How Do I Love Thee

I'm working on my gumdrops quilt. It has never been a particular favorite top of mine, so I figured it would be perfect to practice quilting on. So far I've quilted 24 motifs. I'm not sure what I will be doing in the blocks with the circles yet.

designs marked with blue washout pen

quilted with pale yellow thread

I used a light grey contrasting thread for the back. Normally I pick thread to blend in with the back so mistakes won't show, but seeing as this is my test quilt with my Juki I wanted everything (good or bad) to be visible. I'm quite pleased so far. Still find it a bit challenging to follow lines, but it's getting better. I force myself to stop at points to readjust my hands. It seems I was only remembering to change hand position in the middle of a flowing curve, which doesn't help. Lots of good practice space on this quilt. I'm thinking of trying out different small scale fills in the areas around the motifs.

How do I love thee Juki after only 5 days? Let me count the ways......you are a dream for piecing, free motion quilting is tension headache free and you don't even show the hint of a quiver in the stitching going over bulky seams when doing stitch in the ditch. There will be more praises sung of this machine in the future.


I am linking up for WIP Wednesday at the Needle and Thread Network and also at Freshly Pieced. If you have a moment, drop by and see some of the beautiful works in progress in blogland!

Happy Stitching
corina

It's a Boy, No a Girl, No it's a JUKI

My husband was trying to remember what he had wanted to do this afternoon. I gave the usual suggestions to help jog his memory, Canadian Tire, Princess Auto, Home Depot. Then it hit me. I knew what he wanted to do, test drive a JUKI!!!(or should I say watch his wife test drive one!). Unbelievably he said YES and lo and behold, a couple of hours later my baby came home!!!

I'm blown away by this machine. I've thrown every troublesome thread I could at it, mono filament, 28wt, metallic and it doesn't skip a beat. No tension issues when FMQ'ing. Piecing is unbelievable. No creeping of the top square. I am so in love :).

I may disappear for a bit. You understand, don't you?

Happy Stitching
corina

A FEW CURVES for FNSI

I took a class taught by Marj Moore a couple of weeks ago. Our guild is very fortunate to have her as a member. Click on her name to see some of her phenomenal quilts. The class was on the pattern from the book "It's in the Bag" by Hopscotch . For the FNSI I finished adding some of the curves.

 I won't be making it into a bag. It will be yet another wall quilt. I'm thinking of adding a couple of sections onto it to make it more substantial. The ideas need to percolate in my head just a little longer.

Thank you Heidi and Bobbi for hosting the FNSI. I look forward to it every month as I'm sure everyone else does :)

If you have a moment, take a look at all the quilts for Dad entered at the Quilting Gallery contest. I've entered my quilt "It's a Guy Thing". Vote for your favorite (perhaps mine?). Voting ends Sunday night (or Monday morning depending on your time zone).


Happy Stitching
corina

Father's Day Quilt

The Quilting Gallery is having a Quilts for Dad contest and I have entered my jelly roll 1600 quilt "It's A Guy Thing". I figured it was a perfect fit for the theme. There are so many beautiful quilts entered in the contest. Vote for your favorite (perhaps mine?). Voting is open until Monday morning!

 Now it's time to get ready for the FNSI tonight. I have so many UFO's I don't know where to start! If you haven't linked up yet head on over to Handmade by Heidi's blog and sign up!

Happy Stitching
corina

I Couldn't Get It Done

 I've linked up with the Needle and Thread Network for WIP Wednesday!

 I didn't make the deadline for the charm square challenge :(  Thank goodness the  guild decided not to kick me out Ha Ha! I sewed and sewed and sewed, had multiple fights with my fusible web and finally had to admit deadline defeat. The background for my Winnipeg Skyline quilt is ready though as you can see from the above photo. The next step is to add my buildings. Here are the building fabrics being auditioned on the background before I had it sewn together.

They are further along than the picture shows, just forgot to take the photo. I actually have applied the fusible and cut out the shapes. Once they are fused on I need to add details such as windows. The final step will be to add trees in front of the buildings. I'm going to cut all my green charm squares into 2 1/2" squares, then sew them on point into 1 big piece of fabric. I'll be cutting individual trees from that fabric.

Hopefully once everything goes together it will match what I had envisioned. Right now I think it's a bit "iffy". Time will tell! If you have time, check out my fellow Canadian Bloggers who have linked up with the Needle and Thread Network for WIP Wednesday!

Happy Stitching,
corina

A Little Win

I belong to a 300+ member guild called Manitoba Prairie Quilters. We had a UFO challenge that started in December. You took a picture of your UFO, finished it by the June meeting and were then entered to win a gift bag. I submitted 10 UFO pictures (I'm always optimistic) and finished 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 ..........1! At least I finished something!?! Approximately 30 of the 70 UFO's entered for the challenge were completed. I didn't win the gift bag draw, but my little quilt tied for Viewer's Choice which was a nice surprise (the 4 fat quarters and $25 prize were an added bonus!). The pattern for the quilt is in the book Quilted Symphony by Gloria Loughman. I changed it up a little by doing the beaded curved edge. I'm not a big paper piecer either, so I just free sewed the last section.

I'm in nickel square challenge at another guild I belong to. I'm making a quilt depicting Winnipeg's skyline at sunset. So far I have attached a 1" black strip to each of the 144 nickel squares, then cut them in half. You can see I have a long way to go but I do have until Monday night. That gives me PLENTY of time Ha ha!

Happy Stitching
corina

My WIP

 Last year I took a class with Vicki Pignatelli. She was an amazing teacher. The class was really enjoyable and I was all gung-ho to finish my abstract project!

 Fast forward several months and I had still done nothing! This morning I finally sewed my curved pieces onto the foundation fabric, decided I don't like wonky edges and am now working on cutting the block into a circle shape.

 I need those nice clean edges! Eventually my circles will be joined together, but not sure how. Am toying with the idea of beading to join them, but that may be a bit too ambitious!

Check out all the other Canadian Blogs for W.I.P Wednesday at the Needle and Thread Network!

Happy Stitching
corina

Charm Top is done

My scrappy charm square quilt is done, well before the September deadline. I think that it's the first time I've finished something ahead of schedule (you know I'm a last minute kinda girl!). The deadline for the completed quilt is December, so lots of time to quilt and bind it. Oops. Looks like I was a tad off balance when I took the picture.

  I dragged out my Gloria Loughman UFO. I really find it hard to work on older projects. The enthusiasm is no longer there. But..I'm determined to get it off my list. I need one paper pieced section, then I can start sewing all the sections together.

Hopefully I can get it done by Wednesday morning. Our power is being turned off that day. Our neighbour is getting a huge tree that is close to the power lines cut down. Would be the perfect time to sew the binding on.

Happy Stitching
corina