Progress on First Quilt - Completed

My first quilt that I started 6 years ago is now finally finished. I got the embellishments on over the weekend.

I have added peacock feathers which are encased in Angelina fibres to make them easier to attach to the quilt and add some additional sparkle. Please note that for anyone who has never used Angelina fibres and has asthma please use them in a well ventilated place and you may even need a mask. When you heat the fibres they do release an odor and I found that it did affect my breathing.

I also added some decorative variegated yarn to a section on the middle right hand side. All embellishments were hand sewn and I used YLI's Wonder Invisible thread. It was interesting to use in that it is a very fine, and it was the only invisible thread that I had. It handled beautifully and never tangled, I was very amazed.

So now on to some current projects now that this 6 year old UFO is finished!

Progress on first Quilt - Part 3

I have finished the quilting on my first quilt and got the binding on last night. The last thing now is the embellishments in the light blue areas on the quilt - 1 square in the top middle, 1 square on the left hand side in the middle and 1 long rectangle on the right hand side in the middle. I won't get a chance to get this done until later next week because this evening I'm over at the Friday Block Party working on this week's block and the weekend I have to get the rest of my stuff prepared for the workshops with Cathy Tomm this coming Tue & Wed. So it's going to be a busy few days.

Progress on First Quilt - Part 2

I made considerable progress on my first quilt this weekend. I got the inner and outer boarders done. In the inner border I did free motion stippling where I tried to mimic the seaweed looking pattern of the batik fabric. In the outer border I did 3 radiating loops from the middle of each triangle of the square which ends up looking like a flower. It's amazing how much thread you go through doing this. I was winding bobbins like crazy.

I did a row of echo quilting on the two stars and I'm debating whether to do another row or will it be too much. In the two checkered blocks on the upper left hand corner I ran diagonal stitching. the first one I tried free motion with the stippling foot and it was hard to keep the stitching straight even though I had drawing in the lines but it was easy to manipulate the fabric. On the second one I went back to the walking foot so the lines are nice and straight but much more work manipulating the fabric. In the section to the right and below the checkered blocks I just ran 3 diagonal lines in each triangle from the centre of the 4 blocks. If you click on the picture below it will give you the full image and you will be able to see some of the details.

So I just have the block in the bottom left hand corner to do and some simple quilting in the light coloured blocks because those will be embellished once I have the binding on.

Progress on First Quilt

It's was a busy week at work so I didn't get much time to work on my projects this past week. Today I finally was able to get back to working on my first quilt. Last weekend I got all the stitching in the ditch done. Today I started on some of the free motion quilting. I'm pleased with how it turned out but I must say after while of doing those circles it can get mesmerizing and if you aren't paying attention the circles can start to look a but wonky.

2009 New Years Goals - Part 1

Quilt Pixie's post on Sunday December 28th started me thinking about what my goals were going to be for the coming year in relation to my quilting projects. One goal that I do have for 2009 is to actually finish the quilting on my very first quilt that I started to make about 6 years ago. I took a series of classes to learn the basics and got it as far as making the quilt sandwich and then froze. I was afraid of ruining it and packed it away. So it's time to bring it out of hiding and finish it.

This morning I actually took the quilt out of the box and took this picture. I'm surprised I was able to find it so quickly so it really must be time to get it finished. The pale areas in the main body of the quilt (top centre square, left centre square and right centre long narrow strip) are going to have some embellishment work done once the quilting is done.

Tomorrow I will post the rest of my goals for the New Year. I starting thinking about them last night and I think it's going to be a busy year.