Friday 18 December 2015

Friday finish and free motion bee & flower tutorials!

So my sewing machine has had a hiccup!  The bobbin has jammed up and no sew joy at all.  The shop I bought it from are on holidays until the 4th of January so it looks like it'll be hand stitching for me over the Christmas break.   In the meantime, I thought I would leave you with one last post showing how I free motion quilted some of the motifs in the mug rugs I made for Lara for our recent best swap ever!!!! 

rough hand stitching on the mini - before quilting

In addition to sharing with you guys process steps and inspiration for a project, this blog does me a big turn by being a place to record details that I can go back to, again and again, particulary if I am trying to remember where I found a block or pattern, or if I'm struggling to remember how to use a special technique.  I thought today I'd share some steps on the flower and bee quilting in these two little projects to save them for reference.


I'm a big fan of The Inbox Jaunt and love Lori's approach to doodling and how it can be used to make quilt motifs.  I've been trying to doodle more and had great fun practicing bee shapes before even attempting to take needle and thread to the mug rug.  I even googled how many wings bee's have and tried a technique Heather Ross recommends in her Creativebug class on fabric design.


The idea is to look at images of an object, practice drawing them to get the shape in your head and in your hands and then put those images aside, take a blank piece of paper and draw from memory.  That way you don't copy someone else's drawing and make your own. 

Following that technique this is how I quilted my bee!
The remaining quilting was just loops in a matching background colour and some steam from the tea to fill the cup.

Knowing how amazing Lara is at applique, I thought my rough and ready approach could do with some backup, so I found some pretty co-ordinating scraps and made a more traditional pieced mug rug to go along with the first one.

Fiona @ Betsy Grey Crafts had a de-stash on instagram and I picked this teacup fabric for the backs!

I had fun quilting this one.  A little bit of stitch in the ditch, some wavy lines, orange peel effect and a doodle flower!
To make the flower I kind of made this up as I went along!

I like how it looks and think next time it would be fun to combine both the bee and the flower and make a garden of them!
So that's it from me for a bit!  Thanks for reading and letting me share my quilty adventures.  Hope everyone enjoys the festivities and has a wonderful Christmas and New Year's celebrations!  

12 comments:

  1. I've been enjoying all of your mug rug posts! Those little finishes are my favorites! Thanks for the ideas for FMQing. That is one of my New Year's goals: to learn more about how to do it, and to practice it! I've been on th blog you mentioned where she talks about doodling, so I will try that first!

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  2. I love the little fmq flower motif! It fits perfectly in those corner blocks. :)

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  3. Love how you added dimension with the designs.

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  4. Very cute mug rugs! Thanks for showing how you made the cute quilting designs.

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  5. Thanks for the quilting tips I finally bought the 8900 after saving my nickels for a year and I'm excited to get to the fmq bits after the holidays! Your mug rugs look fantastic and I also like how you quilted the area to the right of the stars.

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  6. Really pretty, and thanks for great instructions too. Any sign of the package I sent you?

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  7. They are fabulous and the applique is not rough and ready at all! Great quilting. Have a very merry christmas

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  8. How fun to see your quilt doodling process Ruth! This was one of the things I noticed and loved immediately on your mug rugs. I'm a fan of Lori Kennedy too and need to get crackin on my practicing. Love the little bee and flowers and LOVE my new mug rugs! Most of all it was wonderful getting to know you better!

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  9. Great post, Ruth!! I like to match the quilting motif to the quilt-top design. Thank you for sharing your process and the links. The mug rugs are beautiful!!

    -Soma

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  10. Great instructions for your FMQing, Ruth. I hope that you have a fantastic holiday and that your machine can be repaired quickly after the break.

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  11. Yeah! Combine the bee and the flower!
    Thanks for sharing how they were made. I have tried quilting flowers, but not bees.
    The little teacup and pot are darling.

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