Flying Again

A whole week without a post, what's up with that?  It was a very busy week, too, full of work, a celebration for our son's golden birthday, and a few bad nights of sleep.  There was no sewing but a little embroidery on the bus--very little, and not worth showing!  Excuses, excuses....sorry!

Today's task list was topped by the kite mug mat project for my friend's daughter, for which I made the sample I shared in the last post.  On to the real thing, I cut all the background pieces and prints from the fabrics I was sent.

Rachel requested I use the "busier" of the black and white prints for the kite, so that was piece #1, followed by my choice of the yellow mini dot for the kite's top section. The remaining pieces of background and the bows for the tail came together just like my sample. 

I've had this Paterson's Petticoat Tails Shortbread tin for 30+ years and got it from a dear lady I used to houseclean for.  She probably had it for a while herself--so let's call it nearly vintage :)   It's a perfect bin for my safety/quilter's pins. 

Sometimes free motion quilting is a breeze.  This was not one of those occasions, but not because of thread or needle breakage.  I ripped out several sections of loops, including where I've stitched a straight line through the bows in this pic, due to a clear cut case of the ITIS*  method of quilting, a technique quite prevalent in my sewing room.  (*I'll Try It & See)

 Then I re-did the loop quilting between the bows before adding a line of stitching in black using the "hand stitched" quilting stitch button on my Husqvarna. 

 The thicker black thread has more impact and texture, I think.

 Compared to the quilting, the binding portion was a snap.  The finished kite mug mat is all quilted and bound and ready to head to TCU in Fort Worth.  I hope Rachel likes it!