Near Finishes!

After the disappointments of last week, I wasn't quite sure I had the energy or confidence to do anything remotely creative or crafty this weekend. But, my targets for the month of October called, and I sat down to my sewing machine with no small sense of trepidation on Saturday afternoon, armed with helpful suggestions from Judith and Leanne about FMQ-ing. After a methodical de-threading, cleaning, and re-threading, my machine magically began to cooperate, and I was back in business! I finished the FMQ-ing in no time, and I'm so pleased with the result! 
It was a bit overcast when taking these photos, so they're not amazing, but you can see all the lovely stippling of which I'm insanely proud!
While I was at it, I sewed on the binding and now just have to finish hand sewing it on. I'm calling that a success, if not yet a completion! (Near finishes count, right?!) 

 Since I was obviously on a roll, I also made a start on the throw pillows to match this baby quilt. I had bought two pillow forms at Ikea a while back with this intention but didn't have much of a plan in mind, except that I wanted to use the same fabrics from the quilt in the pillow covers. As I plotted and planned on Saturday, I decided I might keep one pillow very plain and make the other a quilted front, using the Scrappy Block pattern we've been making in Bee Blessed recently. So, following the measurements in Sew Mama Sew's great pillow-making tutorial, I came up with this....
Again, the lighting isn't great...
I just have to quilt this mini quilt sandwich, attach the pillow backing, and throw on a bit of binding. It sounds like a big job when I write it down like that, but I'm definitely happy with my progress this weekend! And, I'm feeling so much less discouraged than I was at the end of last week.... not least because I received a fantastic delivery on Saturday - my charm pack from the Japanese Charm Swap!! I've spent so much time marveling at all the lovely fabrics included in my pack that I haven't actually managed to take any photos, but I promise some in due course. In the meantime, massive thanks to Sarah for organising the swap and making my first experience of such a thing so enjoyable!!

 xx Tina

Comments

  1. Judith, Belfast15 October 2012 at 16:54

    Big well done on conquering the fmq! Looks amazing! Jxo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Simply Sew15 October 2012 at 18:48

    WEll done on the FMQ. What a difference a day makes!!! The quilt looks great. I still have to conquer FMQ.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Di15 October 2012 at 21:14

    Beautiful quilt and FMQ. The cushion is looking good too. Di x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sarah15 October 2012 at 21:58

    Fabulous Tina - so great that you have mastered FMQ - your quilt is so cute and your cushion will be just great when it's finished too! Definitely a successful weekend's work.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fabulous Fabric-y Fun this Saturday

Image
Not quite what you had in mind?! Read on...  Thursdays are prime-time thinking-ahead days for me. Already thoroughly sick of the workweek by about Tuesday, I yearn for Thursdays as a kind of sign that I can now legitimately begin planning my weekend festivities. In that vein, here’s a suggestion for this coming Saturday: the Quilting Exhibition & Open Day at Christian Fellowship Church (CFC) , Belmont Road, Belfast. The brainchild of Judith of Just Jude , the Quilting Exhibition & Open Day is designed to showcase some of the wonderful work the students in Judith’s Rags to Bags sewing classes , which also take place in CFC, have been producing. It’s on from 10am to 3 pm, and entry is free, with complimentary tea and coffee on offer (always a bonus, especially if the weather is anything like it is today!) There’ll also be various stalls selling cakes, fabrics, and crafts as well as loads of information about Judith’s classes and local charity quilting groups, in
Read more

Almost there...

Image
I can hardly believe it's already December! You know what that means, right?! Only a matter of weeks/days before Baby H arrives! CRAZY! Yesterday, my lovely friend, Kristin, threw me a fantastic baby shower, and we're now materially, if not mentally, prepared for the baby's arrival. Exciting times!  Thanks to a fairly un-ambitious sewing to-do list last month, I have a couple of things finished and ready (or nearly ready) to add to the pile of beautiful baby clothes, blankets, and accessories given to us by our super generous friends and family. That includes Frankenblanket... And two little throw pillows for the nursery... Truth be told, I'm not sure how crazy I am about these pillows. They certainly don't seem to go together... the first is too busy for the second, which definitely seems to require some buttons or applique or something. But then, the rocking chair is really too small for both pillows together, so maybe it's no bad thing that
Read more

Almost there!

Image
Well, after devoting much of my weekend to it, my Double Irish Chains quilt is all but finished. Phew! All I have to do, as you can see from the pic below, is hand sew the binding - the perfect project for those lazy days of my New Hampshire holiday next week. A rare spot of sunshine demanded that I take this photo in the front 'garden'. There were a few miscalculations along the way, as well as a couple of unfortunate fabric mis-cuts due to sheer exhaustion, but eventually, I got there. I briefly contemplated free machine quilting when I'd gotten the quilt sandwich put together, but I quickly ruled that out in respect for my sanity. Instead, I followed the chains themselves, quilting diagonal lines in an unobtrusive cream thread. The effect, I think, is perfect, as the diagonals emphasise and draw attention to the chains while still giving the eye a little something to work with in the large cream-coloured patches of fabric. A glimpse of the back   For the
Read more