My winner for the Beat the Heat blog hop Island Batik fabric is Darlene B.
Congratulations!
The fabric is on it's way!
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Beat the Heat Blog Hop- Quiet Shades
Today is my day for the Beat the Heat Island Batik Blog Hop. Island Batik sent me the Quiet Shades Collection of fabrics to work with. I really love this collection- take a peak below:
The colors are so cool and refreshing- you can picture having settled into a chair in the shade for some quiet time and reflection...
There are 20 fabrics in the collection- you can look at them all here: Quiet Shades by Chris Hoover.
Here are the fabrics laid out before I cut into them
I loved working with these fabrics and quickly made a lap quilt using 13 of the 20 fabrics in the collection. Unfortunately I can't show you the quilt because it was picked up to be published! It will be in the March/April 2020 issue of McCalls Quilting. Be sure and look for it then! I will post a photo when it's released.
I did want to have something to show you for this blog hop- so I also made a table runner using all 20 fabrics. This table mat is 16" x 37"
I used Hobbs 80/20 Bleached Cotton Batting and Aurifil 6726 thread.for both projects.
Be sure and look back at my previous post to see all the blog posts and the great projects the Ambassadors have been making. Also, be sure to visit Vasudha Govindan today as she is also presenting a project made with Quiet Shades.
Island Batik has a special giveaway each week of the hop, so be sure to check back there and enter every week. Many of the Ambassadors also are having giveaways on their blogs - hope you win something!
My giveaway is four pieces from the Quiet Shades Collection. Can you believe I made two projects and still have fabric leftover! These pieces still have anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 yards.
To enter, comment about what "Quiet Shades" makes you think of. I will leave the drawing open until the end of the hop and will draw a winner thru Random.org. Be sure I am able to contact you if you are a winner. USA entries only due to postage costs.
Thanks to Island Batik, Hobbs and Aurifil for supplying all the materials thru the Ambassador program.
Saturday, August 10, 2019
August Beat The Heat Blog Hop
It's time for another Island Batik Blog Hop. This one is called Beat The Heat! Isn't that a great theme for August!
27 Island Batik Ambassadors will be presenting new projects using the beautiful Island Batik fabrics that are in the 2019 Fall Collections. The colors are just awesome!
Island Batik is having a prize giveaway each week of the blog, and the Ambassadors are also having drawings- most of which will last til the end of the month so you can be sure and visit each site.
Take a look at the schedule for the hop - and remember that my day to present is Tues. Aug 20.
27 Island Batik Ambassadors will be presenting new projects using the beautiful Island Batik fabrics that are in the 2019 Fall Collections. The colors are just awesome!
Island Batik is having a prize giveaway each week of the blog, and the Ambassadors are also having drawings- most of which will last til the end of the month so you can be sure and visit each site.
Take a look at the schedule for the hop - and remember that my day to present is Tues. Aug 20.
Friday August 2
Blog Hop Kick off and first Giveaway!
Blog Hop Kick off and first Giveaway!
Friday, August 9
Blog Round-Up Week 1
Blog Round-Up Week 1
Friday, August 16
Blog Hop Round Up Week 2
Blog Hop Round Up Week 2
Friday, August 23
Blog Hop Round-Up Week 3
Blog Hop Round-Up Week 3
Monday, July 29, 2019
July Island Batik Challenge
The July challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors is called Artsy Fartsy. What a name!
This month we are highlighting Aurifil Threads. Aurifil is a co- sponser of the Island Batik Ambassador program and sends thread for us to work with in each of our Ambassador boxes. This challenge was to use at least three different Aurifil Threads in some way in our project.
I had several ideas for this project. I finally decided to make a project that would serve two purposes for me this year. One was to make this challenge project and the other was to make a quilt for the Annual Camp Mack Festival in Milford IN on Oct 5, 2019. Camp Mack is our local church camp and I always make a quilt for their live auction to benefit the camp.
This years quilt is called Becker Lodge and pays respect to a building that stood many years on the camp property.
The idea started with a postcard my husband had that he had sent to his mother from Camp in 1965. I enlarged the photo and thought I would try a project with thread embroidery.
This was a new technique for me and I wasn't exactly sure how to proceed. I'm not a fan of marking on my quilt tops, but decided to go with the blue water soluble markers. I traced the major outlines of the building on a piece of Sprinkles Island Batik fabric which is a white fabric with tiny dots.
I wasn't sure what I would use for borders, so I just made the backing and batting larger and would decide that later. I used Hobbs Thermore batting which is a very thin batting and should work well.
Here you can see I started the thread embroidery with 40 wt Aurifil.
I worked from one area to another adding in some detail. I first thought about thread painting all the color of the exterior of the building, but decided that would be too heavy and I didn't have the colors I thought would work. I finally decided to leave the building with just the outline- to somehow give the feel of remembering the building in the spot where it once stood.
Here are all the threads and colors I used in this project. I did try a green wool thread which I thought might make the bushes "fluffy", but found it didn't work well in the machine. What I did then was use the wool and a 40 wt thread at the same time and it worked okay for a small area.
Having never done thread painting I didn't think about using a stabilizer of any kind besides the backing and batting. It might have been helpful as I had some puckering on the right hand side because of the close quilting in the bushes. It mainly puckered on the backing behind the border area and didn't show on the front.
I wanted to have some color in the sky, but didn't want to make it heavy with thread, so I added a hint of blue to the sky with crayon. To finish it off I added a small light green Island Batik Basic called Ivy for piping and a dark green Island Batik Basic called Large Netting-Pineneedle for the borders.
Thanks to Island Batik, Aurifil and Hobbs for supplying the materials for this monthly challenge.
This month we are highlighting Aurifil Threads. Aurifil is a co- sponser of the Island Batik Ambassador program and sends thread for us to work with in each of our Ambassador boxes. This challenge was to use at least three different Aurifil Threads in some way in our project.
I had several ideas for this project. I finally decided to make a project that would serve two purposes for me this year. One was to make this challenge project and the other was to make a quilt for the Annual Camp Mack Festival in Milford IN on Oct 5, 2019. Camp Mack is our local church camp and I always make a quilt for their live auction to benefit the camp.
This years quilt is called Becker Lodge and pays respect to a building that stood many years on the camp property.
The idea started with a postcard my husband had that he had sent to his mother from Camp in 1965. I enlarged the photo and thought I would try a project with thread embroidery.
This was a new technique for me and I wasn't exactly sure how to proceed. I'm not a fan of marking on my quilt tops, but decided to go with the blue water soluble markers. I traced the major outlines of the building on a piece of Sprinkles Island Batik fabric which is a white fabric with tiny dots.
I wasn't sure what I would use for borders, so I just made the backing and batting larger and would decide that later. I used Hobbs Thermore batting which is a very thin batting and should work well.
For a slightly heavier look in the stone fireplace I used some 12 wt Aurifil thread.
I wanted to have some color in the sky, but didn't want to make it heavy with thread, so I added a hint of blue to the sky with crayon. To finish it off I added a small light green Island Batik Basic called Ivy for piping and a dark green Island Batik Basic called Large Netting-Pineneedle for the borders.
Becker Lodge
22" x 16 1/2"
Thanks to Island Batik, Aurifil and Hobbs for supplying the materials for this monthly challenge.
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Summer 2019 Island Batik Unboxing
Once again it is "Unboxing Time!" That's the special time twice a year that Island Batik sends special boxes to their Island Batik Ambassadors. These boxes are filled to the brim with wonderful fabrics and things for us to work with the rest of the year.
Here's my new box! Want to see what's inside?
Island Batik has solids in black, white and gray. They sent generously sent us 4 yards of each. It's great to have these on hand when we want to use them.
These are bundles of Foundation fabrics- Blenders and basics. These fabrics blend very well with their different collections and are always available. These bundles blend especially well with the packaged fabrics they sent this time.
This is a beautiful bundle of 1/4 yd cuts from the Island Batik Sunny Side Up Collection. It just makes me smile!
They always include one of their Neutral fabrics as they know we use them a lot. This generous yardage is called Doughnut.
One of my favorite color combinations is in this bundle. The 2 1/2" strip package is called Crystal Sea. It came with added yardages in coordinating light and dark blues. I'm in love!
Aurifil Threads is a partnering company with Island Batiks and sent two lovely threads that compliment this collection.
Another participating Industry partner is Accuquilt Go! This time they sent each Ambassador a new BOB die. These are dies that contain all the pieces to make the block shown on the cover on one die. This die is the Ohio Star block. It makes a 12" block. You'll see this made up in a blog post later this year.
Hobbs batting is another partner and sent us each three different battings to try. These battings are their Cotton, 100% Wool and Cotton/Wool Blend. There are so many different battings on the market and it is wonderful to be able to try them out.
Many, many thanks to Island Batik, Aurifil Threads, Accuquilt Go! and Hobbs Batting for sending these supplies. Every month a blog post will highlight a project made with these great products. I'm excited to get started!
Here's my new box! Want to see what's inside?
These are bundles of Foundation fabrics- Blenders and basics. These fabrics blend very well with their different collections and are always available. These bundles blend especially well with the packaged fabrics they sent this time.
They always include one of their Neutral fabrics as they know we use them a lot. This generous yardage is called Doughnut.
One of my favorite color combinations is in this bundle. The 2 1/2" strip package is called Crystal Sea. It came with added yardages in coordinating light and dark blues. I'm in love!
Aurifil Threads is a partnering company with Island Batiks and sent two lovely threads that compliment this collection.
More and more lovely fabrics! Here is a package of 10" squares from the collection called Soil and Seeds. Lovely creams, browns and greens for fall. They again sent coordinating yardage in a light cream and dark brown. Aurifil Thread sent great threads to match. They think of everything!
Another participating Industry partner is Accuquilt Go! This time they sent each Ambassador a new BOB die. These are dies that contain all the pieces to make the block shown on the cover on one die. This die is the Ohio Star block. It makes a 12" block. You'll see this made up in a blog post later this year.
Many, many thanks to Island Batik, Aurifil Threads, Accuquilt Go! and Hobbs Batting for sending these supplies. Every month a blog post will highlight a project made with these great products. I'm excited to get started!
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Woven Together- Quilter's World Autumn 2019
Quilter's World has their Autumn 2019 issue out and it includes my quilt Woven Together. I used the Sand Bar Collection from Island Batik and Warm 80/20 batting from The Warm Company in the quilt.
Woven Together
43 3/4" x 59"
(photo courtesy of Quilter's World)
Friday, June 14, 2019
Try Something New June Challenge
The Island Batik Ambassador challenge for June is to Try Something New. I pondered this challenge for a long time. What sounded like fun? What technique have I not tried yet?
I thought of a few things- some projects really fit in future challenges, so I wanted to wait to do them. One project I actually started and it turned out much to time consuming and more of a challenge than I ever wanted to do- so I abandoned it...
I finally looked at Pinterest and saw this cute Christmas ornament made with paper and I thought - why couldn't I do something similar with fabric?
Here is my creation with a couple variations.
(Special thanks to Island Batik for supplying the fabrics thru the Island Batik Ambassador Program)
I made the ornament by fusing fabric to both sides of some fusible webbing and then cutting out with the Accuquilt Circle Die. I used a different fabric for each side and cut out 12 small circles. I also fused fabric to one side of fusible webbing and cut out one larger circle and one larger circle of a two sided fusible by itself. Each small circle has two sides folded in and pressed with an iron. They didn't press completely flat, but that is okay as it makes it more 3 dimensional.
The 6 folded circles are laid onto the larger circle with the fusible side facing up. There is a gap in the center, but the sides all touch and then are pressed to the fusible. The gap is covered by the button later.
I actually made two flower ornaments- using the other 6 circles and fusing them to the fusible web circle just like the first one. Then I fused both ornaments together so that the ornament looks the same on the front and the back.
It's easy to slip the hanging string between the two ornaments when they are fused together (if you don't forget!)
Sew a button on each side thru the middle and the ornament is done! These were fun and I ended up making 6 of them. I used Island Batik Winter/Christmas fabrics, but they would be pretty made with any colors. They ended up about 4 1/4" diameter.
(Can you see the mistake I made on one? I folded the wrong side in on one circle and didn't realize it until I had fused it....)
I thought I would take an outside picture, but it was a challenge with the wind!
And no- it's not snow on the branches in June, (although that would be appropriate for the ornaments), it is cottonwood from a neighbors tree.
Of course once I made these I kept thinking of other new things to try... I saw another idea on Pinterest and realized I'd never sewn anything with vinyl. Those little bags are sweet and would be nice for gifts too. I decided to give it a try.
Isn't it great to see the beautiful Aurifil Thread thru the little window! You'll always know what is stored in your little bags this way!
The sewing was quick and very easy. I did put paper under the vinyl when sewing so it didn't stick to the sewing machine and it worked great and was easy to remove.
I will be making more of these in the future!
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