Have you ever wondered why we have so many idoms and metaphors related to bees?

I’ve had a bee in my bonnet for some new designs inspired by the colorful pollinators. The hexagon, or beehive structure was a natural selection for creating strong cutouts in my product walls because they reduce the wall density and material usage while maximizing the structure left behind to carry loads. It works out perfectly for some of my newest 3D printed designs. It was a little harder to pull off the hexaons on my couched throw pillows and the fine laser cut details ...

It was a productive weekend! I had several projects keyed up for a finish this weekend. A few were gifts, but one was selfishly a project I had been planning to try (just for me) for a while. I tried my hand at couching last year with some limited success with my mini Xmas trees. Couching is a technique where you incorporate decorative threads, cord, or yarn on the surface of a fabric. You stitch it in place with other finer threads. In my case, I feed my yarns in with my longarm when stitching a design. The first time ...

Small half circle pockets and couching with bullion knots.

If you’ve been following along our free motion quilting for beginners series, you know how important practice is.  And you probably have a pile of quilted fabric that you’re not quite sure what to do with. Some of them you’ll want to toss. Maybe you breathed new life into a piece by adding a second or third top layer and re-used the batting and backing. That’s a great $$ saver! Maybe your tension was so bad, the back looks like a nest. Go ahead and toss those!  They served their purpose!  You learned, you gained skills, you ...

If you’ve been following along our free motion quilting for beginners series, you know how important practice is.  And you probably have a pile of quilted fabric that you’re not quite sure what to do with. Some of them you’ll want to toss. Maybe you breathed new life into a piece by adding a second or third top layer and re-used the batting and backing. That’s a great $$ saver! Maybe your tension was so bad, the back looks like a nest. Go ahead and toss those!  They served their purpose!  You learned, you gained skills, you ...

Exchanging Snippets

Snippet background

A snippet is a small piece of something. You've probably heard of a snippet of music or video. If you Google "snippet roll" you will find that they are generally narrow lengths of embellished fabric that are often rolled around a piece of wood, such as a ...

Last week was the end of the #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt (Art). It was a great finish, even if I was less organised as the month went on. I want to thank Frédérique of Quilting Patchwork Appliqué for a wonderful challenge. I really learned a lot and am so happy to have participated. Here's a look at the last week's post.

V is for Village

This project, Amalfi Coast Happy Village was one of my first art quilts, although I didn't realise it at the time. It was made during a workshop with the owner of a local quilt shop ...

The #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt started April 1 and I posted my first three letters on Instagram. If you didn't catch them, here is a recap.

A is for Art appliqué 

The piece is A White History of Art and the image that I used to illustrate Art Appliqué is the close-up of the representation of The White Girl by Whistler.

It was created for Art with Fabric Blog Hop, Fall 2018. It is based on a BBC series called History of Art in Three Colours. This piece is an interpretation of the White episode and the picture below portrays  The White ...

I’m working on a Left-Handed Stitching book. It’s a HUGE project, but I’m determined and am taking it one small stitch at a time. Yesterday I was working on a Threaded Backstitch and so I began to stitch on a piece of linen that I whipstitched some wool shapes onto. Once I had done one… Continue reading A Stitching Book: Tell Me What YOU Want to See

I love seeing our Christmas tree full of ornaments bought, inherited, received and made over the years. It's also the time when those Christmas runners, placemats and wall hangings get to come out and shine.

Adding to our Christmas decorations

Each year I try to make a little something for the tree or the house. I found the tutorial for the Christmas bell - the bell was supposed to be made of "sheer paper cloth" but I used organza backed with light stabilizer instead. The stabilizer gave the organza a crispness without removing the translucence. For the three-sided bell I ...

Hi. Welcome to week 286 of Free Motion Mavericks. Although I'm in the middle of setting up my new studio, I had planned on doing some free motion quilting (FMQ) today on the Pinwheels and Stars Baby Quilt - but I didn't find my supplies until it was too late - so you're going to see how last week, I embroidered using plastic bags

Community Stitch Challenge - Week 4

So far March has been chaotic to say the least. I haven't felt like doing anything serious or difficult, so here is an update of some ongoing projects.

Exit Strategy - more hand stitching

With all my free time (insert eyeroll and a sigh here), I designed another zippered pouch! This time an abstract design – Playing with Shapes and it’s a little bigger than my Rhino Pouch. This one is 14″ x 12″. It is also fully lined, has a zipper and the wool front is perfect for… Continue reading A New Zippered Pouch PDF

I love being able to create something using techniques that aren't usually put together - such as slow stitching and free motion quilting (FMQ). It's not that they don't go together, but rather that it's not usually done.

Slow Stitching and FMQ in Exit Strategy 1

In September I introduced my Exit Strategy...and got caught up with all kinds of projects and distractions. Then, while writing my 2020 Planning post, I realised that creating art quilts had become daunting and that my expectations were too high and too serious. So enough of that! It's time ...

Good Morning, Quilters! My Blue Roses in free motion couching table runner is complete! You may remember the sneak peek I offered a few weeks ago. I bound it using Susan Brubaker Knapp’s method HERE. Though later, I saw this method for a faced binding on BERNINA’s We All Sew, which looks a lot easier. Today,…

The post Blue Roses in Free Motion Couching Complete! appeared first on Lori Kennedy Quilts.