Just Under the Wire

I joined the  Sew It's Finished 2012  UFO challenge hosted by Dawn and Wendy.  I'm hoping to finish at least one UFO each month! My first completed project is my Funky FLower Jelly Roll 1600 quilt!

 I must have auditioned 20 fabrics for the binding, finally deciding to go with my favorite color (for the moment) of lime green. It's a weird fabric, covered in large peace signs, though you can't tell when it is cut up into such narrow pieces.

My list of UFO's is still in the making. Suffice it to say there are lots of them! For now though, it's off to snuggle in a blanket with a big mug of tea, lots of tissues and a couple of cold pills - hope there's a good old movie on Turner Classics!

Happy Stitching
corina

Free Motion Quilting Challenge 2012

Sew Cal Gal is hosting a Free Motion Quilting Challenge. Every month, for the next year, there will be a tutorial with a feature teacher. This month the teacher is Frances Moore. She made a video tutorial on heart shaped leaves, and gave us lots of pointers. Here are my results:

Stitched on a Bernina

stitched on a Pfaff

I doodled on paper first, then tried sewing the design. It was awkward stitching at first. My brain was determined to make elongated oval leaves, not heart shaped! (At times I would forget to make the center vein too). It will take some practice to get this design flowing the way I would like. I left some blank areas and got myself stuck in a few corners, but I like the overall effect.

I'm looking forward to the upcoming months of practice!! Why not join in the challenge too!

Happy Stitching
corina

Quilting My Funky Flowers for FNSI

I know many of you thought I had disappeared off the face of the earth. I'm still alive and kicking! This year we went all out with Christmas. Lots of decorating, baking, 2 big turkey dinners and many get togethers with friends and family. Best of all, my daughter came home at the end of December for a 2 week visit. This was quite a wonderful event as she lives in Athens, Greece and I haven't seen her for over a year! She brought her boyfriend of many years too. It was wonderful to connect with my future son in law (nothing official, but I'm hoping!). Needless to say, blogging was put on the back burner. In fact, so was everything else!

The FNSI marked my return to my sewing. I finished free motion quilting my Funky Flower Jelly Roll 1600. I did an allover pattern of swirls and small flowers, trying to mimic one of the flowers in the applique (key word is trying).

 Note to self: Never try to quilt a black and white quilt with white thread! It was impossible to see where I was going or where I had been. The stitches completely disappeared on the background. Eventually I used masking tape to mark off small areas to work in. I could have used wash out markers, but for some reason I was too stubborn to do that.

I tried something a little different for the backing. It reminds me of the teeth on a zipper, so I'm calling it my zipper backing.  Next time I try it I'm going to use solids, or fabrics with less of a pattern. That should make the zipper effect stand out a little more. Tomorrow I'm off to a mini retreat with a goal of attaching the binding.

I'm working on a list of goals for this year. Something has to be done about all the unfinished projects!

Happy Stitching!
corina