Saturday 29 October 2011

From Light to Dark And Back Again - Bloggers' Quilt Festival

Welcome to new visitors coming from the Bloggers' Quilt Festival! I'm so glad you are here. From Light to Dark and Back Again is one of my favourite quilts so I thought I'd share this one with you. I finished this in June.


I've been trying to work on understanding and using colour and value more effectively in my quilts. I purchased some Nature's Palette by Lyndhurst Studio last year and thought that it was high time I use it. The fabric has this fabulous value gradation that I wanted to keep intact. So I cut them in strips and played around with the layout. I tried it in a rainbow formation, going from dark on one side to light on the other, but finally settled on this more random layout.

I then cut up the remaining strips into squares and arranged them by colour and value. That's where the name came from; if you start from the upper left hand corner and go clockwise, the squares go from light to dark and back again. Love!


I'm also happy with the pieced back that used all but one square of the remaining fabric. This was the first time I'd done a pieced back and I think I'm hooked. I love the idea of using scraps or leftovers from the front for the back.

The quilting was a challenge. I was using Leah Day's Echo Maze design -- or trying to -- and having a heck of a time trying to keep my lines straight and the corners properly squared. And I was trying to use monofilament thread, which was giving me problems until I switched brands. Finally something clicked about a third of the way through and it finished up fine.

Although I didn't have a purpose for this quilt as I was making it, sure enough, shortly after finishing it, its purpose revealed itself. This quilt was presented to our good friend and our oldest son's godfather for his birthday. :)

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my quilt and thank you to Amy for hosting the Bloggers' Quilt Festival!

Amy'sCreativeSide

Friday 28 October 2011

TGIFF! - Re-Landscaped

I didn't think I'd have a finish this week. I don't plan on having a finish every week -- 'cause that's just crazy talk -- but I am trying to whittle my WIP/UFO list down and TGIFF! provides a great motivation for me. Originally, I was planning to finish my 10BX Leaves wallhanging because it is also close to being done and seemed an easy finish, but life intervened this week and I didn't get as much of it done as I'd hoped.

Yesterday morning though, I woke up with the idea of finishing up my landscape design quilt that I'd started in a workshop with Joan Bechthold in 2006 (2006?! How is that possible?). It was another really fun workshop. We were given a kit of commercial prints and shown how to create a landscape by fussy cutting the fabric and rearranging the pieces. Then Joan set us loose to create our own landscape. Although I was not a big fan of the fabrics, I loved the techniques we were learning - fusible machine applique, invisible zig zag stitching, thread sketching, etc.

When I left the workshop, the centre panel was largely done, but still needed some invisible stitching and thread painting. I tried to finish it at home, but something wasn't working. The threads kept breaking. Frustration. A lot of frustration. Finally, I gave up and added the borders that came with the kit, which I wasn't thrilled with, and sandwiched it. But it was the same story as most of my UFO/WIPs, I couldn't free motion quilt it so I put it away.

Wallhanging as it stood yesterday morning

When I pulled it out yesterday, I still didn't like the border. I played with other fabrics, but came to the conclusion that I'd like this better if there was no border. So off it came. Much better. I finished the thread painting, re-sandwiched it and quilted it. It's amazing what a difference five years made! ;) Then I added the same facing binding as I did with Don't Worry, Be Scrappy! And c'est fini! Voila Re-Landscaped. :)

Finished Re-Landscaped wallhanging
Re-Landscaped - Detail shot


Quiltography: “Re-Landscaped,” by Michèle-Renée Charbonneau, Ottawa, 11.5” by 19”, 2011.


Re-Landscaped - Detail shot




Yay, one more WIP off my list! I'm still surprised at how quickly this project was finished. I wonder how many of my other WIPs could be finished up this easily? How about you? Any WIPs you could finish up easily? And what's your oldest WIP? Come on, you can tell me! :) I've had two kids since I started this one.


Looks like there are some logistical problems so this week's TGIFF! party is on the TGIFF! site. If you have a finish, share your finish by linking up. Come take a tour of this week's fine finishes and comment away!





Happy, happy Friday all!

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Works in Progress Wednesday

What a crazy week! Got some good quilting done, but mostly been focused on other home and kids' stuff.

This Friday's TGIFF! party is being hosted by the fabulous Jess @ Life Under Quilts. Yay! Come check out the beautiful finishes and link up one of your own. Check out the TGIF Friday! site for more details. There's also a linky if you'd like to offer to host TGIFF! in the future. We'll be posting the December hosting schedule soon.

New Projects: No new projects

Current Projects:
Just Me and My Peeps - Just more cutting into the Castle Peeps this week and playing around with the layout. No sewing yet. Debating on whether to make this one a quilt-as-you-go too.



10BX Leaves - Off the On Hold list - yay! Based on your recommendations (thank you! thank you!), I'm going to proceed with the FMQ and not change out the brown. :) So begins the FMQ...





Completed Projects: One - Don't Worry, Be Scrappy! I finished my Scrap Splat Challenge for Generation Q Magazine. I'm really pleased with the layout of the quilt, but more and more I'm thinking that the FMQ is too much. I was trying to show value changes using thread, but it just doesn't seem to be working. I'm thinking of leaving the straight line quilting, but taking out the FMQ. I'd welcome any thoughts on the quilting!


On Hold:
Landscape quilt
Red and Tan Amish Wedding Ring
Tangled Garden
Red and Tan Bargello in the Round 2
Spiral/Spring seta colour

UFOs that may one day get finished, but really who knows?
Converging Stars
Chop Suey
Wedding quilt
Linus quilt
Nine patch colourwash

WIP Wednesday #19 Recap:
New projects: 0
Current projects: 2
Completed projects: 1
On Hold: 8
UFOs: 5


I'm linking in to WIP Wednesday at The Needle and Thread Network and to W.i.P. Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Wednesday!

Sunday 23 October 2011

A Problem

I started this quilt in a wonderful workshop called 10BX for Fibre Artists by Mary Pal two and a 1/2 years ago (I think). Mary had set up 10 stations where we were to try different fibre art techniques. The theme was fall leaves. We did foiling, felting, seta colour, fusible transfer, watercolour pencils, plus several other techniques. It was so much fun and felt like we were playing.


I wanted to make a fall wallhanging for our entryway. After the workshop, I played with the layout, finished the top, sandwiched the quilt and did the straight-line quilting that I wanted. Then I was stumped.

I couldn't free motion quilt (FMQ), which is what I wanted to do to outline the leaves and add veins. I also wanted to FMQ the backgrounds and the upper and lower border with leaves. So into the WIP/UFO pile it went.

Friday night, I was thinking about this project again. I am able to do the FMQ that I want now so I was thinking that this might be a good project to finish up. Pulling it out again, I'm stuck on the brown. I was trying to be bold and use a colour that is out of my comfort zone. Brown definitely fit that bill. I was going to bind it in the brown too, but now I want to go with the facing-style binding that I used for Don't Worry, Be Scrappy. Funny how your tastes change.

The quilt looks better in person than it photographs, but I'm still having a problem with the brown. And now I'm also having a problem with the bottom border fabric -- the dark green mid-way down looks too dark now. Do I unstitch the straight line quilting and redo the borders or plow ahead? I'd welcome any suggestions. Decision, decisions...

Friday 21 October 2011

TGIFF! - Don't Worry, Be Scrappy!

Yesterday was one of those days. You know the ones when things just don't go the way you planned -- not at all, not even close. They aren't really bad days, just one little thing after another goes off the rails. I try really hard to just go with the flow on those days and not make it worse. Not so successful yesterday though. Oh well, it all worked out in the end and today is, thankfully, a new day.

My day yesterday just makes this finish all the more fitting. Here's my scrap splat challenge for Generation Q magazine - Don't Worry, Be Scrappy!


Since the colours of the scraps were all over the place, I decided to focus on the values and see what I could do with those. We could only add solids so to help focus on the values, I just added one solid - black. For the quilting, I continued on the value theme. I had a pack of Wonderfil with 8 values ranging from pink to burgundy. I used those for the quilting. Not so sure about the quilting, but I'm going with it. I also tried a facing binding for the first time, using Susan Brubaker Knapp's awesome tutorial. Love this look!







Thank you to the wonderful Erin at Missy Mac Creations for hosting this week's TGIFF! party. I know she had a tough day yesterday too, so head on over there to spread some quilty love and see the fabulous finishes. If you have a finish, you are more than welcome to link up!





Happy Friday!

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Works in Progress #18

A huge thank you to those who linked up for last Friday's TGIFF! Party. We had 13 projects link up! Woo hoo! Such beautiful work so thank you for sharing it! For those coming from WIP Wednesday, check out the great finishes -- you'll be glad you did.

This Friday is Erin of Missy Mac Creations's turn to host TGIFF! Yay! If you have a finish, you are more than welcome to link up and share what you've done. Check out the TGIF Friday! site for more details. There's also a linky if you'd like to offer to host TGIFF! in the future.

New Projects: I'm starting to cut into my Castle Peeps that I scored this past summer. :) This is going to be a twin-sized quilt, with a fairly simple design to show off those fun fabrics. I also added in some solids to the fabrics shown below. Bamboo batting was on sale so I picked some up to give it a try with this project. Anyone use bamboo yet? My first impression is that while it is super soft, it's very thin. I love the idea of bamboo, but I'm wondering how warm it will be.


Current Project: As I mentioned last week, I'm participating in the Scrap Splat Challenge by Generation Q Magazine. I stayed up ridiculously late Monday night to finish the top. I'd forgotten how annoying half square triangles (HST) can be to make. I haven't tried them since I first started quilting and now I remember why. That said, I'm pretty please with how it's going so far and I don't think this is the last time I'll be using HSTs. Now on to the quilting! I'm trying to finish it to share at this Friday's TGIFF! party, but we'll see. The deadline is October 26 next week so it'll be done soon, in any case.  Here's a peek:


Completed Projects: None

On Hold:
Stained Glass Lillies
Micah's Growth Chart
Landscape quilt
10BX Leaves
Fibonacci's Not Random
Red and Tan Amish Wedding Ring
Tangled Garden
Red and Tan Bargello in the Round 2
Spiral/Spring seta colour

UFOs that may one day get finished, but really who knows?
Converging Stars
Chop Suey
Wedding quilt
Linus quilt
Nine patch colourwash

WIP Wednesday #18 Recap:
New projects: 1
Current projects: 1
Completed projects: 0
On Hold: 9
UFOs: 5

Bucket List: 41

This week I'm also linking in to WIP Wednesday at The Needle and Thread Network.

And, as always I'm linking in to Freshly Pieced.

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Wednesday!

Friday 14 October 2011

TGIFF! - Falling for Stripes

Oh, look, it's climbing a tree. ;)
Welome to our second TGIFF! Party! Laura at Quokka Quilts and I think every finish deserves a party so we launched this touring TGIFF! Party. Laura hosted last week, I'm hosting this week's party, and Erin of Missy Mac Creations will be our hostess with the mostest next Friday.

I know that I've totally milked this project with little peaks and teases so thank you for your indulgence! I think this is my favourite quilt to date. As far as I know, it's my original design. I qualify this statement because I look at so many quilts (obsessed, remember?) that I'm never quite sure if it's all mine or if I saw something somewhere similar and tucked it away in the back of my mind. If you've seen something similar, let me know and I'll gladly give the credit to whomever it belongs, if it's not me.

For those of you who have been following for a while, you may remember that I started Project Y (interim name) back in June. I didn't think of this as Fall-like when I was staring summer in the face, but when I saw the A Fall Palette post by Rachel at Stitched in Color, something clicked. I didn't associate purple with Fall before, but now I sure do.

Seeing that post also helped me think of a name, which for some reason was eluding me. Normally, names for my quilts come pretty easily. There have only been a few that stumped me and this was definitely one of them. I toyed with this name and that name. Someone suggested that I stick with Project Y, and I considered that for a while, but I just thought this one needed something more original. Once the Fall colour theme registered and as this was the first time that I worked with stripes like this and loved it, Falling for Stripes just seemed perfect!

I paid much more attention to the quilting on this project. I'm still pretty new to free motion quilting (FMQ) and wanted to use it to accentuate the design as much as possible. Straight lines were in order, but in patterns. It was going to be a challenge to make straight lines without my walking foot! I took my time and used my trial quilting sheets to work out how each section would look. And I diligently tested out the threads on scrap fabrics. Then I mustered up the courage and went at 'er. I did it 'right' and didn't rush or wing it like I usually do, and I'm sooo happy with the results. Still doing the Happy Dance with this one. :)

Okay, enough naddering. Here is Falling for Stripes. This is my quilt, just for me, for absolutely no purpose whatsoever. I'll probably use Falling for Stripes while reading and wearing my crazy skirt. :)

Falling for Stripes - The Front
Falling for Stripes - The Back


Detail Shot of the FMQ

Detail Shot of the FMQ

Quiltography: “Falling for Stripes,” original design by Michèle-Renée Charbonneau, Ottawa, 36” by 47”, 2011.

Other tidbits: Fabrics are shot cottons by Kaffe Fassett. Thread is Blendables by Sulky.

And because I now do think this is Fall-appropriate, I will link up to Celebrate Color as well.

Celebrate Color

I'm also linking up to Sew Modern Monday.
{Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations


Wednesday 12 October 2011

Works in Progress #17

Wednesday already? I think I'm still stuffed from Thanksgiving dinner. We're still eating turkey leftovers -- Turkey a la King, hot and cold turkey sandwiches, Butter Turkey. Yum!

This Friday is my turn to host TGIFF! If you have a finish to share, link up because every finish deserves a party, don't you think? Check out the TGIF Friday! site for more details. There's also a linky if you'd like to offer to host TGIFF! in the future. 

New Projects: One - I was one of the folks chosen to take part in the Scrap Splat Challenge by Generation Q Magazine. My scrap package arrived yesterday and they weren't kidding -- it's a scrap splat challenge alright! The deadline is October 26 so I have to get a move on.
I think I know what I want to do so hopefully it will work well. Fingers crossed!

Completed Projects: Two!

My Christmas Tree Skirt that has been on my WIP list since before I kept a WIP list is now done! 

Project Y - I will share this one on Friday when I host TGIFF!, but here's a little peek:


On Hold:
Stained Glass Lillies - no progress again this week so this is going back to the on-hold section
Landscape quilt
10BX Leaves
Red and Tan Amish Wedding Ring
Tangled Garden
Red and Tan Bargello in the Round 2
Spiral/Spring seta colour

UFOs that may one day get finished, but really who knows?
Converging Stars
Chop Suey
Wedding quilt
Linus quilt
Nine patch colourwash

WIP Wednesday #17 Recap:
New projects: 1
Completed projects: 2
On Hold: 9 
UFOs: 5


Time to check out Freshly Pieced to find out what others have been up to this week. Thanks for stopping by!


WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Monday 10 October 2011

Fuddy is Not Duddy Challenge

When I saw Cheryl's post about hosting a Fuddy is Not Duddy Challenge, I knew that I had the perfect project. The challenge was to use burgundy, green, brown and one other colour so it's not fuddy duddy. This Chinese Lattice quilt (from a Quilt University course that I took a couple of years ago) has cream as a fourth colour. The burgundy and lighter green are Japanese fabrics - love, love, love! Fit the Fuddy is Not Duddy bill?



Now to check out the other participants' entries. Great challenge, Cheryl!

Just a reminder that I'm hosting the TGIFF linky party this Friday so get those finishes ready. Every finish deserves a party!

Sunday 9 October 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving here in Canada and it's one of my favourite holidays. Other than making the turkey dinner, there's not much else to prepare; no heavy decorating to do, no gifts to buy and wrap. Not that I mind any of these things, but with three kids and hosting duties, the other holidays get kind of noisy and crazy around my house. Thanksgiving, for me, is a quieter time to spend with family and friends and be thankful for all the blessings we have.  Like many families, we have a tradition whereby we go around the table during Thanksgiving dinner and share what we are thankful for.  

This year, my sister and brother-in-law are hosting so we're in Burlington, Ontario (about an hour-ish southwest of Toronto). Road trip, yay! We've had a wonderful time and I am more stuffed than the turkey! Thank goodness for stretchy pants. ;)

For a little quilty tidbit, this is a wallhanging, called Charlotte's in the Pumpkin Patch, that I finished this past spring in honour of the fall season. This was my second foray into thread painting -- pretty happy with the results, but I still have a lot to learn!

Happy Gobble-Gobble to my fellow Canadians! Happy Monday to everyone else!

Friday 7 October 2011

TGIF Friday: It's Beginning to Look A...Little...Tiny Bit Like Christmas

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it, but I did it! I finished one of my WIPs in time for the first TGIF Friday. I don't know what it feels like to run a 10k, but I imagine it feels kind of like this -- great! :) Now our poor Christmas tree won't be naked this year. :)




As I was finishing up the binding, I was watching this season's Quilting Arts DVD with my quilty friend, Eden. In particular, we were watching a couple of episodes where a mutual friend of ours -- Mary Pal -- was sharing some of her cool techniques and projects. We were commenting that we'd watched previous seasons of the series with Mary in my family room and now, there she was on the screen! We're so thrilled for her. If you haven't seen her work, check out her site. She does work with cheesecloth that is absolutely stunning.

If you've got something that you've finished over the last little while, link up at Quokka Quilts because we want to see it! If don't have a finish, still head on over to check out some neat finishes.

To find out where future TGIF Friday linky parties will be, check out the TGIF Friday blog. I'm hosting next week so get those finishes ready.


Wednesday 5 October 2011

Works in Progress #16

I vow - yes, vow! - that I will finish up more of my WIPs. Laura from Quokka Quilts and I have similarly lengthy lists of WIPs so we are going to cheer each other on as we tackle our projects. You are more than welcome to join us. We decided to expand TGIFF, starting this Friday when she hosts it, and have it tour other blogs. Check out the TGIF Friday! site for more details and please join us!

New Projects: Niet, but I'll have one next week because I was one of the lucky folks chosen to take part in the Scrap Splat Challenge by Generation Q Magazine. With any luck, my scrap package will arrive this week so I can get started. The deadline is October 26 - Gasp!

Completed Projects: One - Patrick Spies a Bottled Rainbow. Yay, I'm on a roll.

Current Projects:

Christmas Tree Skirt - This is the first WIP that I'm tackling with my newfound zeal to finish up my WIPs. Here's where this project stood yesterday -- pieced, sandwiched and partially quilted. When I was making this last year (maybe the year before..okay, probably the one before that), I got bored with the straight line quilting, but wasn't able to free motion quilt it like I wanted.


Although I love the colours and patterns of the materials, I wasn't pleased with values of the fabrics -- not enough contrast between the red Christmas balls and the green present material.

But you know what? No one will be able to tell when it's under the tree, covered with fake and real presents. And now I can free motion quilt. So dearest Christmas Tree Skirt, you will be finished and used this year. :)

Project Y - Just need to add the label. I will share it next week when I host TGIFF! I'm so, so, so thrilled with this one. Definitely my favourite!

On Hold:
Stained Glass Lillies - no progress again this week so this is going back to the on-hold section
Micah's Growth Chart
Landscape quilt
10BX Leaves
Fibonacci's Not Random
Red and Tan Amish Wedding Ring
Tangled Garden
Red and Tan Bargello in the Round 2
Spiral/Spring seta colour

UFOs that may one day get finished, but really who knows?
Converging Stars
Chop Suey
Wedding quilt
Linus quilt
Nine patch colourwash

WIP Wednesday #16 Recap:
New projects: 0
Completed projects: 1
Currently in progress: 2
On Hold: 9 - One taken away, but one added - D'oh!
UFOs: 5

Bucket List: 41

Time to check out Freshly Pieced to find out what others have been up to this week. Thanks for stopping by!


WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Tuesday 4 October 2011

TGIFF Is Going on Tour!

Hi everybody, I have an exciting announcement to make. You might remember my TGIFF (Thank Goodness it’s Finished, Friday!) Party. Well, it’s going to be a regular thing, and it’s going on tour! I contacted Laura from Quokka Quilts (in Australia!) to see if she was interested in co-hosting something together to help us finish up some of our works in progress. She was in! Yay! Emails back and forth ensued on what to do. We thought it would be fun to have a touring TGIFF linky party every Friday to feature recent finishes.

But...we didn’t think we could finish something every week or even every other week. So how to keep the momentum going? We each thought we could manage to finish a WIP a month, but what about the other Fridays? BRAINWAVE: Maybe some of our readers would like to join in and host a TGIFF party?! We can celebrate the fabulous finishes out there in the blogosphere, check out some new blogs and meet some new folks. Sound like fun? We think so too.

Laura has called dibs on the first Friday of the month, I’m taking the second, and you lovely people are welcome to petition us with diamonds and chocolates ask us to host another date yourself. It will be like a mini quilt show every week!

To get us started, Laura will host this Friday’s TGIFF party. Whether you have a finished project to share or not, you are welcome to come! If you do have a finish that you’d like to share, check out Laura’s on Friday and link up your post. Then grab a beverage (or two – we won’t judge) of your choice, tell your family that you are going to Australia (unless you are from Australia, then tell your family that you are going to Perth…unless you are from Perth, then…oh, you get the idea), tour the other finishes, and spend some time admiring and commenting on the other fabulous finishes. We know that your finish will be the best, but you still need to share the love. It’s what quilters do. :)

I’ll host the party on October 14th, then we’ll go somewhere else on the 21st – your place perhaps? We already have a volunteer to host the October 28th party - Jessica from New York. Thanks Jessica!

If you’d like to host a party, send us an email with a preferred date from the list below. Ideally, you would pick a date to host when you think you’d have a finish to share. You’d also need to add the linky party code to your post, which is very easy to set up and free for your first linky party.

We’ve created a TGIF Friday party blog so you can find out where the week’s rave party is. On the page, you’ll also find the button. Yes, we even have a button, people! So add it to your post if you link up or host.

Pass the word along (just don't lick the button ;) ) and come celebrate TGIFF this Friday at Quokka Quilts.

Cheers,
M-R
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