Free Quilted Table Runner Pattern

I am back with a fun table runner pattern over at the QuiltSocial blog!
Day 1 instructions are here.
Day 2 here
Day 3 here. 
It involves piecing and fusing.  Very easy and very fast but allows you to play with color and prints to create adorable flowers out of various sized fused circles.  I had so much fun making it!

I stacked layers of circles together to create cute flowers then fused them down to the runner.  

To create the leaves, I simply free motion quilted the shapes coming out off the green pieced stems.

I had fun adding some creative quilting in the circle flowers as well as the background for the runner.

I was even named the 'Quilted Flower Queen' after someone saw this pattern=)

Working, working, working...

I am creating as many samples as possible for my upcoming workshop.   I hope to finish this one in the next day or two.  It is my favourite 3D flower art quilt, I think.  
Here are a couple of glances at it.

So far I have used ric rac, lace, buttons, toothpicks, fabric of course, and vintage jewelry.  Pretty much everything but the kitchen sink.   Nope, wait, I did use something from the sink!   I'll show you that in a couple of days!

Art Quilt Needs a Name

I quilted my fingers off for 2 days straight and got my big flower quilt all quilted.   I used all these bobbins up plus 4 more.   Alot of colour on this quilt and I love it so much!   I took so much time and care in pinning it, and may I add pain.   The majority of the top is not cotton but canvas.   Let me tell you how hard that was to pin.  It took two solid hours and I had a massive blister that broke by the time I was done, but it was soo worth it.

This is just a small section of the back of the quilt.    I have to finish the centre and  attach it.  Don't you love my hand dyed fabric I am using?

I think the task I have the hardest time with is squaring it up.  I can get the sides cut in a straight line, but boy do  I ever have a heck of a time getting it to square up evenly.   

I went ahead and got all my binding ready.  I am using my hand dyed fabric to match the centre and cut a bunch of colourful strips and sewed them together, ready to go.

The name.   When entering quilts in shows, the first thing you have to record is the name of the quilt.   I don't know how other art quilters come up with their names.   For me, somewhere along the process of making the quilt, the name just comes to me.    

For this quilt, it was going to be a peacock tail until I went to applique it to the background, and then it turned into a flower.  So there went all my ideas regarding peacocks.   I am trying not to panic as I am very, very near the end and nothing is popping into my head.   Probably because it has only been a flower for 4 days, but I ALWAYS have a name by the end of the quilt.   I am so not freaking out!   (translates to:  I am totally freaking out)

Let's hope in the next day or two I have a mind blowing name experience=)

Bring on 2012!

Let's get 2012 started!   What a year this is going to be.   I have set my goals in the side bar and am ready to dive into a fresh new year.  

January is jam packed with crazy quilting.  I have two entries I want to get ready for the Canadian Juried show and one entry still has the fabric neatly folded in a bag with the design on top.   Yikes, magic better happen soon!  

I finished two tutorials this week.  They will be up tomorrow and next week.   I might add they are both on embellishing.  How fun is that?  Riley Blake loves embellishments so much that I am posting once a month on  how you can use them in quilts, sewing projects and crafts!  

More tomorrow on that delicious bit of news.

I am getting close to the quilting stage of my art quilt currently in the studio.  I always jot down steps when I am unsure how to proceed to ensure that things go smoothly.  They never do.   I had a heck of a time getting this giant piece appliqued onto the background.  I finally had to baste a large section of it.  Don't think I didn't consider fusing the whole thing down!  

Trust me when I say, it is big.   I have cut away all the white pieces and have attached it to a black piece of fabric.   I had gotten away from using black as a background.   I tried a mottled grey, but nothing seemed to work except the black.  

Now I have to figure out how to quilt this one without detracting from all the colours.   There have been a few quilts that by the time I got finished quilting them, I thought they looked better unquilted.   I really don't want to say that about this one.   Way too much time sunk into it already.   And I have a deadline!

My latest art quilt

I am busy working away at my latest art quilt and wanted to show you the early stages of progress.   It is 3D of course, and here is one of the flowers that is to be part of the quilt.  It is the size of my hand.   Very big!

For the background, I am using a selection of my hand dyed fabrics.  The fabric on the left is one of the focal fabrics in my flowers.   I love how the colours  of my dyed fabrics all blend and match with the commercial fabric. 

I am doing my own version of strip piecing them together.  I will show you the background when I have a little more done on it.   

I am contemplating selling my hand dyed fabric on etsy and would love your feedback on this.   

Now to make some progress on that background before my kids are out of school for the summer.

Modern 3D Art Quilt Finished

I put the embellishments on my modern art quilt today and it is now hanging in our dining room, welcoming spring.  

The quilt was made using scraps of fabric and a large piece of white cotton.   It is machine quilted using the free motion stippling technique.  I purposely only quilted in the large white sections so the coloured strips would pop out a bit from the background, and they do.  Although hard to see in the pictures.

I think I am in love with jumbo ric rac!   It is used in all three stems.   You will notice that I brought the stems right over the binding, I wanted to see what look it would create.   The two flowers on the outside are made from zippers with an adorable pull tab in the centre.  The middle flower is made using my scrap 'n' slash technique.   Of course that is what gives the quilt it's 3D appearance.

I have shown a before I added the embellishment shot.   As I know some people would like it just like that.

Here are the pictures of the finished quilt.  I have also included some close ups of the flowers, which I adore in every way possible!

And please don't forget to give me a vote, by clicking on the bright flower at the top of the right hand side bar, only 5 more days left to vote.  Thanks!

Ric Rac Flower

I just completed a ric rac flower. It is going to be the center of my latest quilt. I just have to lay it out and quilt it. I am obviously not looking forward to that part, as I just spent the last 2 days cleaning my studio instead of quilting it. But I needed to rearrange and clean so that was good.

The ric rac flower was time consuming but a nice hands on project in the evening. The colours of it match my latest quilt, so you can see that it is bright.

NJS Here We Come!

My quilt got accepted into the National Juried Show in Saskatoon , hosted by the Canadian Quilters Association. If I was any more excited I would fly there and deliver it myself. My friend from our guild also got in, so it really puts Manitoulin on the map!



That pretty much made the day terrific. Plus the kids did some great skating, both able to stop now and we played outside and had a ton of fun this afternoon. Life is good.

A Long Wait

Sigh, sigh, and triple sigh. If you can't do it yourself, don't expect others too. And always, always do your homework. This quilt is going on it's 3rd year in the making. It has seen the best and worst of me, and currently is testing me, beyond what I thought quilting should be testing me=) As one quilter told me, "you have perseverance". Or maybe I don't know when to quit. Regardless, I am going to see this one through. My goal is to have it done by January 2010.