Kiwiberry batik rails finish and some zen stitching

 I finished a UFO that I started in November 2010.  I have blogged about it before and lately quite a lot!  It was a goal to finish this quilt this month.........and that is what I did!

 Here is the back.......I did a lot of different FMQ designs.......mostly as practice for the first time on each design.  This will go on our patio table.

 I took photos of all of the areas and decided to add them to this blog post.  There are words and short sentences added in different areas. AND I did some very big hand stitching in some areas!

next I will talk about what I call zen stitching.................

 This week I read a blog post about Stitch Meditations..........I became very fascinated and interested in checking out the video and learning more about it.
So here is the info I read and you can check it out on this blog post by Andrèe here 

The video she refers to is on YouTube by Liz Kettle   Stitch Meditations

Rules....No plan..take few minutes to pick materials...no taking out stitches. AND OK not to be perfect!! Here are my little pieces of creative bliss!!! I have used flannel 4 x 4 and 3 1/2 x 4 and my tiny saved scraps!!!  I like the idea with no plan and just decide as you go what you will do.  So I have spent about 30 minutes on each of these the past 3 afternoons....sitting on our patio with temps in the upper 70s............so relaxing......

And the reason I call it zen stitching.......meaning of zen is.....a state of calm attentiveness in which one's actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort.

I am linking to Free Motion Mavericks  week 265

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

To-Do Tuesday

I have decided to add my to-do list to my blog.....at least I will do it this week.
I have a habit of making a list every day of things I want to do.  BUT.....This will be different to post some of my things from my hand written list to my blog! I have been reading blogs of others doing this and I am joining in the fun!

  I will be adding this post to Roseanne's link     Click....It will take you to the To-Do Linky #22

To-Do for the Week of January 7th through 13th:

1. Make progress on my batik rail quilt with FMQ and hand quilting.  I made a statement yesterday at my quilt group that I will finish this quilt this month.
2. Practice FMQ at least 5 days this week
3. Do some pages in my online class book with Joanne Sharpe 2020 Artfully Inspired Life
4. Work on Frolic Bonnie Hunter mystery

At the end of the week I will post a report of how I did for the week on my goals.

Linking to Home Sewn By Us  (link above)

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Christmas in July...a finish + liberated log cabin and other projects

 I just had to start and finish a Christmas project in July.  I had some of this fabric left from when I made tabletoppers in 2011 and 2013 and I made one similar to the ones I made back then.  I used machine quilting and hand quilting.

 The back of the mat is Debbie Mumm fabric.

 Here is a photo of half of the batting cut off close to the stitching.  I used the backing as a binding.  I cut it 1" from the outside of the mat and folded over halfway and pressed.  Then I clipped and pinned and did a machine stitch around the outside edge.  I used #332 on my Bernina.  That is the same stitch I used to quilt down the center and across the middle.

 Here is the little quilt I got so excited to start back in June when I watched an old show on TQS.  I blogged about it in this blog post   I was going to make it larger but changed my mind.  It is really difficult to piece something not straight and then try to get the outside fairly straight!  I thought improv making up whatever I wanted would be easier....but there has to be some kind of plan!  I am hand quilting it....fun....fun!  I am calling it Not All Solids.

I decided to do some big stitch quilting on this rail quilt that I had machine quilted about half so far....many many years ago!   I needed some hand work to do.  The tutorial I watched is
https://crafty.house/big-stitch-quilting/     I will go back to machine quilting when I practice some more....I have gotten very rusty with not doing it!!!

This photo is from my 2019 Artfully Inspired Life journal with the class I am taking with Joanne Sharpe.  It is the January page (she says we are NEVER behind)....and under the window shutters are my goals I wrote out for this year.  I had written them in January and just copied into my book this week!  The little shutters were made using my sticker machine and the acrylic papers I had painted and cut into tiny strips!.

I am so excited that I am NOW able to see The Quilt Show and my ruzuku classes on our big TV screen in the living room using Amazon Fire Box.  Really a great way to watch and get my steps at the same time.  Healthy eating and getting my walking exercise every day is a very important part of each day!

Linking to http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/2019/08/oh-scrap-new-color.html

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Creative Workshop Bliss

 This afternoon I set aside some time like going to a class....
I have been thinking about this for a week and thinking of a plan....
I had a few rules....I would do something just being creative...
AND not necessarily for the finished product....
And I would call it "Creative Workshop Bliss".............

 I started with no plan......I drew out a tree and snowbanks with an air erasable pen...
then I forgot my first rule to treat it like going to a class....
or meeting with friends to enjoy a time together....
off I went to clean the bathrooms....oops...when I came back the lines were gone!!!...
so I just started sewing and sewing....deciding as I went along...
with some free motion sewing and zendoodling....
wheeee.....what a fun time....
then I took my Paintstix and put some color on the snow hills and tree....
not sure what I will do with this next....
I will plan some more of these sessions to try new things...
and practice my zendoodling....it is so relaxing......

Here is my batik rails that I have been quilting....
I am writing little messages in some of the light strips....
laugh every day.....
today I will choose joy....  etc
Today I also checked out my new My Memories software...
I had a fun day....how about you?
Smiles and hugs....Caryl

projects, roses and a finish

 Here is a springy tablerunner with Eden charm squares I finished today...

 I blogged about it before in October....

 I changed the quilting with each square and some I followed the fabric design..

 I took a photo of my roses today..the name of the rose is Paradise Found...

 here is my batik rail fence quilt with center quilting started....

here is the same March FMQ Challenge sample with the paintstix I blogged about this week...

but now I used Smooch taffy on the heart...

and on the flower to the right of the heart I used twinkling H2Os fuzzy peach...

I was checking to see what I liked the best....

Actually I like to work with all three of these items!!

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

 



 

 



 

 

ready...set....go...

I have four projects in the corner of my living room just waiting for me....
I need to make some progress on them before I start something  new....

the four are on My WIP and FIU Projects list on the sidebar:
Roman Holiday HST tablerunner
Eden tablerunner
70 9 patch 2009 crazy mom quilt along
KiwiBerry Bali Pops quilt

I really enjoy looking at so many things that everyone is doing....blogs, pinterest, flickr, quilt mashup, facebook, twitter, etc....got to get busy now...
Smiles and hugs....Caryl