Quilting the Peacock!

My UFO to be completed for MCQG Guild this past month was #9 - which was to quilt my Peacock Braids quilt.

I shared it's start HERE on the blog in 2012 - January of 2012!!!

Yep, 3-1/2 years ago!

The fabric is Timeless Treasures Plume CM8662, and of course I fell in love with it - what's not to love???

In fact, I love it so much I've made several other projects from the same fabric =^..^=

Stitchery Keeper

See-N-Go Project Bag

One of the reasons this quilting project has been on the shelf for so long is that I was afraid to quilt it.  It's not too terribly large - about 36"x45" - a good size for my Janome 6600P with the large throat.  But I knew it deserved some special quilting, and I really didn't feel confident enough to go for it.  This year, I decided to put it on my UFO list so I wouldn't have any more excuses!

After sandwiching - never fun! - I trimmed as much as I could off the edges and then turned and pinned the backing over the front to keep some of the wool batting fuzz out of my sensitive nose as well as off of that black fabric.  It was impossible to keep the black free of fuzz of course, but I think this helped at least :*)

Then I started picking some yummy thread candidates for making this quilt as beautiful as I could make it ...

I love the look of King Tut thread on the top of a quilt, so using the black in that for the background was the first easy choice.  Then I chose this gorgeous aqua metallic thread on the left for the peacock feathers, and the deep, intriguing green variegated thread on the right for the leaves ....

I love how the aqua metallic makes those feathers sparkle! ....

After painstakingly quilting the peacock ....

...... I outlined all the other flowers and leaves on the quilt, and then I began to fill in the black background areas with my simplified, totally novice version of McTavishing...

As this was my first attempt at this filler stitch, I have to say I was pretty pleased with how well it turned out!  It's nice to know that I will get better at it as I practice :*)

For the borders, I really had to give some thought to how I wanted to quilt them.  Because the inside was so densely quilted, the borders needed lots of quilting as well so it would keep its shape.  But my main objective was to keep that braid look clean and sharp.  I didn't want a lot of thread moving around in there to muddy up the design.  So I drew out some options on graph paper ...

Isn't it amazing how much we can learn from drawing out a design first?  I was pretty sure I would go with feathers in there at first.  Peacocks=feathers, right?  And I planned to use a thread that would disappear as much as possible, just leaving the texture.  But after looking at my drawing, I decided the beaded rows were a perfect counterbalance to all the flowery/feathery stuff going on in the center.

They were fairly easy to do too.  I've stitched pebbles before, so that wasn't too frightening.  My main concern was in keeping the rows even and the same width.  These tools came to my rescue ....

I have no idea where I got the 1/4" plastic stick, but it was perfect for marking both sides of the beading row.  And I use the Clover White Marking Pen everywhere I can - it makes very minimal lines and irons out beautifully when I'm done!

I just love how the beaded rows look in the finished borders!  I stitched in the ditches as well to give each braid a nice finished definition.

The quilt is now pinned down on the guest-room floor, being blocked in preparation for binding.

I don't usually have to block my quilts, but this one had pretty wacky, wavy borders when the quilting was done. That often happens when doing a dense quilting project on a domestic machine......

I'm hoping it will be ready to bind later tonight.  I'm excited to have this favorite quilt all done and ready to enjoy!!!

In the meantime, I'm going to be joining Kathy's Quilts for some Slow Sunday Stitching this afternoon.  Kathy is relaxing with her Pumpkin Seeds applique, making orange ones for the 2015 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I stitched together this Patchwork of the Cross block this past week ....

... and I hope to finish up the last of the hand stitching on Block #1 of my Folk Art Album today while watching the PGA Playoffs with My Guy.

Wishing everyone a lovely Labor Day weekend!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

I'm also linking up with Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday, Freemotion by the River for Tuesday Linky Party, and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.

Oh Yes, I Dared !!!

Ta-Da!!!  

My very first Dresden Star Block!!!

I feel like a new mama!  

Do you all like my new baby?  LOL!!!

Although I've always loved the look of Dresden quilts (and even drooled over a few!), I had never Dresden'd before - what fun!  As soon as I saw that Mdm Samm was introducing the Dare to Dresden Blog Hop, I signed right up!

When I started pulling fabrics for inspiration for my Dresden, I found a large group of scraps left from my Oriental Peacock quilt that I made last January...... this is a really terrible picture taken before I got a decent camera.   If the sun ever shines in Nashville again, I'll try to take a better one and update it. :*D
(And it's still not quilted - shame on me!!)

Then I chose Edyta Sitar's Dresden Star pattern and templates for my block.

It went together very easily and the templates were a real bonus to have!  I bought these when Edyta came to our Guild last year, and I am very glad I did!  The little "star" points in the center of each blade really helped separate these colors I think.  You can see it in the construction process here.....

I hand stitched one of my favorite quotes from Mother Teresa on the center circle, using a design I liked by nanaCompany for the lettering.  She has a free pattern HERE for an expanded stitchery which is really lovely.  Then I hand stitched down the completed Dresden Star to its background.

But I didn't just make a Dresden block, I made a new Stitchery Keeper for me!  This is where the sneak peek at the peacock I gave you earlier HERE comes into play.  I used it for the outside quilted cover of the Keeper.  Yes, indeed, this Dresden Star has some very elegant company....  I'm thinking of naming her Dresdemona - what do you think? *winking with tongue in cheek*!!!

I quilted this gorgeous peacock from Timeless Treasures with a soft outline stitch around all the motifs....

and then I used this wonderful blue metallic thread on the peacock itself.....

....  which gave it a nice sparkle!

The Dresden Star then takes center stage on the inside cover flap....

The flap is there to protect my stitchery underneath from dirt and from fold creases.  

When I lift up the cover flap, you can see the base which has all kinds of neat little places to keep my stitchery tools! ......

When I am done stitching, I simply place my stitchery back on the base, 

Re-cover it with the gorgeous Dresden flap, and fold it all gently back up - 

the gentle fold keeps the stitchery from getting creases or wrinkles!

Cool, huh?!?  This is my own design, and I will share more about all the sweet little details of the 

Stitchery Keeper very, very soon .........

This sweet little Dresden Star project is also my January New FO for Cat Patches' 2013 NewFO Challenge!  You can click on this button to see what all the fun is about!

And I'll be linking up with Connie at Freemotion by the River for her Tuesday Linky Party!
Click on this button to see all the projects underway this week :*)

And because this is a BIG finish for me, I'll be Whooping it up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict!

I hope you all enjoyed seeing my Dresden Star as much as I enjoyed showing it to you! =^..^= 

Many, many thanks go to Mdm Samm at Sew We Quilt and Christine at Quilt Monster in my Closet for all their hard work in putting this wonderfully fun Blog Hop together!  Please be sure to check out all the other bloggers who share this day with me!

January 29^th, 2013

A Peach in Stitches

Nancy W @ “that Other Blog”

L3 Designs

Bungalow Bay Quilts

Quilted Delights

Quilt Crossing

Lixie Makes it

A Quilting Sheep

Charlotte's Creations

Quilt-n-Queen
Domesticity and Other Ponderous Things

Sew Much 2 Luv

A Quilt and a Prayer - ME!!!

Amanda Murphy Design

Little Mushroom Cap
Kathy's Quilts

Sandra Kaye Design

Hugs & Blessings!
Teresa
=^..^=

February UFO Challenges

I am going to have to plead insanity for scheduling myself to take on TWO UFO's each month - one piecing project and one top to be quilted!  My reasoning was that I had twenty-four quilt tops languishing on a shelf in my sewing room closet that were desperately calling out to me every time I opened the door – “Save us!  Please quilt us and let us see the light of day once again!”

And I also had quite a few half-assembled projects that I really wanted to get done.  I hoped that getting on board for the Patchwork Times UFO Challenge would help hold my feet to the fire.  So I decided to work from two lists.

January worked out really well because Judy picked #5, which selected the Oriental Peacock wallhanging for my Piecing UFO, and my Iris Tango lap quilt top for the Quilting UFO.  Both were fairly easy and small enough to be manageable in a month’s time.  (Click on the name of each one if you missed my earlier posts about these quilts.)

But I knew that some of the projects I put on the lists would be well nigh impossible to complete in a month – especially getting my Dear Jane quilted.  Here is the top in all her glory!

So what number did Judy pull in February?  ......#1.  
And what projects are on my lists at #1? .......... **** drum-roll please ****

Quilting UFO – Oh yeah! You guessed it! – DEAR JANE!!!  I started quaking in my boots when I saw that Dear Jane’s number had come up!

I pieced Dear Jane over a 4-year period, meeting every Friday with a group of friends.  I took my time.  I was in no hurry.  But now I am getting anxious to have it DONE.  Two other girls are finished with their tops and they are almost finished hand-quilting them.  Not so Teresa!   As you can see, my quilt is more contemporary in color and design, so I decided that it did not require hand quilting.  However, even machine quilting seems pretty daunting to me right now!  I'm not even sure how I want to quilt some of these blocks.  And in what color?  My oh my!

But at least now I have a compelling reason to get it out of the closet and sandwich it in preparation to putting my nose to the grindstone!  I’ll start this weekend and keep you posted on my progress.  Wish me luck!!!

Piecing UFO – Scrappy Bearpaws.  

This is doable since I already had 27 of the 36 blocks done and have gotten 3 more done this week.  Strips are cut and ready for assembly, so the blocks are really quick.  Once the remaining 6 blocks are done, I’ll need to make a jillion red & cream HST’s for the sawtooth border and then put it all together.  Compared to quilting Dear Jane, this part of the Challenge is a cake walk!  If I don’t get it finished, I’m pretty sure I’ll be close.

How are you doing on your UFO's this year?

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=