Favorite Things Friday 1/13/12 - Done

I like these colorful blocks - may continue to try and make them bright in this BOM.

Go on over to Shay's Favorite Things Friday post. You'll find the button on my left sidebar.  It's fun to see what people are enthusiastic about.

FMQ Project #1 Done

At Leah's Free Motion Quilting project we were to practice stippling. I decided to stipple a changing table pad I found at a thrift store. It looked like the creator never got around to quilting it and when I washed it the batting started to move around. I straightened it out and set aside to quilt. Here is the back side - the quilting shows up better.  I chalked a rectangle in the center of the pad and then stippled using the line as my base. Then I went around the edge about an inch away from the edge.  Took me only about 12 minutes to do the whole 17" by 37" pad!   The best thing I learned

from Leah is to leave my feed dogs up and set the stitch length to zero - this worked great on my Bernina to eliminate any thread problems (I had a lot of them before).  This one tip is a life saver!  Thank you, Leah!

Go over to my sidebar and click on the FMQ project button.  You'll be impressed by the practice pieces posted. I am.

Applique Thursday and More 1/12/12

I'm participating in Just Takes 2 this year - a BOM, sort of, in which blocks in Red and White quilts exhibited have been chosen to make a representative quilt of that glorious collection.  You can learn more about it by clicking on the red/white button on my sidebar. I love to make blocks so this seemed like one to do this year. And some of the blocks have applique.  You know how much I love applique!  Above are the two that are - you guessed it - applique blocks. The pink hearts were done with back basting and machine appliqued using a zig zag stitch.  The purple one was done with freezer paper and machine applique using a zig zag stitch also. 

WIP - Craftsy BOM

I guess this is the year to make samplers for me. I've committed to two so far!  Also an embroidered block BOM, and two FMQ challenges.  Looks like I'll have plenty of blocks to quilt as I go.  One of my Yahoo Online groups is making the Craftsy BOM blocks as an activity for all of us.  I think we are doing 2 blocks each month and they will be blocks that we learn new tricks from.  Here are my two for this month:

I have a lot of flower material and chose to make this one with that from my stash.  Another way to destash.

What are your plans for 2012?  Go to my sidebar and click on Esther's WIPs on Wednesday to see what others are doing in 2012.