Quilting done

All quilted and binding done. What a beautiful sunny day perfect for picture taking, I enlisted the help of my dear hubby today. Without further ado here it is. I made the lap size. This is going to be my new snuggle quilt.

A closer view of the quilting. I need to practice straight lines. They did look straighter before I washed it. You've heard the story of the washing machine eating the socks... well I think the washing machine made the quilting lines crooked. Right? 

Feathers aren't perfect but I do believe they are getting better. They are all freehand, and that in itself is a biggie for me. Just need more practice. I didn't quilt the purple crosses I left them blank.

A shot of the back the texture shows up nice. 

Lining up to Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River.

Top finished

I have my top finished for the Irish Chain QAL. The green piece on top is what I'm going to use for the back. Bet you can't tell my favorite colour is green... lol  I like this quilt top. Now on to some FMQing.

 I'm using my new camera. I bought a Canon Elph until I decide what kind of camera I want. I would like a DSLR, not sure whether to get a Canon or Nikon or ?? Decisions, decisions, and more decisions. I need to do some research.

Quilting Ideas?

I have been working on quilting ideas for my Irish Chain Twist. A few pictures of how I decide what design I'm going to quilt. I use my domestic machine to do all my FMQing.

I roughly draw the design on a piece of clear gift wrap that I get at the dollar store. I use a permanent or Sharpie marker to make the outline sketch. I also print out a part of the quilt pattern in black and white and doodle a few ideas their first.

Here is a closer shot of the printed pattern. Not so sure about what I have, so it's back to the doodling part. I hope you can see my sketch okay. The left side is just some angled lines a little harder to see. 

A closer view of the clear gift wrap I use dry erase markers to audition the quilting patterns before I make a decision. The good part about the giftwrap and dry erase markers is they just wipe right off, with a dry paper towel if you don't like what you have. As you can see I don't have patterns on it yet. 

After a little playing I have a few choices. Although I am still playing around, and may not use any of these at all. 

If you try this and like a design you've come up with. Just remember the dry erase markers wipe off easy on your hands so be very careful near your quilt top. I don't place these on or near my top as I'm afraid of getting marks on my top I may not be able to get rid of. You can trace the final design on tracing paper using a permanent marker and use that as a template with a lightbox to mark your quilt top with the appropriate marking tools. 

Happy! Happy! Happy!

It feels so good to be sewing again. My shoulder isn't 100% yet, I still have 5 more weeks of physio, but I can at least move it enough to do things. I wasn't able to do dishes for 3 weeks, hubby picked up the slack. Thankfully. If I'm being honest I really didn't miss not having to do them either. 

Now to get all caught up on Melissa's Irish Chain Twist quilt along. Cutting out the petals for the appliqued chain blocks took a little perseverance, but I did it.  I decided to do fusible applique, a little easier right now. Not that I'm into hand sewing, except bindings. This weeks assignment was to stitch the appliques to the blocks. I used my favorite method, machine applique using invisible thread. My thread of choice is Superior's monopoly thread.

My flash quit working on my camera, so until I get a new one I used my phone to take this one. Not the best picture quality though. 

I'm Here!

I didn't fall off the face of the earth... Although it sure seems like I might have. I haven't posted in three weeks, but I have a good reason as to why I haven't. I had surgery on my right shoulder and you guessed it I'm right handed. Next week I start physio so hopefully I'll be sewing in no time. Right?
I walk into my sewing room look at my in work projects and get a little depressed. I so want to be sewing and making quilts.

I did do some shopping as I won a $25 gift certificate from In The Boon Docks sponsored by Gotcha Covered Quilting. This is the first time I have ever shopped at Gotcha Covered. Carrie was a pleasure to deal with, there was a little glitch with her store, however everything was sorted out quickly and shipped immediately. Thank you Carrie and also Lisa from In The Boon Docks.
I may have spent more than $25. My stash is in desperate need of solids and I picked these lovelies to give it a little boost. My DD loves them so they may be destined for her house. Having a little problem taking good photos. They are really nice soft colours.

Before surgery I was working on piecing some blocks for charity quilts. My guild was asked to make charity quilts for a local women's shelter. They need all sizes from crib to adult single. All the fabrics we use for our charity quilts have been donated. Some from members and some from people who don't know where to go with fabric from family members.

A few of the blocks I have so far. Sorry for the quality of the picture. No plan as to how I'm putting these together. I think I need a couple bigger blocks as the biggest one is 9 inches, the smallest 3 inches.  

We have donated quilts to various places and to a few members who were battling cancer, unfortunately they lost their battles. We lost four members within a one year period to cancer. As a cancer survivor I have a big soft spot for anyone who is fighting or has fought cancer. 

I hope everyone has a great day!!

Linking up to 

Irish Chain Twist QAL

The next part of the QAL is to make the improv blocks. Simple enough right, BUT I had to keep reminding myself not to line my ruler up just go for it. With only a little bit of hand slapping I had all my blocks trimmed to 5 1/2 inches. I love my rotating mat sure made things a lot easier. 

The blocks go together quickly. With trimming time included it only took 2 1/2 hours. Now I'm all caught up and can work on other projects. I am enjoying this QAL the directions are well written.

Irish Chain Twist Quilt-A-Long

I've decided to do the Irish Chain QAL. Melissa over at Happy Quilting is running the QAL.  I've never made an Irish chain before, but I love the look of this quilt.  You can find out all about it here.

I going to be making it in greens, my favorite colour, and purple with a white on white background. I'm going to be making the lap size.  

This week we were to cut all the pieces. Done! I did cut the background 6x6 squares in half on the diagonal after I took the picture.