52 week UFO Challenge Project #1 - The Coneflowers

Happy New Year!!

I'm so looking forward to 2016 and I just couldn't wait to start on my 52 week UFO Challenge!! 

My first project really should be the cover for my 2016 Passion Planner, but I've had an idea about one of the projects that has been on my design wall for over a year so I wanted to act on it!!

In November 2014, my friend Nellie and I took a surface design course from Elaine Quehl. We had an AWESOME time and I was so inspired when it was finished that I used my new skills (and new supplies) to do a few more samples. For the coneflowers, I made a quilt sandwich and then did some thread "sketching" (free motion quilting) with black thread. I then used my new Inktense pencils to shade in the flowers and leaves.

My thread sketch with Inktense shading.

A close-up of one of the coneflowers.

Here is a Youtube video about Inktense pencils:

After I was done shading, I spritzed the fabric with water and the colours just came alive!! I just LOVE this technique BUT I was stumped as to how to finish it.

While I was cleaning my studio last week I came upon a "quilt-as-you-go" tablerunner that I had made years ago and I realized that I could add borders to my quilted piece using that same technique.

My first step was to mark out straight lines where I wanted to have my borders. I needed to make sure that there was at least 1/4" between my quilting and the seam placement line. 

Marking the borders with a Frixion pen.

The next step was to lay my first border piece along this line and pin.

Pinning down the first border along the drawn line.

I sewed this border down then did the same with the opposite border. Both of these were then pressed, but I had to make sure that I didn't put my iron near the other lines I had drawn with the Frixion pen, or I would lose them!!

Next step was to pin on the remaining two borders and sew.

Adding the last border.

Adding a hanging sleeve on the back and binding on the edges finished my wall hanging off nicely!! 

Adding the binding.

Project #1 is done!! 

Finished coneflower wallhanging

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I really loved this technique and I want to do something like it again, but next time I will make sure that the fabric sandwich I quilt on is large enough to do bigger borders around the edge AND I will make sure that my design is square on the fabric so I don't lose so much area when I trim it. Other than that, I love  my first finished UFO!!