Monday, August 30, 2021

Try a Tool Blog Hop and Giveaway

 

                                                                           Warp 4                                                                                                                                                     21 1/2" x 21 1/2"                                                                              Designed and made by Connie Kauffman

I hope you've been enjoying the Try a Tool Blog Hop with the Island Batik Ambassadors.   This is actually the very last day of the hop!   This month's challenge is with the Island Batik new Spring 2021 fabrics and rulers from Studio 180.


Each of the Ambassadors were given fabrics from one of the new Spring lines and a ruler from Deb Tucker's Studio 180.  The fabrics I received were from the Collection Sun Kissed Soleil.  This line was designed by Kathy Engle for Jackie Kunkel of Canton Village Quilt Works. This is a beautiful collection with 20 different fabrics.


The ruler I received from Studio 180 to work with is called Corner Beam.  This is a sweet little 3 piece block. 


What I think is the best thing about this ruler is that you can make the block in 11 different sizes from 1" to 6".  Many rulers out there only make one size, so this is a great ruler you can use multiple times.  I like to make small quilts so it is wonderful to find rulers that can be used to make small block sizes.

Another great thing about Studio 180 rulers is that they are made "slightly" bigger and then they are cut down to size.  What I like about this is the accuracy of the blocks and also how little fabric is wasted in making the blocks as the trimming really only cuts off a small sliver of excess fabric.

Here is a photo of three different sizes I tried using the Corner Beam block made with the Studio 180 ruler.  The blocks are 1", 2" and 3" finished sizes.


I ended up using 8 fabrics from the collection in my design, plus solid black and a green from the Flutter Fly collection as I wanted to pull out the green in a few of the fabrics.  I also used a great multi colored print from the collection for the backing.

Sometimes it is fun to take a whole collection and make a quilt using as many fabrics in the collection that you can.  This is great for a sort of scrappy, big, multi block quilt.   I wanted to make a small quilt with many of the corner beam blocks, so I was selective in what fabrics I picked from the collection for this project.  I'll let you in on a few thoughts of why I didn't select some of the other fabrics for this quilt.

Below are the fabrics I didn't use.

The first three on the left were similar in color and print to the three I had selected for the quilt.(See the photo above this one)  

The next three are black and white prints.  I already picked out a black and white print in stars  Two of these fabrics are actually pretty large prints- you loose the beauty of these designs when they are cut very small.

The orange and one of the black fabrics are the same printed design.  I hesitate to have the same design print as several fabrics in the same quilt, and I had that print in the multicolored fabric in the first photo. I also had decided on a solid black as it would stand out more in the quilt, so I didn't need the two black on black fabrics.

The last two fabrics are lovely multi colored prints.  These also do not show up well when cut into small pieces unless you are doing something scrappy.

These are all wonderful fabrics that will be put back for future projects and also the giveaway at the end of the blog.

The quilt uses two sizes of the Corner Beam block.  A three inch size in the center of the quilt and 2" sizes in the other corners.  Having some different colors in the blocks was a bit more challenging than the general directions.  I also realized that some of the cutting of long strips wasn't necessary when you were only making a few blocks of each color.  I hate to waste fabric, so had to think a bit so I didn't cut off more fabric than needed.


I added prairie points to the border and buttons for extra embellishments.


Do you ever have trouble naming your quilts?  I make a lot of quilts and sometimes I run out of ideas for names.  This time my kids were home and we had a brain storming of what to name this quilt.  Some ideas tossed out were that it had lots of stars- so "Starry, Starry Night" was one name.  The stars, the arrows pointing in and the corner beams got them thinking of space and motion and - STAR TREK!  Thus the name Warp 4 evolved.  Do you think it fits?

One of the Island Batik sponsors is Aurifil thread and I used 4 different colored spools with this quilt.  The colors matched wonderfully.


Other sponsors - Schmetz Micro Tex needles and Hobbs Cotton batting were also used in this project.

GIVEAWAY
I have a giveaway of  three half yard cuts of Sun Kissed Soleil.  Please leave a comment below and make sure that I am able to contact you if you are the winner.  US entries only due to postage.  Usually I draw a winner at the end of the hop - but today is the last day!  I'll wait to draw a winner for a few days- but enter soon!


If you received this blog post via email and Mail Chimp- you may not see the comment line until you open the post in your browser (there is a link at the end of the blog post). This has happened since I had to move my subscriber list from Feed Burner to Mail Chimp.

Be sure and check out the Island Batik blog for their last giveaway for the hop- a drawing for a stack of Peacock Plumes and a strip pack of Free to Fly.  They are beautiful!




*Thanks to Island Batik, Studio 180, Aurifil , Hobbs Batting and Schmetz Needles for suppling product for this project thru the Island Batik Ambassador program.












Monday, August 23, 2021

Week 3 Try a Tool Blog Hop



Time for week three of the Island Batik Ambassadors Try a Tool Blog Hop.  Be sure and check out the Ambassadors that post each day and see what they create with the newest fabrics and great Studio 180 rulers.

August 23:

Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine

August 24:

Megan Best, Bestquilter
Janet Yamamoto, Whispers of Yore

August 25:

Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia
Michelle Roberts, Creative Blonde

August 26:

Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights
Andi Stanfield, True Blue Quilts

August 27:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 3 and Giveaway


The last week of the hop only has one day!  The day I post - don't miss it!

August 30:

Joanne Hart, Unicorn Harts
Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs

Be sure and visit the Island Batik blog for the great prize drawing this week

Saturday, August 14, 2021

Week 2 Try A Tool Blog Hop

 


Monday starts week 2 for the Try a Tool Blog Hop with the Island Batik Ambassadors.  Week 2?  I bet you are wondering what happened to week 1!  What happened was that I was without internet for 7 days.  Big sigh!  It's hard to be without internet these days and especially during the first week of a blog hop!

Rest assured, you can still go back and see the Blogs from last week which are listed below.

The Try a Tool Blog hop features Island Batik's new Spring fabric Collections and various ruler tools from Studio 180.  This is the second time I've tried these rulers and they are great.  I've even purchased another ruler you'll see in my November challenge.

Here are the Collections and the Ambassadors that are posting each day.  Lots of fun and inspiration!

August 10:

Mania Hatzioannidi, Mania for Quilts
Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail 

August 11:

Elizabeth DeCroos, Epida Studio
Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

August 12:

Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood
Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations

August 13:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway

August 16:

Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts
Gail Renna, Quilt Haven Threads

August 17:

Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese
Sally Manke, Sally Manke Fiber Artist

August 18:

Brianna Roberts, Sew Cute and Quirky
Suzy Webster, Websterquilt 

August 19:

Jennifer Eubank, Archipelago Quilting
Jennifer Fulton, Inquiring Quilter

August 20:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway

August 23:

Jane Hauprich, Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting
Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine

August 24:

Megan Best, Bestquilter
Janet Yamamoto, Whispers of Yore

August 25:

Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia
Michelle Roberts, Creative Blonde

August 26:

Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights
Andi Stanfield, True Blue Quilts

August 27:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 3 and Giveaway

August 30:

Joanne Hart, Unicorn Harts
Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs

Notice that I'm the very last person to post on this challenge!  

Be sure to visit the Island Batik Blog each week to enter for their great fabric drawings.  The prize for this week is either a 10" stack of Midnight Dazzle or a strip pack of Floral Wonders.


Wednesday, August 4, 2021

McCalls Quilting Magazine Sept/Oct 2021

 McCall's Quilting Magazine Sept/Oct 2021 has not one, but TWO of my projects in it!


All Spark
Designed and made by Connie Kauffman
30" x 30"
Photo Courtesy of Quilting Daily


Dashes & Diamonds
Designed and made by Connie Kauffman
25" x 25"
Photo Courtesy of Quilting Daily

Both of these projects are foundation pieced and both are made with beautiful Island Batik fabrics.
All Spark is made with the Island Batik Collection called Sail Away.  These are lovely red white and blue fabrics.   Dashes & Diamonds is made from the Island Batik Collection called Midnight Dazzle.  This is a scrappy looking project that can be made with 2 1/2" strips.


You can order a digital copy from https://www.quiltingdaily.com/product/mccalls-quilting-sept-oct-2021-digital-edition/