Applique heart designs

The previous set of hearts was released for applique as well.  Buy them here. 

New embroidery designs for sale

It's been a month since my last blog post and sadly, not much happened since then as my Brother Innovis 4000 broke down and parts isn't available locally anymore.  13 years and 30 million stitches later, the machine is now considered obsolete.  So, although I have my Bernina 830 of 1981 to use, I just couldn't find the inspiration.  I am so sad and so utterly disappointed in Brother...  I was able to find the parts in the USA, but after buying and paying for all, I was informed that they however don't have all the parts in stock.  My friend's fiancé would have brought it with the end of November, but now, who knows? 

I was however able to digitize a new set of 12 heart designs for smaller hoops, as I currently can't continue with the Bohemian set which require the extra-large hoop of the NV4000.  They are available here from my shop at Oregon Patchworks.

Four Patch Posy Completed

After hours and hours of quilting, the Four Patch Posy quilt are finally finished.

 As usual I combined free motion quilting with machine embroidery.

Feathers was done using the walking foot for the shaft which was filled with pebbles.

Quilting designs from Stitchdelight was used in the triangles.

These designs are part of The Patchwork Star and can be found here.

The narrow green border was done with the walking foot.  

For the black grid, I used this Generic Red Line Sewing Presser Foot that I bought from Fabric8.

The outside green border as well as the binding was done with some decorative stitches.

The posies were quilted with stippling (meandering).

Disappearing Pinwheel

The second project our Rotary Cutters quilt group did for the year, was the Disappearing Pinwheel.  Another very innovative way of starting off with just two squares of light and dark, constructing half square triangles and stitching them together to form a 12" pinwheel.

After cutting this block then in 3 equal strips horizontal and vertical, you are left with a very small pinwheel, 4 smaller hst's and 4 squares.  And then the fun start.  By mixing these blocks up and laying them out in different ways, all sorts of looks can be created like shown below which is the layout Frances's picked

or this one, the look I went for.

It is created with 4 blocks laid out in the order as shown below which really had me utterly confused as I swopped the dark and light fabrics.  And I also wanted the print of the darker fabric to all go in the same direction in each quarter, which my son (not so jokingly) refers to as his mother's OCD.

By adding a second row, the stunning layout below are created which was what I was originally going after, but at this stage I stitched only 2 centers which will each cover our bedside tables.  Otherwise, it might just end up as another unused quilt.

By adding a third row, this beauty is created.

With me still struggling to finish January's Four Patch Posy, two small runners are definitely the way to go.

Shopping at Fabric8

This month's shopping at Fabric8 included among others more wool for Cheyenne's blanket as well as some cute charms and a pinking scissor.  Do scroll down for a picture of the blanket.

The package was as per usual wrapped in gift paper

adorned with various stickers

portraying Fabric8's appreciation towards their customers.

It is like unwrapping a present within a present and is just so welcoming.

Just look at the little surprise packet packed with all kinds of little but extremely useful notions.

Then another packet inside with all my little purchases.

It's like a gift that keeps on giving although I paid for it.😃

Cute needlework charms as well as a pin to add to my collection of pins although my cellphone bag gifted to all the Bloemfontein ladies who attended the quilt festival at Pietermaritzburg, is getting full.

I also bought a bulky seam jumper as well as non-slip adhesive rings for quilting rulers for a friend of mine.

 The pinking scissors

and this month's wool.

And as promised Cheyenne's blanket.  Isn't it gorgeous?  Looks just like a quilt.

New designs added to store

 Block 5 was added to the Shades of Red quilt.

This block was one of the reasons the designing of this quilt came to a halt as I just could not decide what to substitute the original design with as I did not particularly like the original version which is known as Red Delicious by Esther Aliu.  Then this came to mind and Voila!

Block 2 of the Bohemian Quilt was finally ready after much editing.  Still learning Embroidery Office but getting there step by step.  This block features a monochromatic design.

Block 3 is yet again an applique design which went quite smooth designing it although the first stitch out distorted badly.  The fabric shifted in the hoop, like I didn't hoop it tight enough.  After starching and ironing the fabric, this one stitched like a dream.  It will be loaded shortly to my store.

And so, I soldier on to block 4 of about 30 which will make up this quilt.  A huge task I know whilst also working fulltime as well, but for now I focus on one block at a time.