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

Windy Wednesday Share

Hello everyone!    A quick and simple share for this Windy Wednesday.

I'm stitching away a 7" x 7" mini quilt to be donated to our local Council on the Arts for their 2nd annual "Artfully Squared" event.  The council collects and display hundreds of 7" x 7" pieces of art from local artists.  The work is on display for the month of April and each piece is available to purchase for $20.  All proceeds benefit the Arts Council.  It's a great event and I'm excited to participate this year -- just need to add some quilting to this "little" guy...

One very exciting thing to note on this stitchery is the THREAD!!  ... Thanks to the lovely bunch of coconuts {wink} at Aurifil Threads I had my hand at using their 28wt thread to stitch the bird and the stems.  Oh what a JOY!!..  

I used a double strand of Aurifil Mako Cotton 28Wt to blanket stitch the wren and stems by hand and I enjoyed every stitch of it.  The thread glides through fabric and wool just beautifully.   Insert Happy Dance here!! 

I have other Aurifil products to try including their Lana Wool and Mako Cotton 12Wt - keep an eye out for my feedback/review on those threads ;)

Be sure to stay tuned because in that shipment of Aurifil threads and flosses Aurifil gifted several items for YOU!   Lots of things to celebrate and what better way than a Giveaway (or two or three)!!   Here is a sneaky peek!!

See you next week with the start-up of some fun celebrations and giveaways!

Linking to bunches of parties today -- if you have a need for inspiration -- just hop around and see who's linking what -- ALWAYS a tremendous amount of beautiful projects and tutorials to view!

Hugs,
Karen

Quilting the Garden - Summer Cottage Progress

I wanted to share a bit more progress on the Quilting the Garden "Summer Cottage" block.

If you're just tuning in, you can see more of my "Quilting the Garden" by Blackbird Designs needle turn applique blocks here, here and here.

Also, if you're new to needle turn applique, please visit my "Teardrops of Love - a needle turn applique tutorial" on my blog header or sidebar.  Teardrops of Love is a multi-part needle turn applique tutorial - you'll learn about tools, prep, turning inside and outside points and much more!!

Here is where I left off last post:

Since then the fascia has been traced on freezer paper (Love that Chelsea Boutique fabric).

Cut out, marked with a Sew Line pencil and scored with a Hera Marker:

Layered over the house and roof -- aligning with the use of an overlay as shown below:

Basted:

 

And stitched!

Door, windows and window box fabric outlined:

Door attached and windows positioned:

Struggling with pin holes in the fabric?   Notice the holes in the circles below...

Just dab the pin hole with a bit of water (using a Q-tip or your finger) and rub gently while damp.

Let dry and taa-dah !   Pin holes are gone!

Chimney next (bottom of windows are raw to attach window boxes):

Window boxes next -- still not sure I like the way these look -- reserving judgement until the remainder of the block is done - what do you think ?

 

The final picture for tonight.  I am excited about making progress on this block - it's fun.

If you have any questions about the process, please leave me a comment or email me directly.  I would be happy to help if I can.

Linking up to a bunch of fun parties - check them out in my sidebar!
Have a good week all.

Hugs,
Karen