My Star Quilt is Complete.

I am happy to announce another completed quilt. This one has been on my To Do List for this year so it is great news to say it is completed. I think I have completed half of the projects on the list that were from last year or even before them. I know there was some that were on 2014 To Do List as well. At least this one has only been 12 months roughly in the making.

So now I need to select which one I am going to finish next off the long term list. There is 2 I am considering my double wedding ring bed runner (ready for quilting) or my Grand Illusion Mystery quilt (still needs 2 more borders to be made).  We will see what takes my fancy when I am ready to pick one up and do some work, but at the moment there is plenty of sewing still to be completed for Fully Stacked. Coming soon to Cynthia's Ark. A weekend of surprises for everyone on line and in store.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

My Inklingo Star Quilt

It has been a while since I finished the quilt top. The poor quilt has been sitting in the To be Quilted pile for 3-4 months and at one stage I had a July deadline for the completion of it. Well July is gone and August is just about done. Finally I have pinned it ready for quilting. Another week goes by. Why can't I decide on how to quilt this one? I could easily have it finished if I just stitched it in the ditches but that just doesn't appeal to me. I think this top was waiting for me to rediscover FMQ again and after a couple tests with the rulers I purchased from Westalee Design I decided on a floral design using the 2' circle ruler from the Sampler set and on the plain blocks I followed the diagonal pattern of the fabric for a zigzag effect.

I used the Inklingo 9' Star collection to make the star blocks which I did by hand and when I quilted it I was easily able to use my seams to line the circle ruler quickly every time for perfect placement of the floral design. There is an Inklingo link in the Right hand side toolbar if you want to learn more about printing on to fabric for precision piecing every time.

So now I am up to the binding stage and I can see the completion of this quilt clearly which is fantastic. I am using the pink stripe that I used for the star centre for the binding.  All the fabric I have used in the quilt is from Sue Daley's To Norway with Love is still available in my shop.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

350 Blocks Project 2015- July's Report

I am starting to sound like a broken record. An impossible slow start to the month. Why can't I find any sewing time.
This month's total is 30 blocks.
So what did I get done.
I did some work on my Bitty Blocks May's Bear Paw blocks and making these blocks reminds me that one day I would like to make a Bear Paw quilt. May be I need to add this one to next year. All 18 Bear Paw blocks done. Now I better cut June's blocks.

I have done some work on my black and white hexagon quilt with the 3 large blocks now joined in a row.

My August block for our Batik Rainbow Fabric Club. No picture are the members haven't received their packs.

I started the Little Joys Quilt Along and I have completed 3 Christmas tree blocks and 3 wreath blocks.

Plus I started a new hand piecing project as my hexagon quilt is growing. This one is another Inklingo project but I am working with triangles, diamonds and octagons. A little different. 1 only so far.
We started the new Quiltville Leader and Ender Challenge to make a tumbler quilt. So far 2 rows completed.
I was making some Idaho Square dance blocks to fill in time before the new Leader and Ender Challenge started and there is  4 more completed I have been wondering what to do with these blocks and I think I have a place for them. It shouldn't take me long to put them together I just need another 9 blocks. Let's hope that will be enough. They are going to be one block wide runners to hide my plastic tubs when I do craft events.

July's Vacation Time The Hot Dog Stand is completed.

I had some playing with some fabric and created a table runner which has 5 blocks and 2 borders for a total of 7.

So the Grand Total for July is 40.
 You know what this means I need to do some serious sewing soon or I am going to be in big trouble with a couple of deadlines.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Under the Pressure Foot #5

What is under the pressure foot this week. Nothing I'm afraid. There is at least 1 quilt that I should of quilted but it is sitting there still waiting to be pinned, I haven't even prepared the backing fabric. Plus all the little projects waiting to be done. So what have I been working on!
There has been some hand piecing of hexagons going on, at least some sewing is being done among the computer work, orders, new fabric arriving, advertising and ordering more stock. You should see my list of orders that I have got hopefully arriving over the second half of the year. There is new batiks coming, English paper piecing supplies, Riley Blake fabrics, Penny Rose Fabric, more Kaffe Fassett and Tula Pink fabrics, reproduction fabrics and lots more. Looking at all these fabrics has my head spinning with ideas. I have been writing them down, I hope I can develop them into upcoming projects.
Here are my hexagons blocks, it won't be long before I get to joining the blocks together. I'm working on the bottom block, I just need to sew a ring of white hexagons.

Until Next Time

Keeping Stitching

Cynthia

Unfinished Projects- I need to finish something.

This week I have been working on ........................ It turns out not a lot on the sewing machine. I am hoping June will provide me with some more sewing time. I have a number of new projects I want to start on, plus I want to finish half a dozen projects they are either ready for quilting or just need borders.
So what I have done is selected 3 quilts that I am going to try finishing during June.
I just need to do the binding on my Pies & Tarts quilt now that I have finished the hand quilting.

My Lozenge quilt is ready for quilting and I have decided on the quilting so lets get the quilt basted so I can do.

Lastly my Inklingo star quilt is ready for quilting I am still haven't decided on how I am going to quilt it but then again I can't think what to call this star quilt but at least I can get it basted ready for quilting.

So let's see how I go during June. I know there are other deadlines I need to meet in June so I can't promise all three will get finished but at least I have made the commitment to try.

 Join us in finishing something in June.

Until next time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Under The Pressure Foot #2

Welcome to Under The Pressure Foot this week. This week I have been focusing on finishing borders and tops, so some quilt tops get completed, ready for quilting. There are a few too many unfinished projects here and I really feel I need to complete some as I start new ones or at least looking at starting new ones.

The first one doesn't have any borders but the rows needed to be joined together on my leaders and enders Challenge from last year.  A great experience with scrappy. I still can't bring myself to be totally cool with completely scrappy but I am happy with what I refer to as controlled scrappy. On my lozenge quilt I was able to control the quilt with matching corners on each block. So the light pair matched and the dark pair matched. I think this is my happy scrappy place. You can just see my matching corners on these block, the dark corners really show it.

My Lozenge blocks altogether finally. So it is ready for quilting. I am thinking of some matchstick quilting in a black and white variegated thread.

Last week I shared the progress on my latest Inklingo quilt with joining the blocks together. So now I am up to the borders. In the end I decided on 1 border in the darker pink. It was an easy finish  once I had the cutting worked out as it is a directional print.

A close up that could've been closer  below.

Not sure how I'm quilting this one but I know it needs to be finished by the end of June so I can use it as one of my Inklingo display quilts on my stall at the Adelaide Sewing Stitching and Handcraft Show in July.

I will let you know what I do.

Until Next time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2015

It is that time of the year when Amy runs the Blogger Quilt Festival over at AmysCreativeSide.com. She does this twice a year. So this time I have selected my last completed quilt for the Small Quilt category. This is 1 block out of 9 I made.

It is my Castle Wall Quilt. I still haven't thought of a proper name for this quilt. The range of fabric I used was Twice as Nice by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake Designs. Any suggestions for a name would be considered! Anyway I used the Inklingo Castle Wall collection to help me piece this quilt. Printing the block shapes on the back of the fabric help out heaps when I am hand piecing. I suggest you have a look if you haven't heard of Inklingo before. There is a link in the right hand side toolbar. This project has been everywhere with me over the last 12 months as I pieced the blocks followed by the triangle borders.  I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Don't forget to vote for your favourites in each category starting the 22nd May 2015.

Here is the main link to the Blogger's Quilt Festival 

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

New Series - Under the Pressure Foot #1

Welcome to my new series Under the Pressure Foot. In these posts I am going to share with everyone what I am working on at the sewing machine. It may be a new design, a sample for the shop using one of patterns we stock, learning something new, sewing a pattern that I just want to make or just some scrap busting. You just never know what might be under my pressure foot. So here is what I am working on today.

My Inklingo Star project using Riley Blake Designs To Norway With Love, a Sue Daley range and yes there is a little bit left in the shop if you like what you see.  The shop tab is at the top of my blog. With all the block completed I am up to sewing the blocks into row. Yes I did hand piece the star blocks if you have seen earlier post on this project. This is one of the great things about Inklingo - Hybrid piecing as Linda calls it. Hand piecing and machine piecing in the same project and often in the same block. This time I am only machine piecing the quilt top together. I have set the star blocks with an alternate plain block between them. You can see the fabric at the top of the picture below.

Now the rows are done you can see my layout better. As I sew these rows together I better decide if I am doing borders. I am considering the light pink stripe(the inner star fabric) for a small inner border and binding but not sure if I use the outer star points fabric for the outer border or there is a cream with the same little motif on fabric or may be I will only do one border in the dark pink.

I am amazed I don't twist any of the solid blocks around and ended up with them on the wrong way. 

Yippy all the blocks sewn together.

Until Next Time 

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

My Castle Wall Quilt is Finished.

Finally after weeks of been busy I finally finished the binding on this quilt. This quilt was made using Inklingo castle wall collection and I used fabric from the Twice as Nice range by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake Designs. There is a little bit of the range still available in the shop if something takes your fancy. My favourite is the paisley floral print I used for the outer border and my favourite bit of the quilt is the triangle border I made using the bonus triangle in the 9' Castle Wall Collection. I can see me using it again somewhere.

 It was easy to hand piece as I could chain piece the triangles together. Of course you could machine piece them but I love hand piecing as it is a portable project. It is just when things are busy I can pick up my hand stitching for 5 minutes and if that is all I can manage that day at least I know I got a little sewing done. In this quilt I hand pieced the blocks and triangle border but the rest was done on the machine including the quilting.  
Here it is all done and ready to be hung on my stand at The Stitches & Craft Show on the 7th-9th May Wayville Showgrounds Adelaide, South Australia.

 Now I need to piece my Inklingo star blocks together so I can finish this one off too.

Then there is another hexagon project after that. I am running low on hand piecing, so I better prepare my next Inklingo project. One problem, which one do I want to make next.

Until Next Time 

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

My Castle Wall quilt update.

I have been wondering how to quilt this quilt for over a month. It is something I have trouble working out. What quilting design to use? Finally it came to me. I decided on large rectangles diagonally through the blocks using the truck octagons as a guide and turning when I reached the inner border. Since I discovered free motion quilting straight lines last year it has become my favorite quilting technique. I still have the wobble every now and again but I have a wobble when I stitch in the ditch so what the hell.

I wanted to quilt the triangles but in the end I stitched in the inner border and just stitched in the ditch between the triangles and paisley border.

A couple of close up of my quilting and that just leaves the binding which I plan to use the same red as I used for the red border. Looking at the quilt after quilting I wish I had put an extra red border between the triangle border and the outer border but I was worried there would be too much red. It is a very bold colour. Never mind.

  The fabric in this quilt is from the Twice as Nice range by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake Designs and can be found in my www.cynthiasark.com.au  I used the Inklingo Castle Wall collection for the piecing which I hand pieced.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

My Star Quilt Update

It have been a little while since I posted anything on my Inklingo star project.At the time I had decided to make 12 blocks and have printed all my shapes ready to stitch. Now I have 5 blocks made and I am wondering if I should add an alternate block to the original design for more interest rather than just having 12 star blocks joined together and I am leaning towards setting it on point or maybe not.

 I just have one little problem I can't decide which fabric to use out of the 2 left from the range that the stars came from. These 2 haven't been used in the blocks. Which one do you like better?  Please help me decide.
 There is an Inklingo link in the right hand side tool bar if you want to find out how to print on fabric.

Until Next Time 

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Stay out of the heat if you are somewhere hot like me.

The First Completed Project of 2015.

This is my Kaleidoscope Star table runner I made last year using Inklingo. A very simple layout of diamonds. It was a fun project to do and I have found some more stars I pieced so I may make another matching table runner. That way I can use both at the same time on different tables. I just did some free motion stippling in the blue hexagons.

 I just could decide what else to do. It is where I get stuck often when it comes to free motion quilting. What design do I want to do and half the time I fall back on the stippling option because I just have to finish the project. Maybe this is something I can work on this year.

The binding was a bit of a challenge I almost cut the ends square to make it easier to bind but I decide to leave it as is and bind it as is.

 One completed and many more to complete.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Hexagons are back.

That is right I have been bitten by the hexies bug again. After finishing my Cynthia's Flower Garden quilt and my Camellia strip quilt last year I thought I was about done with hexagons as I wanted to play with some other shapes. While playing with the others I found myself including hexagons and look what happened a new hexagon quilt was created in EQ 7.

 I am use these fabrics for this project.The 2 black and white prints come from the Evening Bloom range and the red is from the Riley Blake Designs Shades range Santa Red which you can find all in my Cynthia's Ark store.  I have used Inklingo to print my hexagon straight on the fabric as I had purchased the hexagon collection for my camellia quilt, so why not use it again. I may have to purchase a couple more hexagon collections in different size for the future. Using the Inklingo method is a TIME saving job. It took me less than an hour to print all my shapes and I am ready for sewing them together, no papers needed.
Unfortunately  I have only got 1 flower made so far.

Note: I am hand piecing these hexagon as I needed another hand piecing project but they are so easy to be pieced with your sewing machine if you prefer.
To find out more about printing onto fabric pop over to the Inklingo Blog.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

My Castle Wall Quilt borders.

I have been working on this project for a while. I have been making this quilt with hand piecing and machine piecing using Inklingo. I have been using Inklingo mainly on my hand piecing projects over the last 18 months so doing some machine piecing I have found some extra benefits for machine piecing with Inklingo for me.
The inset seams were a lot easier to get correct .
Though I hand pieced the wedge border as I was short on hand work and when I machine pieced those borders on  I couldn't see the points on my wedges due to seam allowances, as long I stuck to the printed line I was spot on and no points were cut off.

You can see what seams I have hand pieced and which ones I machined.

 So I am going to do more machine piecing with Inklingo in the future.

This is the completed top with the last border on. So it is ready for quilting.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

2015- To Do List

I don't believe I am writing this post already. Where did 2014 go? I have learnt some much during 2014 with new techniques, blogging, social networking,  and I have met some great people during 2014.
So what is left on 2014 list that needs to be transfer over and the new projects that were started during 2014 that need to be added.

UFO's from 2014

1. My Pies & Tarts quilt. I am 3/4 through hand quilting this one.
2.My Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt. I have finished the top in 2014 so it is ready for quilting. I just have to decide hand quilt it or machine quilt it.

3. My Double Wedding Ring quilt which has become a bed runner. I have lots to go on this one.
4. My Disappearing Hourglass quilt. I only have made 6 blocks so far.

5. My Wishes quilt. Ready for quilting.

6. My Pink Dahlia quilt. I need to find the templates so I can continue.
7. My Inklingo Castle Wall quilt. I am working on the 2nd pieced border.

8. My Inklingo star quilt. All printed and 2 blocks completed out of 12.

9. Grand Illusion Mystery quilt. I am currently working on the blocks.
10. My Lozenge scrap quilt. All ready for blocks to be assembled, if I don't change my mind and want to make it bigger.

11. My Aurifil Block of the Month quilt.  I am ready to arrange and piece the top ready for quilting.

12. My Crossroad Quilt. I am still working on the blocks, 12 done and 13 to go if I settle on 25 blocks. I am undecided about a border I may just make some more block to make it bigger.

New things to do for 2015.

Pat Sloan's Vacation Time Block of the month
Fat Quarter Shop Snapshot Block of the Month. This is going to be a special present.
Quiltmaker's New Year Mystery Quilt
So Scrappy Rainbow Scrap Challenge 15
Stretching your Skills 2015
Aurifil Mini Project of the Month. I may not make them all just the ones I really like.

There is a few more possible project starts in the pipeline like I want to make a Dear Jane quilt maybe 2015 is the year to start it. I also want to do some foundation piecing as I have 2 patterns I brought over the last year. Who knows what else I will start in 2015.

 Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia