocks book (page 178) and was designed by Angela Pinagel from Cut to Pieces. I just love making these stars, each one is my new favourite, until I make another.



I have to show you each of the ones I did not show you in my last post because I think this block is just so cute! This one is for Debbie from A Quilter's Table. Debbie asked for grey, white and orange.



This one is for Nichole, from Eleven Quilts, who asked for grey with bits of red and black highlights on an off-white background.



And this one is for Tiffany from This Crafty Fox, who asked for aqua, orange, and grey on a medium or dark grey background.

I have news. First, if you have not yet been to Fairy Face Designs where Sarah is featuring {Sew} Getting Started Beginner Sewing Tutorials every Thursday, you should check it out.  The opening give away is open until Monday January 9. Sarah is running a great series of tutorials from a group of very talented people that will allow beginners, and the rest of us too, to master a number of skills. I get to do the tutorial for a tote bag which is scheduled for March 1, 2012 and I am very excited that I get to be part of this feature with so many talented women.

And, like me, you may have been enjoying the 100 Days of Modern Quilting feature at the Modern Quilt Guild blog. To my great surprise and pleasure, my video tutorial on how to sew drunkard's path curves is featured on today's post: 100 Days - Week of Shapes - Tutorial Roundup. 

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. I hope to have some time to do more sewing tomorrow.

Best, 

Leanne

Wednesday is for progress.

I've been making this wonderful star blocks for the 4 x 5 Modern Quilt Bee. This block is called Stargazing from the Modern Blocks book (page 178) and was designed by Angela Pingel from Cut to Pieces. This one was the test block in my colours. These blocks are really fun to make!



This one is for Annabella, from Life's Rich Pattern. She asked for mulberry, orange and ash. Well, I checked out mulberry and I hope that various purples will do.


And this one is for Wendy. She asked for black, white and red, which to me is a grown-up sophisticated combination. I am hoping that the little elephant can sneak in anyway.

I have three more blocks to make and send them off before the January 15 deadline. By the way, sign ups are open in this bee for the next quarter, just saying.



I am sewing the binding on the king size quilt for my bed, and all its details are set out for Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap's Finish-A-Long  in my blog post here - where you can also read about a bunch of my other long overdue work in progress. There is still time to join in the FAL fun for this quarter and I hope you will.



I have two sides of the binding done, two to go. You can see the quilting a bit in this "artsy" shot, it is straight lines following the seams vertically. I decided that since the white on the front is Essex Linen, that the softness from less dense quilting was a good mix.



And for those of you who knit (or would like to) I am going to start showing off some knitting here. I finished these fingerless gloves over the holidays.



The yarn is Noro Silk Garden Lite and it is a dream to knit with. Noro is a colour wizard from Japan and his yarns are one of my favourites because they entertain you with their not-quite-regular colour changes and interesting fibre mixes as you go.  The pattern is my own. It is not that cold here yet, which is very unseasonal and these are perfect for driving and running about. I can still use my iphone while wearing them, which is so much nicer than my mittens.

I am linking to Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday and to my Canadian friends at the Needle and Thread Network. I hope you will go and check out the other projects at both, they are always wonderful. I have to get back to work so will be doing my reading tonight.

Best,

Leanne