Finale

It's time to post our final (and fishy) round of the Gwennie Inspired Medallion.  I had no clue  how to interpret it. I thought I'd make pieced fish to go around the quilt. Here's a sample surgeon fish I made as a possible solution.

It might have worked if my star round had not been so busy. I would have had to add a plain border to separate them. That or my mind just couldn't see beyond the flower theme I was absorbed in, although many of my fellow participants proved me wrong with their fabulous interpretations.  So in the end I went with a very basic interpretation - water, and to keep my quilt to the size of a wall hanging. It finished at 39" square - just the right size for where I want to hang it.

When I quilt it I'll add sea life motifs to the water border.

This has been a wonderful experience letting the quilt grow as it would. Thank you so much Lori and the rest of the QAL contributors  for providing such a liberating experience.  And to the other quilters who participated - you are all amazingly talented and creative.  What wonderful quilts you have made!

Dear readers, if you'd like to see them, click on the link at the top of this post.

Being a Brave Quilter

What does that mean?  Well at Julie's Pink Doxies, she challenges us to try something new, out of our comfort zone, experiment, have fun with our quilting.  I took the challenge last month - we have a month to meet our goal.  Then we report about it.  I'm a wanna be applique enthusiast who does a lot of piecing (lol), so I set my challenge to try a new applique technique I'd seen online.  It  is suppose to make doing raw edge applique easier and with hardly any fraying. That was for me! Mind you, I love to do hand applique, but it takes so much time and I have so many quilts I'd like to do. I started out by buying the book, Crafted Applique...New Possibilities by Lara Buccella when she had her blog hop.  After reading it and obtaining a few supplies I got started.  I had already started a quilt which would have applique (my Gwennie Inspired Quilt Along) and hoped this new method would help me keep on track with it as I wanted to add another round of applique.
Here's the medallion center done with normal raw edge applique method:

background is really white

I do the stitching as part of the quilting after the sandwich is made.   Then I made the other rounds. Once I was ready for the next applique round I began to experiment.  Made a few test pieces (which I forgot to photograh) and felt it would work just as Lara said.   I then made this block using her method - easy peasy.

 So got out my tablecloth (which I'm using for my flowers) and started cutting.

I laid the cut pieces with their wrong side up and applied the Mod Podge for Fabric, and let them dry.

Next I cut out the flowers with very sharp scissors.

Above are some extra flowers above that I will use later. You can see that these would be difficult to turn a seam allowance under to make Broderie Perse in the traditional way - all those tiny stems and curves.

Then the hard part - deciding what the order of my flowers would be.  But once decided, placed and ironed on, I was done.  I'm so glad I tried this new method.  I'll be using it again. Oh, and you can go here to see that finished applique round.

Do visit Julie's - link above, and she'll be opening a linky for this month's challenge on the fourth. Now what shall I try next??

PS:  The Fat Quarter Shop Giveaway is open. You can find all the details at the top of the sidebar. Look forward to seeing you there.

WIPs Be Gone

I have a finish:

 Here's that baby quilt I was quilting.  It was an easy one.  Wavy lines at seams and stars in the middle.

 I used these Crayola markers to mark the stars - only marked the tips of the star and the intersections, and as these are fine line worked well by just lightly drawing. (I learned about these when reading Geta Grama's blog post). When it was all done, I washed the quilt with a SHOUT color catcher and mild soap in warm water on delicate cycle and all the lines came out.  I was worried about that because the marker box said "Wash promptly", and I had those lines on the quilt about 3 weeks.

I just love this flannel back of jungle safari animals.  

I've started another baby quilt.  This one is a panel on which I use the FMQ foot.  

These panels are great for practicing the rhythm of quilting (listening for that just right hum) and having consistent stitch lengths.  Try one.

What are you up to?  Link up below, or leave a comment and I'll come by to see your progress.  This week's giveaway is a $10 gift certificate for the Fat Quarter Shop.  Add a link or leave a comment for two chances to win. Good luck.

I'll be linking to Finished or Not Friday and other linky parties. See the tab below the header.