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Sadie goes on a diet

When I left you on Thursday, I had finished the collage of Sadie, the Saddle-Billed Stork…..

…but she was a bit chunky!!

When I turned her over, I could see the outline that I had drawn on the interfacing….

It was super easy to cut along the lines…..

…and a very svelt Sadie emerged…….

I am VERY pleased with how she looks and happy that the process was so easy!!!

Now I need to think about the background and, honestly, I have TOO many ideas!!

Come back for more!!!

PATTERN UPDATE….. did you know that you can get a FREE copy of my pattern “Crumbs for the Geese” just by signing up for my newsletter? But, this offer will be ending soon!! To make sure that you don’t miss out, please sign up in the top right column of this post.

It’s all about learning something….

Someone asked me why I continue to do challenges and mystery quilts and my answer is the same…..”I ALWAYS learn something!!!”

I have now finished Angela Walters’ “Quilting with Rulers Challenge” and, as you might guess, I learned SO much!!

Here is the finished quilt…..

…..and here are a few things that I learned……

  • Rulers can be used in other ways that don’t match their intended purpose. In this case, I used an oval ruler to quilt some longer curves…..
  • Use a matching thread….especially if you don’t know exactly what you are doing…..
  • Plan and measure borders so that they turn the corner well….
  • Larger areas can be made smaller by dividing them into sections…..
  • Adding some non-ruler quilting can make a boring design pop……
  • IF you want it to be exact, there are tools that you can use…….
  • Finally, even though you can use a ruler to quilt a filler design, it is easier to freehand it!!!

I bought a few new rulers at Houston this past month and am already having fun playing with them and figuring out exactly how I can use them!!

And, will I do another challenge???

You-bet-ya!!! I have the top for Angela’s new “Feather” challenge and I cannot wait to get started!!! I am horrible at feathers and know that this will push me forward.

Do you need something to PUSH you to get better????

If so, think about signing up for my FREE 10-week Free-Motion Quilting Challenge called “MOVE IT!!!”

Each week you will receive an email with a few new designs to try and a video with instructions, encouragement, and sometimes even some commiseration!!!

If you are interested, sign up HERE

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Yesterday, I posted about fixing a mistake on the body of “Sadie the Saddle-Billed Stork”.

Today I am moving onto the neck and head.

I started working my way up the neck, drawing some of the shapes onto fabric using a wash-out marker…..

As I progressed up the neck, I used skinny pins to hold the pieces in place…..

….and when I was happy with it, I used my mini iron…..

…..to fuse them in place.

The only problem that I encountered was with fabric shadowing behind the yellow…..

I ended up doubling the fabric and that took care of most of the shadows. I figure that, once I have heavily stitched the area, it won’t be a problem!!

Before I knew it, Sadie had some personality…..

Next, it was time to move to her legs, starting with the knees first…..

Aren’t they cute!!!

Then I added the Hammies (hamstrings)…..

….and finished her gams with some shapely thighs…..

She is looking a bit chunky!!

stay tuned coming soon modern style background design

Fixing the bird….

And no, I am NOT talking about the Thanksgiving bird!!!

Last week I posted about making a start on “Sadie the Saddlebill Stork”. When I ended the post, I asked if you could see my mistake??

Here it is……

This white piece is in the wrong place. I should be further down and more to the center.

I noticed it just as I was finishing up for the day and gnashed over it in my mind until I could return to the studio. I had already ironed these pieces down so it wasn’t going to be easy to replace.

Then I had an epiphany…..since the piece now needed to be black, why don’t I just color it!!!

Out came the Fabrico markers and, in a matter of minutes, the correction was made!!!

Now I needed to add the white to the correct area, so I peeled back the edges…..

and inserted a white fabric…..

Problem solved!!

Come back tomorrow for the neck and head!!

PATTERN UPDATE….. did you know that you can get a FREE copy of my pattern “Crumbs for the Geese” just by signing up for my newsletter? But, this offer will be ending soon!! To make sure that you don’t miss out, please sign up in the top right column of this post.

What am I doing wrong?

I am once again participating in the mystery quilt from Meadow Mist Designs, this time based on those wonderful cookies called Macarons!!!

For the months of October and November, we made flying geese….and more flying geese…..and even more flying geese!! She has promised us that this is the last of them.

But, it did give me an opportunity to perfect my flying geese technique. But, alas, that was not the case and I am still having troubles.

We are making them by the 4-at-a-time method and I love how they look when they are in process…..

But when I start trimming them down, the point side always seems to be a bit short!! I even marked the first set so I would remember when I used these units in another step……

I figured that I had not been careful enough in my piecing or ironing so set out the next month to do better.

In November, I VERY carefully pieced and ironed, but they still ended up a bit short on one side (normally the left one)…..

‘I am using the Wing-Clipper tool to trim.

Do you have any thoughts about what I am doing wrong???

ALL help will be appreciated!!