Scraps - Half Square Triangles

Do you have lots of scraps?  Sometimes I end up with lots of leftover triangles, or scraps that cut into triangles.  I love it when I can use up every colorful scrap!

I cut white triangles to sew with the colored triangles to make half square triangle blocks.  Now what to do with them?

What do you like to make with half square triangle blocks?

Changes with Subscriber list - second try

I spent most of another day trying to set up an account with Mail Chimp to send out my blog posts to all the people who have subscribed to my email list.  The first email from them was sent out this morning with nothing in the body of the email.  Sorry about that!  I missed a couple important steps in the set up.  I HOPE everything is working correctly now!

I hope to make a few more "tweaks" to get everything looking a bit nicer in the future...

If you have previously signed up to get my blog by email, you don't have to do anything on your end.  You will probably get two emails with my blog until the old service (Feedburner) stops sometime in July.  I started this process a bit early in case I had any problems setting things up (and I did!).  Once Feedburner ends their service, you will only get one blog post from me.

Stay tuned to see what all the Island Ambassadors will be making in July!

 

Changes with Subscriber list

 My blog host is making some changes in July.  They will no longer support Feedburner which is where my subcriber list is located.  So they won't be sending out my blog posts to all my subscribers.  I am working on setting up the subscriber list with another location - so bear with me if there should be a few bugs to work out.  There is a possibility you may receive my blog post twice (once with Feedburner like usual and once with the new location- Mail Chimp) before Feedburner quits completely.

Thanks for your patience with this.  I'm hoping the transition will move smoothly.

June Island Batik Challenge

 

The June Island Batik Challenge is called Spread Love & Joy with Accuquilt.  Each Ambassador was sent an Accuquilt Go! Die and we were to use that die along with another block to create a project.  

I received the 8" Snail's Trail block die and a cutting mat to use with it.  I like the Snail's Trail block.  It can be used in many ways.  Using another block along with the Snail's Trail was an interesting challenge.  Many other companion blocks can be made using the Accuquilt Go Cube 8" Mix and Match block set of dies

I looked over the fabrics I received in my first Island Batik box and decided to work with the Farm Fresh Collection by Kathy Engle and the coordinating fabrics they sent with it.  This collection is a mix of oranges, yellows, purples, greens and pumpkin prints.

I decided on a companion block using the Go! Cub 8" block set and had a great time making my project.  The greatest thing about the Snail's Trail block die is that the 10" squares of fabric fit right on the die.  That makes for fast cutting.

Unfortunately I have good news and bad news. The bad news first - I can't show you my project!  The good news is that the quilt will be published in the Jan/Feb 2022 issue of Quiltmaker magazine!  I hope you look for it when the magazine comes out.  I really liked the quilt and was glad they decided to publish it.

I still wanted to make something to show you for this blog post, so I made a table mat using the Snail's Trail block and the Pinwheel Block.  The Pinwheel block is in the center.  I like how the two blocks  meet and blend together.

I used what was left of the Farm Fresh fabrics.    I used Hobbs Natural Cotton batting, Schmetz Microtex Needles and Aurifil Thread in making both projects.

This was an interesting challenge - to combine two different blocks using the Go! dies.  You might want to give this a try and create something new and different.

Quilt Garden Nappanee Indiana

 Every year my town Nappanee in Indiana plants a quilt garden.  I also design a wall quilt that has the garden design in the center of the quilt.  It hangs in the visitor center that is right behind the garden.  This year the garden is called Sweet Apples and has the images of 4 apples, 2 of which have bites out of them.

We planted the garden on a couple very hot days last week.  It's always a challenge to plant such a big garden.  Here you can see me planting red begonias that will be one of the apples.  The garden is on an incline which is nice for viewing.  It takes a LOT of flowers!

Here is the fully planted garden.  It has a lot of growing to do, to fill out all the spaces.  It will be lovely in a few weeks.

This is my quilt for the Sweet Apples garden.  I was happy to find the border fabric with all the apples.

*The winner of my Pumpkin Delight 10" squares is GranChris.  She has been contacted and the blocks are on the way to her.

May Quilt Modern! Blog Hop

 

Thanks to Island Batik, Aurifil Thread, Hobbs Batting and Schmetz needles for suppling the products for this project thru the Island Batik Ambassador program

The May Island Batik Blog Hop challenge was to make a Modern quilt.  Modern quilts can vary widely, but do have a few characteristics.  

A modern quilt can have:   Large pieces

                                           Lots of negative space

                                           Solid fabrics

                                           Quilting can vary from extremely dense to very geometric quilting

I was given the Island Batik fabric spring collection called  Pumpkin Delight designed by  Kathy Engle.

This collection is great for a spooky fall themed project.   Take a closer look at just a few of the great themed fabrics.  Do they get you in the mood for Halloween?

Pumpkin Delight has 20 fabrics in the collection and I used 16 of them in my quilt plus extra white batik.

The fabrics reminded me of Halloween- of spooky nights and pumpkin fields.  I decided to use the bird in the tree fabric as sort of a focal-background print.  I used as much of the fabric as I could.  Many of the orange fabrics had pumpkins printed on them.  I decided to use those prints and the rest of the fabrics in snowball blocks to sort of represent round pumpkins.   The darker black fabrics evolved from snowball blocks into a surprise- see if you can figure them out.

I named the quilt Visitors to the Pumpkin Patch.  That's a hint to the surprise.  Do you see any visitors besides the birds?  I know it's a stretch - but do you see all the black cat (heads) hiding in the quilt?

Visitors to the Pumpkin Patch

By Connie Kauffman

49" x 56"

Here is a photo where I'm deciding the layout.  You can see the ears of the cats easily here.

I just had to take a full quilt photo outside after dark to get the full spooky effect.   Of course you can see the scary looking birds perched in the trees and maybe now you can see the black cats that are hiding in the pumpkin patch.  What is Halloween in the dark of night without a black cat...or two...or 12!

Straight line quilting made quilting a the top a breeze.  I used a light orange Aurifil Thread for the quilting.  For the first time ever I machine quilted my binding with a decorative stitch.  I used black Aurifil and you couldn't really see the stitching on the binding fabric which was okay.  It did go really fast!

Hobbs Natural Cotton Batting and Schmetz Microtex Needles were also used in the quilt.

I'm all set for a cozy Halloween now.

The Blog Hop continues thru May.  Be sure and check out the other Island Batik Ambassadors to see the other new fabrics and projects.

Island Batik is having a drawing so be sure and check it out and enter.

My prize drawing is for a set of 10" blocks.  There are 2 squares of 17 different fabrics in the Pumpkin Delight Collection - 34 squares in all.  What would you make with this nice stack?  

Leave a comment below to enter.  USA entrants only due to postage.  Winner will be drawn at the end of the Blog Hop.  Be sure that I can contact you if you win.

Happy Haunting!

Quilt Modern Blog Hop Week 3

This is week 3 and the final week of our Quilt Modern Blog Hop with the Island Batik Ambassadors.  Listed below you can see who is posting each day and what fabric lines they will be presenting.

*Special note- Tuesday is my day!   Be sure and check in!

 May 17:

• Sally Manke, Sally Manke Fiber Artist
• Elizabeth DeCroos, Epida Studio

May 18:

• Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs
• Jennifer Fulton, Inquiring Quilter

May 19:

• Mania Hatziioannidi, Mania for Quilts
• Janet Yamamoto, Whispers of Yore