It's time for the third and final week of the Island Batik Ambassadors Lone Star Blog Hop. There have been great fabrics and projects already. This week I finally get to post on Tues Dec 20.
Here is the posting from the Island Batik Blog about our last blog hop of the year-
The final challenge of this year’s Island Batik Ambassador season is here! This month, the Ambassadors will be using fabrics from our newest collections to create striking quilts for the Lone Star Blog Hop. One of the oldest and most popular patterns, Lone Star offers endless design and color possibilities and we can’t wait to see what they make!
The first two finished quilts will be revealed today, so if you want to try your hand on a unique yet traditional quilt, make sure to visit the Ambassador’s blogs for any tips and tricks to make your quilting process as smooth as possible along with gorgeous detail shots, and… bonus giveaways!
Every Friday we will be posting round-ups of the projects featured during that week and giveaway bundles of the new Island Batik collections, highlighted during the hop. Be sure to visit all the Ambassadors’ blogs to discover their inspiring creations, read the stories behind each project and participate in their bonus giveaways!
The first week of Ambassadors’ names, collections they will be using in their projects, and their post dates are as follows:
Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway. This week the drawing from Island Batik is for a bundle of Chickadee or Bamboo Blooms! Go to the Island Batik Blog to enter for the drawing.
Here are my front and back sections for the Living Room.
If you've looked at the pattern photo, you can see that Amy has made all the background fabrics light and the pocket patterns a darker color.
This is one of three rooms that have windows in them. I used the same fabric for the windows as the sky background so that it looks like you are looking outdoors.
Remember to mark any lines that you need to topstitch. On this block there are only two lines on the pocket part of the sofa. Remember to do your buttonhole stitching to both sections before sewing the pocket to the background.
Sewing the pocket on the background section is easy.
You can sew the buttons on the pocket, but save any for the background until after the quilt is quilted.
Buttons: Many rooms have buttons. I lay out the rooms and pick out buttons. If the buttons go
on the pocket section you can go ahead and sew them on. If they go on the back section, I put the
buttons in the plastic bags I have for each month so that I have them when the quilt is finished.
That way I don't have to go hunt up buttons again and I know what room they go to.
I sewed the living room to the front door and kitchen since that was where I wanted to put them. Row one done!
It's starting to look like a house!
Feel free to show photos of your house blocks in the comment area below. If you don't see the comment area you may need to click on "read in browser" and scroll down to the end of the post where it says Comment.
Here is my sister Jody's Kitchen block. It's so fun to see the room in different fabrics!
It's November and many people start thinking of decorating for Christmas. The Island Batik Ambassadors had the challenge this month to make a Creative Christmas Stocking, so we are getting in the holiday spirit.
I thought long and hard about what kind of stocking to make. I wanted to make something with a lot of different fabrics from the last shipment of fabrics. Since most of my fabrics were not what I'd normally think of as Christmas colors it was a challenge to decide what to make. After MANY designs, I finallydecided on the stocking wrapped with colorful Christmas lights. I ended up using 13 different fabrics, so that met my personal goal.
You can find many patterns and directions on Pinterest, so I picked a general stocking pattern and went to work. First thing to do was to cut two outside fabrics and two lining fabrics from the Island Batik Baroque Collection and two pieces of batting. I used Hobbs Thermore Batting as it is very thin and would work well for this project. The lining fabrics are almost to pretty to hide inside!
I added heel and toe fusible appliques to the front and back of the stocking. With batik fabric the front and back are reversible - you just need to make sure you have them facing the correct way.
I made 9 light bulbs for the front and 9 for the back and one plug. I wasn't sure which way this stocking would hang, so I wanted both sides to be decorated. The Prairie Spirit Alpaca pressing mat works great for pressing/fusing the appliques.
Buttonhole stitching around the bulbs took 12 different Aurifil threads! Lucky for me I have a nice collection of Aurifil from the Ambassador program! Schmetz Super Nonstick Needles work great with sewing appliques. They are the needles I always use for fusible applique.
After trimming the pieces, the next step was to sew the front and back to the lining pieces (making sure the toes are turning the correct way). Press the seam open, then lay the rights sides together and sew around leaving an opening to turn along the lining edge. Turn inside out, press and sew the opening closed. Then tuck the lining inside.
Here is the stocking both front and back.
It's all ready to hang for Christmas at our fireplace. Does this get you in the mood for some Christmas sewing?
It's time for the November Doll House block from Amy Bradley Designs Doll House pattern. This month it is the Kitchen.
Each block gets easier to make. This one only has one line you need to draw on the background (the light cord) to mark and sew separately.
Here is how I audition fabrics and pin pieces to my foam core board that I covered with batting. I can stick the pieces to the board with pins to see how they look. If I don't like any of the colors, I can make a new piece. I wasn't sure about the bright pink planter color, but decided to stick with it.
I found it helpful to layer some of my applique pieces on top of an applique pressing sheet with the pattern behind it.
You can layer the pieces and press them.
After the pieces cool, you can remove the whole piece from the sheet. Then you can put the whole piece on the fabric background over the diagram sheet and press. This way there are less pieces to layer all at once.
Here are my front and back pieces. I haven't done the buttonhole stitching yet. There will be buttons on the plant, but they need to be attached after the quilt is quilted.
Here I'm sewing the pocket to the background and making the corners.
I went ahead and sewed the kitchen to the front door block since I'd decided to place them side by side like in the pattern. You can position the rooms any way you like.
If you look closely you can see how much whiter the refrigerator is than the white door frames. I backed the white fabrics like it suggests in the pattern and it does keep the background colors from showing thru as much and they look whiter.
Remember you can purchase a pattern (paper or digital) from Amy Bradley Designs at any time and join in the fun!
Feel free to post photos of your blocks in the comments as you get them done. Here is my sister Jody's front door pieces. It looks great!
Next month will be the Living Room block. .
Feel free to post photos of your rooms in the comments below- I'd love to see them!
