Vera Bradley raffle quilt

This is the second year that I've been asked to design and make a quilt using Vera Bradley fabric for a raffle quilt for their Breast Cancer Foundation.   Last week I received the fabrics for this years quilt.

Aren't they just lovely!  This is the Pink Swirls fabric line.  Lots of pink and orange...not what I'd normally put together, but it looks great with the purples, teals, greens and white.

The quilt ties in with the Elkhart County Quilt Garden Tour (you really must come see all 19 of these beautiful gardens if you are in the Northern Indiana area this summer).   I helped to design the quilt garden at Linton's Enchanted Gardens which ties in with the flower designs in the fabric and the quilt.  Linton's is heading up the raffle quilt this year.  If you are interested in buying a raffle ticket you can contact them at:  1-888-779-9333
http://www.lintons.com/

See more info on the quilt gardens here:
http://www.amishcountry.org/explore-the-area/quilt-gardens/

You can also see the finished quilt (I HOPE to have it finished by then!) at The Gathering on Saturday April 18 at the Northern Indiana Event Center (RV & MH Hall of Fame Complex) 21565 Executive Parkway, Elkhart, IN.

See more info on the Gathering here:  www.25thAnnualGatheringofQuilters.org

This will be the first time the quilt will be displayed and raffle tickets sold.  Did I tell you the tickets are $5?

I'll keep you posted on the quilt's progress- so stay tuned.

Island Batik Ambassador 2015

It was a fantastic experience for me last year, to be an Ambassador for Island Batik.  I love, love, love batik fabrics.  Being able to work with this great company and designing and creating with their fabrics was thrilling!  I'm happy to announce that I've been accepted as an Ambassador again for 2015!  I'm just overjoyed!

One of the exciting things about being an Ambassador is getting to see the new fabrics and having some arrive right at our doorsteps!  This is what arrived at my door just yesterday

My mind is already whirling with ideas on how to use these beauties...

Butterflies and Fabric winners

Here's a photo of the progress on the Island Batik butterfly blocks.  They are so fun to make.  I have over 20 already!

Winners from the  Four Island Batik Fat Quarters are:  Regina and Sharon.  Please contact me within 3 days with your full name and address so that I can send your fabric.  If I don't hear from you in three days, new winners will be announced.

Fabric Giveaway

It's time for another fabric giveaway.  Pictured below are 8 fat quarters of Island Batiks new line called Rock Me on the Water.  Isn't it lovely!  I'll be drawing two winners.  Each winner will get four fat quarters.

Island Batik - Rock Me on the Water

Enter a comment below on what you might make with these fabrics.  

Winners will be chosen by Random.org on Monday March 2.  

Giveaway open to US and Canada only.  

Winners will have 3 days to provide a mailing address.  

If no address is received in 3 days, new winners will be chosen.

Good luck!

Butterfly treasures

Aren't these scrap batiks lovely!  As my first year of being an Island Batik Ambassador was ending- I was thinking of what I might do with some of the scraps of fabric from projects I worked on last year.  I wanted to make a sort of memory quilt using a piece of all the different fabric I'd used.  I thought a long time about what to make, whether to design my own block, etc.

I kept coming back to a sweet little butterfly mini applique block by Edyta Sitar.  I got her little plastic template and have been having a ball fusing and cutting out little butterflies!

The block is 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" unfinished.

The stencil arrived and was a typical quilting stencil with the centers still inside the shapes with  the small sections for marking.  I actually cut out the inside pieces so I could quickly trace the whole shape  in one motion onto the fusible web.  The mini block (she does have a larger butterfly pattern) doesn't take much fabric at all.  My challenge is just what fabrics to put together to make the prettiest butterfly!

Butterflies have me thinking of spring- as well as this flock of robins outside my window today.

Release day- Little Gems

Today is the release day for my new book Little Gems!  Look for it in your local stores, on Amazon or ShopMartingale.  I have a guest posting on Martingale's Blog Stitch This today.  Here's the link:

The Martingale Stitch This Blog is having a wonderful Giveaway of a free book, an Ackfeld Stand and a package of Papers for Foundation Piecing.  Just leave a comment on the blog to enter.

I hope many of you will be making some of these Little Gems in the future.  Keep me posted- I'd love to see your treasures!

Published Design - Rocking on the Water

Here's a new book by Annie's called Quick & Easy Baby Quilts/ Trendy or Traditional.

I have a baby quilt in this book called Rocking on the Water.  It has really cute fabric from Timeless Treasures with little whales.  I made a small pillow with a whale applique to match the quilt.  If you can see a close-up, there are whales quilted in the borders too.