The best form of flattery????

I keep seeing these colour pallete photos on the web so had to have a go.......here are two from my stock photos......

Can you tell I am really chuffed with myself for figuring it out using photoshop!!!

Now got to go do some quilting!

SID!

SID....'stitch in the ditch'.....don't you just love it???

Very tedious and time consuming but also a very necessary part of stabilising the quilt!

All done...so now on to the fun part!!!!

Listen!

.....and a little camera noise!

First ride of the season!

The Grandkids didn't really intend to ride their ponies today just brush and handle them a little but the ponies seemed so calm that a short ride was an added bonus!

Churn Dash Threadpath....

I've been asked about the threadpath for the feather block on my Gilded Churn Dash quilt so here goes......

Find the centre of the block using a straight ruler then using a curved ruler stitch out the four lozenges .....

Next in freemotion stitch out the four teardrops using a figure eight configuration..... 

You could use a purple air erasable marker to draw diagonal registration lines if necessary......

Freemotion the feathers on one side of the lozenge then circle down inside the lozenge back to the centre......

Freemotion feather up the second side of the lozenge to finish the first quadrant...backtrack to the centre and start the second quadrant.....work your way around the block until all four quadrants are done!

I think you can see the path of the Churn Dash block easy enough then move to the inside of the block to do the continuous curve...it can be done all in one pass without breaking thread...do the three outside curves then the central square last....

Follow black... green .....blue

Voila!

What a difference a day makes!

Only 24 hours.......

This is where I live.....

Yesterday......

 And then today......

Back to dark, gray, dreik winter days!

A Finish....Gilded Churn Dash!

It's not that it was a big quilt or a difficult design....just that at the moment I don't have much time to quilt!

I used Hobbs 80/20 batting and Metro thread top and bottom in navy and a gray/blue.

I stitched in the ditch (SID) the main blocks and then it was freemotion feathers with a small amount of ruler work for the continuous curve in the churn dash blocks.

There's a continuous double spine feather in the border but it's difficult to photograph on the dark fabric.

I marked registration dots in the blue blocks and used a curved ruler for the lozenge shapes and then freemotioned the feathers with no markings...they turned out quite well,  just need to work a little on the spacing for the feather fronds to get them more even and consistent.....

I started this quilt to use up that navy gilded fabric...in the end I think the gilded  fabric gives the quilt an elegant touch, it's on the back too!

The finished quilt measures 50 x 62 inches an is the perfect size for the back of a sofa.....it doesn't really match the decor of this room but it can stay there for a while!

When you need some elbow room!

When I bought my longarm...I was conscious of the fact that the floor in my studio had bouncy well sprung floorboards. So to stop my machine and frame from moving around I cut four of these disks from an off cut of my heavy duty kitchen carpet and installed one upside down (carpet to carpet) under each leg.....

They worked really well, my frame didn't move and there was no vibration at all!

But I did have a problem....when working from the back of the machine as I do occasionally when using a pantograph, I kept banging my elbows on the wall behind, this meant that I couldn't get smooth enough curves  (I'm very picky)....I just needed another six inches of space but those carpet disks kept my frame so stable that there was no way I could move it....it weighs a ton!

One solution would have been to install castors designed specially for my frame....but they cost £££'s!

I found another solution that cost me just £2.00 for a pack of four....

I installed one of these sliders under each leg with the plastic side down on the carpet and the foam upwards and now I can slide that very heavy frame in and out bit by bit when I need too to give me those extra six inches that I need to smooth out those curves!!!!!

"Voila"!

Out and about on Tuesday!

The sky was just starting to change and then the heavens opened but look at the light on the loch!

Can you see the slits in the stone work for the bows and arrows!

Here's a sneak peak!

Just a quick look coz I have to get back to it!

Temptation!

Of course you can't go to a quilt show without buying fabric?????