Thursday 24 November 2011

Back to Quilts and Aurifil!

This quilt I claimed to have finished ages ago - my snowball quilt!  It  was all about the colour scheme - monochrome and red!  It is quite dramatic...


  


I love this piece of fabric I found with cats on the back but didn't have enough so split it in two,  added some orphan blocks I had made and used up some scraps! Oh and included one small half square triangle in red on the back - I love that!




And a checkered binding cut on the bias!







But really I was wanting to either do a snowflake or spiral in the centre of each snowball block but when I finished it off my machine quilting was not up to it!  Though I had managed to stitch in the ditch or almost!

Having practiced and played with FMQ and stitched most days of late I took a big deep breath and launched myself into this quilt yesterday and finished it off!  


Ta da!  Complete with spirals in and spirals out again!  










This was one of the first swirls.....



This was one of the last swirls....quite a bit better!  And yes I did mean to reverse the direction - every alternate one!







Quite pleased with this - oh yes I know there are many wobbles and sharp points etc but what are those between friends.  This was a chance to practice FMQ on a bigger scale and I am pleased I got to the end.  I also did smaller spirals in the border but think my label is my piece de resistance!





Not close enough???







I FMQed it straight on the quilt - no penciling in first of all - though I did a practice on paper how I would join up the words.  Love doing a label like this - high risk I know but the more I do it the better I will get!  It cannot be easily separated from the quilt so hopefully quite secure as well though probably not permitted in a competition. Don't think I need to worry about that though as none of my quilts are competition standard.


I have called it Snowball Swirl - cannot easily change that either!


For the technical geeks among you I used some more of my lovely Aurifil thread 28 weight and this time in a steel grey colour 1158 - have to say I had no tension problems whatsoever - it was a breeze and makes a nicely defined stitch.  In the label - perhaps the biggest test - it is easy to read.  Previously when writing with the machine I have had to go over the writing several times to make it easily legible but with this thicker thread it was not necessary!  I did speed up so the stitches are smaller because that makes the curves curvier I think and the writing more fluid.  Love that Aurifil and am really enjoying playing with it (Big thanks again to Lynne!).  Next I think I will have to test it on raw edge applique...ooh what fun!




.....now where and what is the next quilt???  I think a baby quilt is calling me or actually some overdue blocks for Bee Blessed!













12 comments:

  1. love your snowball quilt! It looks fantastic. You are so speedy. What a wonderful finish!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. lovely Nicky, practice makes perfect!!
    having a wip quilt is a must ;P
    How did you find quilting spirals on your machine? Lots of spinning?
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. You have kept very quiet about these quilts...they are ...as ever,....... amazing !!!!!xxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love the colour combo on this one and your FMQ practice has paid off, it looks great.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's absolutely lovely! And very inspiring... I'm just starting FMQ, so it's great to see what sort of things I could try - other than just doodling!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Beautiful! Love the striking red with the B&W. The little cute red HST on the back is such a great surprise! Lovely FMQ too, you master quilter you.

    ReplyDelete
  7. beautiful and Alex from Aurifil sent me to your blog via facebook ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, it's amazing! I can't believe how much your FMQ has improved in such a short space of time! Don't get me wrong, you've always been good but your stitch length and control is wonderful - I'm so proud!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh we'll never say no to some Bee Blessed blocks! Your Snowball quilt is really Stunning Nicky! V.well done on the fmq - really finishes it off. Jxo

    ReplyDelete
  10. As always an orignal idea perfectly executed.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh wow Nicky, its absolutly amazing! I havent worked on a quilt for a few months now and Im getting seriously itchy to do one. Just love yours :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love your quilt and the location for your photos. You should try using Aurifil Coton Mako' 50 for your raw edge applique.

    ReplyDelete

Hello, I'd really like to hear from you...

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...