Favorite Things Friday - Fabric, Thread and Flowers...

It's a simply gorgeous day in the Finger Lakes today.  

Welcome!... and thanks for stopping by.

The Sun is Shining and the Air is Warm... nothing but goodness in our part of the world.

I was up early this morning contemplating how to quilt this beautiful pink piggy growth chart.  My sister Janet put this together for little Abby - a close friend of our family.  Isn't it darling?  

Panels are one of my "favorite" things to Free Motion Quilt.  They allow you to practice lots of fun fillers --  swirls, pebbles, waves, loop de-loops -- these will all find their way into this cute Pig Growth Chart by Susybee.

See other growth charts I've quilted here:

• Redbird and Giraffe
• Mary's Little Lambs
• Gramma's Redbird 
• Eric's Giraffe

Another "favorite" of mine is picking the right threads for the job.  

If I want dense quilting, I always turn to #Aurifil Mako Cotton 50 wt Thread.   It allows me to quilt heavily without nasty buildup -- and it never breaks or fusses.   

I use the same thread in the top and bobbin and breeze through the quilting.

The color thread you choose can have an amazing effect on the results. 

In this case, I don't have the exact color moss that I need, but the thread I chose -- #2840 Loden Green -- will highlight the butterfly with a bit of sheen.

For the background quilting, I decided on #Aurifil Mako Cotton 50Wt #2600 -- Dove -- this will add "just a hint" of metallic to the background fillers and give them a little sparkle!

For the piggy -- I've chosen Aurifil #2452 --Dusty Rose -- (I go through a lot of this color ;)  The thread will be just a little bit darker than the piggy making the quilting become an accent to the fabric. 

Tip:

When you are testing thread colors, always unwind them and lay them directly on the fabric -- it gives you a better idea of how they will look once quilted.

Stay tuned - I hope to quilt this little guy in the next week or so.... I'll be sure to post pictures!

For now I'll leave you with some pretty shots of the Bradford Pear tree in our side yard.  Each year it blooms profusely (no fruit - just beautiful blooms).   This year I found great pleasure in just looking at it...

-- and looking closer.  

My goodness it is a work of art.
Where is my wool and thread ?
This one needs to be stitched....

For those of you preparing for market -- safe travels!   The rest of us will be waiting patiently for pictures!

If you're hanging around next week -- be sure to check out The Bloggers Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side!   It's the biggest online quilt show around and YOU are invited!!
Click the image below to learn more.
You can see my entries from last fall here and here.

Happy Weekend all -- take care and thanks again for stopping by.

Linking up to Leah's Free Motion Friday!  A wonderful resource for a FMQ!

Hugs,

Karen