Tuesday, May 6, 2014

What's Happening!

I have been working on my Christmas Diamonds quilt top...slowly.  A few minutes here and there. I have my Pfaff  Ambition 1.0 setup in the hallway so that I can work on this project alone.  RetiredHub gets a kick out of me flitting from one machine to another to get some work done on each project. Everytime he comes into the basement I am sitting at a different machine, working on a different project.  I really love that I am able to devote a machine to a project so that I dont have to pick up and move everything when I am finished each time.  My Pfaff QE 4.0 is devoted to freemotion quilting at the moment.  We even have a  Kenmore set up in the furnace room.  We are working on sewing up new lawn chair frames from vinyl.  More on that later. 


I have a finish!  Just in time for Dad's 87th birthday this weekend.  His actual birthday isnt until May 14 but we are doing Mother's Day and his birthday together this year.   And also just in time for Show and Tell on Wednesday for our May meeting of the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild.  I was so inspired by guild buddy Jenn's rendition of this quilt, "Deer in the Headlights" by Boo Davis that I knew I just had to make one.  I  didn't want a bedsized quilt so I downsized it to 24" x  28", a nice size for a wallhanging. 

My rendition of  "Deer in the Headlights" by Boo Davis    My quilt measures 24" x 28"
 For the blue background swirls, I used Auriful #50 colour 2600 a very light grey.  It actually sparkles!
In the orange bits (Kona kumquat) I used a Sulky Blendables 30# orange with yellow variegated
For the thread sketching on the face and ears, I used Wonderfil 50# Tutti  colour TU34 a variegated brown/orange/rust
For the pebbling on the neck, I used Gutterman 50# Colour 3110 dark brown
For this project I tried an Inspira Microtex needle size 80/12.
Each of the three different threads worked well with this needle and my freemotion quilting was problem-free.  I also tried a new free-motion foot for my machine but more on that later. 
The binding is a brown/white stripe that reminded me of a necktie,  that I cut on the bias. Attached by machine and sewn to the back by hand.
I had to pay great attention to sewing to match the stripes when joining to make the binding strip and as bad luck would have it...one of the seams landed dead on a corner!  But I steamed the bejeepers out of it and it is not noticeable. 


Here's a link to a video that shows some of Boo's other creations from her book "Dare to be Square" 
Boo Davis

I am linking up with The Needle and Thread Network so why not stop by and check out all the Canadian quilty goodness. 


10 comments:

  1. Your dad will love this Linda , happy birthday to your dad ! Great job :-)

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  2. what a nice job on your fathers quilt...I love it!!!!

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  3. this turned out wonderfully. So nice to hear you had no issues with any of your thread choices. Have a wonderful celebration this weekend!

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  4. So wonderful-can't wait to see it tonight in person.

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  5. Your stitching is fabulous, Linda - as is that striped binding. Dad is going to love it!

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  6. Really cute and I think you chose the perfect binding!

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  7. We should all have sewing machines dedicated to certain tasks. I wonder if I could con...or talk my husband into the idea. A deer in the headlights is gorgeous. I can't wait to see it in person.

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  8. Ok, the reindeer is wonderful! I have a lovely blank wall that would showcase it beautifully! Looks like you're having fun.

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  9. Good grief, Linda! I can't believe you have different staging areas for your projects! It's wild!!!

    Can't wait to see your version of the deer!

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  10. That's a great deer quilt! Love the colors and the size. Expert quilting there too. Interesting that you have several work "stations"! What a great idea... if only I had the space!

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