Done!

I love it. I wasn't sure if I would. I had pieced the leaves together a few months ago and then left them as I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them. When I finally decided to try and do a 'modern whole cloth quilt', that is the definition I am calling it, I didn't know if it would work=)

 I arranged my leaves on the cotton background on my design wall and took several shots of them being rearranged in many different ways.  Once I decided on a pattern, I machine stitched using different thread on each of the leaves matching colours of the leaves.

Then came the fun part. I decided not to plan out what free motion pattern or where I was going to quilt it, instead I started in the middle with no idea and just went!  It was very much 'free' motion quilting. White on white thread and background. Something I have never done on such a large piece before. Only once near the end did I consider getting my hot pink thread out and go a little wild!  But I held off.

I am very happy with the results.

In case you want to see what Canada is up to these days in quilting, I made a guest appearance at the GenerationQ blog! It is so much fun going there, they are the sweetest quilters ever!

Binding Stage

I am putting the binding on my quilt.  I love this stage. It signifies that the end is in sight and after hours of work, I will finally have a finished product. Right after the sleeve goes on=)

What I always have trouble on is squaring it up and getting it to hang flat. I use my special 90 degree steel ruler that carpenters use, but still can't get it quite perfect.

I try very hard not to pull the binding too tight so the corners don't curl, and so it hangs without ripples.

This is the best binding tutorial I have ever seen!

Quilting Is Done!

I finished!   I spent the last few weeks grabbing minutes when I could to finish the free motion quilting on my latest leaves quilt. It was white thread on white fabric. And I didn't have a plan, just quilted whatever design popped into my head at that moment.

I was a bit worried that I would get bored without any use of colour but it wasn't until I had only 20 minutes of quilting left that I thought how much fun it would be to be using pink!  For the most part though, I was concentrating so hard on the design that I didn't focus on the colour.

Now I have to bury threads, cut, square and bind.

Now if you want to see more quilt eye candy, check out the winners from Houston this year!

Back at It

I cleaned up my sewing room and in doing so, realized I needed another thread holder. My awesome husband listened to my idea and made me this.

It is a thread holder out of my grandparents barn, one of the boards that had come off. Now I have a piece in my sewing room. It brings me so much happiness!

Remember I went to Lula 2014 retreat a few weeks ago?   I had the opportunity to write a post up. If you would like a good laugh and give it some thought about going there yourself, check it out here. One of the benefits of going to the Lula 2014 is a brand new headshot by a super amazing photographer.

Just to keep you up to speed on holiday planning, check out some great quilt gift ideas that I wrote about on Craftsy.

This is what I am working on at the moment. I had made the leaves in the summer and didn't know what to do with them.

I finally put fusing on the back and laid them out on a white background in this design. What do you think?

Three On The Go

Do you work on one quilt at a time, or are you like me and have no less than three happening all at once?
And I won't even tell you how many are in my sketch pad or how many have the fabrics pulled out waiting to be made=)

This is my black and white quilt for the challenge at our guild.   We were allowed to use 10% of other colours.  Thank goodness!   I did a patch background and then lay screening on top, and cut holes through it.  

As I had never worked with screening before, when I went to quilt it, the problems started.  The screening would not feed through the machine and kept getting stuck.   I used my good ol' seam ripper and went at it.  I have now figured out a different method to quilt it and will post pics of that shortly.

This is my second quilt for my 'Circle Me Silly' workshop.   I love it.. although you may notice what happens when you don't buy enough fabric!  Have to figure out how to fix that problem=)

This one is just me totally experimenting and having fun.  I don't know what I am going to do with them yet, so they may be on my design wall for a bit.

Got a favourite?  Got any suggestions?  I love hearing from you!