June FNSI results

I still don't have the Internet but it won't stop me to post the results here as I promised :). I decided to finish the work on the tablemat. I did all the layers some time ago and pinned them together but I couldn't move on with quilting them. The main point to make this tablemat was to exercise and try free motion quilting. I did some of that on other fabric pieces to get a feeling but still I was worried how it would come out. But, if you don't try you're not going to be better, so finally I started free motion quilting on the tablemat. Last Friday night I finished that all.

SewCalGal blog has the year long event called Free-Motion Quilt Challenge. Each month there a different expert showing how to learn and make various free-motion patterns. In January there was this leaf pattern shown and I thought it would be good to make on my piece:

Here's the centre square sewn together

and the whole tablemat:

Now, I need to make the binding and it will be ready.

June FNSI

This post will be "Excuses and Apologies" one. I signed up for June FNSI and I will be sewing that Friday night. I have two things going on and will work on one of these:

1. Baby quilt I started in May
2. Patchwork tablemat for which I used some scraps

The table mat was made mainly to give a try in free motion quilting. I started this yesterday and it is sooo hard, the needle doesn't always go the way I want to, but it's fun to try it.

Now the "Excuses..." part - unfortunately I won't be able to show you the results on Saturday, as I don't have access to the Internet at home now. My Internet provider did very, very bad thing as they cut me off by mistake and it cannot be fixed that easily. So, lack of internet access will be more than just few days. I'll do my best to post some results over the next week. So sorry once again :(.

May FNSI results

For this month's FNSI I decided to start sewing a baby quilt. Some time ago I bought cute fabrics Fox Trails from Riley Blake Designs. It waited a long time for me and finally thanks to FNSI I got motivated to use it.

I knew I'd want to make the quilt from simple squares but over the past week I came with idea on how to put them together and did all the cutting. I had some orange and turquoise solid fabrics and decided to make use of them as well. Last night I placed the squares together and started sewing.

Here is the photo on how I put the squares together:

And more photos on where I am now :):

Today, I had busy day in my garden as the garlic, raspberries and wild strawberries needed some rescue from grass. Tomorrow I'll have to wake up early as we're going on a walk to nearby mountains. This all means that I won't be able to see the results of others work over last night. But for sure I'll be checking this soon. I'm always curious what nice things all the ladies came up with.

No, we didn't go to the mountains. The weather is beautiful but we were too lazy to get up early :). But in turn I'll rest and do some embroidery in the garden. Perfect the same!

May FNSI - baby quilt to sew

A short post to spread the word. This Friday I'll be participating in FNSI. I haven't done that for a while so it's highest time to commit to some sewing. I started cutting squares for a baby quilt, so FNSI is a good way to speed up. Please join with whatever sewing you might have on your mind. Here's the place to do that:

I'll postsome photos of "Work in Progress" over the weekend. Cheers!

November FNSI

I know that most of you are sewing things for Christmas gifts. Well, I haven't decied to give presents that I made during Christmas time yet. Instead, I keep moving forward with sewing my first quilt but if I finish it in time we'll have a nicely decorated room. So I might say it's a gift for my house ;).

Yesterday I managed to finish quilting. It was a tough thing for me. In fact it was the most difficult one in making the whole quilt. Now I need to do the binding but I hope I'll do it before the next FNSI, so I'll be able to start on something new for the next event.

I haven't decided yet, how the do the binding - in hand or using the machine. I did binding in hand for the tablemats and there is something nice in it. I cannot express what but it keeps me tempting :). So I might take the longer path.

And now I'm gonna to check out what others made during last night while tasting my delicious apple cake I just made.

{After FNSI}

Yesterday I did some progress on my first big quilt. The blocks were made during the Patchwork Squared Quilt Along. Some time ago I made the top then the back and I was left with putting this together.

Last weekend I basted the quilt and yesterday started the machine quilting. I didn't do much progress in this, well... it is tough job, especially for a beginner like me. But I learnt some things, as one says that you learn best on your own mistakes.

First of all, the quilt is BIG beast for me and at first I felt I couldn't tame it and begin sewing. But then after a couple of minutes I managed to organize it a bit.

Lesson no.1 - I should have muh more safety pins for basting than I have... I mean much more.

Lesson no. 2 - Using gloves when quilting on machine might be very useful. I didn't have them and now I can see that they may help a lot.

As I mentioned I didn't do much, so probably I will continue this one during the next Friday Night.

{FNSI}

This month I signed up for FNSI to get me motivated for sewing. I have prepared the quilt that I want to finish, so I'm ready :). Are you?

FNSI - after party

This was the first time I took part in Friday Night Sew In but for sure not the last one. It's great opportunity to speed up with sewing. I have two things ongoing that need my sewing machine and I decided to do this:


It 's the last of 4 tablemats that I have to quilt. I didn't do all the quilting last night, but I finished 4 squares where during the week I couldn't do more than one square a day. So, hopefully I'll be able to finish it this week.











Another fun part of FNSI is that it's not over. Now, I'm going to check what other folks did. There were above 100 participants, so there's A LOT to see. Cheers :)!

Friday Night Sew In

Can you see the banner on the right? Yes, for the first time I'm going to join in. I'll sit with my sewing machine and will have fun night :). I need to motivate myself somehow: I joined Quilt Along, which is great for me as I sew much more I would do normally. This FNSI event is another great idea to speed up the pace. So I'll do this: ....or this: Cheers!