Travel Projects

 I'm leaving next week for a trip that I've dreamed about for a long time.

At this time next week I will have landed in Australia for a quilting cruise with Debbie Roberts Tours. It is a two week cruise along the coasts of Australia and New Zealand with one stop in Tasmania.

On the return, I will be spending a week in Vancouver with my son and family.

There might not be much blogging going on, but I will post some pictures if I can.

Since it will be a very long trip, I thought I would make a few projects to keep myself organized and comfortable.

Remember this!  This was my first attempt at Diane Gaudynski's feathers in Free Motion Quilting Challenge at SewCalGal.

Feather Sample

After cutting it down to size, I added some hyperlinking as per Patsy Thompson's tutorial in same challenge and  and stitched on some bias binding,.

hyperlinking

Stitched up the sides, added a big button from my mom's button box and a ribbon, and voila!  a little travel bag.

Travel Bag

With enough room for my new headset,  Blackberry Playbook and a couple of puzzle books.

with contents

I need a little pillow for my lower back when sitting for long period and saw a "Dog Bone Pillow" in a store but it was really firm and too big, so I decided to make my own out of a nice soft brown corduroy.  

It also make a great neck pillow.

Dog Bone Pillow with carrying handle and luggage tags

Before Christmas, I made a bunch of these leather luggage tags for stocking stuffers, and a few for myself.

close up - leather luggage tags

Almost ready to go, just need to finish packing.

Terry

O Tannenbaum V

Quilt # 116.

O Tannenbaum V

This is my last entry for the UFO Challenge 2012 issued by Judy Laquidara at Patchwork Times.  Have a look at what everyone else has accomplished.

This was #9 which is actually the November challenge.  It did not get done in November but I have now completed all of my UFOs from this challenge except for December's and a bit of quilting to finish on my October's challenge.  All the posts for this project can be seen here.

It was a good year for UFO busting, thanks Judy!   Still lots in the pile but it is definitely getting smaller. I'm really trying to complete everything that I start now!

O Tannenbaum V is the fifth in a series of stylized trees.

This is what I started out with this month:

from the UFO pile

I added the four corners using the 2 same batiks that were in the block.

Corners added and top marked for quilting

This will be a cushion, so on to the quilting. I used a piece of white cotton for the back which is now on the inside of the cushion. I love quilting feathers so I just had to make some corner designs.

quilting -front

And here's what the back looked like:

quilting - back

I made a matching piping using some of the green fabric, added it around the front piece.

cushion back - zipper - piping

The back is a 100% cotton brown print to which I added an invisible zipper before sewing to the front section.

I signed and dated it at one edge, using one of the alphabet stitches on my machine.

signed and dated

Wishing all a Very Happy 2013!

Terry

DOCUMENTATION

Quilt Name: O Tannenbaum V

Description: cushion of stylized tree

Pattern: original

Size: 18” x 18”

Fabrics: Batiks, 100% cotton

Predominant colours: green, brown

Construction Techniques: Layering of 2 fabrics, stitching and cutting away. Decorative stitches cover raw edges. Technique shared by Maurine Roy in magazine article.

Back: 100% cotton

Batting: bamboo

Edge finish: piping

Quilting: free motion

Quilted by: Terry Whyte

Label: stitched on back

Date completed: December, 2012

Maker: Terry Whyte

2012 FMQ November Challenge with Sarah Vedeler

This is number 11 in the Free Motion Quilt Challenge at Insights from SewCalGal. 

This month, Sarah Vedeler challenged us with doing spirals in a grid format. I especially like the looks of the small spirals in the grid (mine are 1”). They are also the easiest to make and control shapewise.

Lots of spirals

I have often quilted spirals but always found it difficult covering an area evenly. The spiral variation is a great way of changing the direction of the spiral and moving to different areas.

I thought I would give myself an extra challenge and quilt on satiny fabric. The dark blue is different than the yellow and the white, heavier and not as shiny.

I also experiemented with three different threads:

Superior's Trilobal Polyester (Natural Colors) in gold on the white,

Gutermann 100% Viscose in dark blue on the yellow,

Mettler's Poly Sheen 100% polyester in grey on the blue.

This is what is looked like after blocking before making the pillow.

Lots of fun, thank you Sarah!

Also, Nina Marie has invited me to link up to her Off the Wall Fridays, so check it out, lots of nice art quilts.

Terry