March Challenge- Photo Design

The March challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors was to Try A New Technique.

This was an interesting challenge - to think of a technique have I never tried before.....
My first thought was to try a product I always thought looked interesting.  After I looked into doing that- I found out it wasn't being made anymore.  Guess I waited to long to try that one!

I finally decided to  try making a quilt from a photo.  I thought I'd try a photo of a face, so I selected one of my favorite photos of my Dad where he is laughing.  My Dad passed away a couple years ago and I thought this would be a nice remembrance of him- if I could do it nicely!

I found two books on my shelf to help me out- Photo Inspired Art Quilts by Leni Levenson Wiener which was a technique book and very helpful and Deidre Scherer Work in Fabric & Thread which had beautiful illustrations of quilts she made of people.

The first thing I did was take my photo which was on the computer and enlarge it.  It wasn't a very clear photo to begin with and got fuzzier each time it was enlarged.

I won't say I made mistakes on this project- but I did learn some lessons :
     *Lesson learned- use a very clear photo to start with.  It is also suggested you could work with some photo editing software that are available, but I didn't have any, so I just went with my original photo.

I drew around the highlights of light and dark colors.  This may be a step some photo editing software will do for you, but I didn't find it very hard.

 Here is my general outline to start with.  I enlarged the photo so that I could make a 12" x 12" quilt (my favorite size).  But....some of the pieces were very small.
     *Lesson learned - bigger can be better. Leni Levenson Wiener suggests 16" x 20" as a good size to work with when enlarging a photo.  I would have made this project bigger, but my photo was getting to fuzzy to work with.  Again- start with a clear photo...

I did crop the photo and took out all the background to make it easier.

There are different ways to make the pieces.  I've seen where you can fuse the pieces with fusible web- but then you need to reverse the patterns.  That seemed like an extra step and not easy with all the funny shaped pieces.  You can also just cut the pieces and layer them - adding touches of glue once it is all assembled to hold it together.  I decided to go this route and it seemed to work well although I did find it challenging to know which pieces would overlap or not.

I finally got the whole head and shoulders put together.  I did very lightly glue the pieces in small spots so the pieces wouldn't fly away and I could lift it up.  I decided to put a fusible web on the back to help hold this together which worked great- although the top pieces weren't secured more than with the spots of glue.

     *Lesson learned - more glue would have secured the small, top pieces better.

I auditioned different fabrics for the background. Island Batik fabrics are beautiful - which one would work?

I 

I finally decided on the last one for the background.  I pressed the background fabric and fused the head and shoulders to the background.  And then I stalled.  I just wasn't sure how to quilt it.  The little pieces were so tiny I was afraid they would lift up and shift as I sewed them.  I wasn't sure I'd like it after I sewed the pieces and did the quilting...

Okay- it was a couple weeks until I decided I just had to DO it!  So I decided on a very tiny zigzag stitch to go around all the pieces before I did any quilting.  The tiny pieces behaved themselves and I got it all sewn with no problems.  Why did I hesitate?

I used a double layer of Thermore Batting from Hobbs Batting and did some quilting around the shirt and areas of the face and the background with straight stitching.  I think the face might benefit from further thread painting, but that would be another future challenge!

I love the Ackfeld wire stands to display small quilts.

Here is the quilt where it sits on the shelf above my computer.

This was a great challenge and it was interesting to see what all the other Ambassadors did this month.  Below you can check out other Ambassadors blogs to see what they created this month.

Thank you to Island Batik and Hobbs Batting for providing supplies for this project.

Alison at Little Bunny Quilts

Amy at Sew Incredibly Crazy

Anita at Quilt in a not-Shell

Anna at Ark Angel Creations

Anne at Sweetgrass Designs

Barbara at Bejeweled Quilts

Bea at BeaQuilter

Carole at Carole Lyles Shaw

Connie at Freemotion by the River

Connie at Kauffman Designs  you are here!

Dione at Clever Chameleon

Geraldine at Living Water Quilter

Jackie at If These Threads Could Talk

Janet at Whispers of Yore

Jeanette at Inchworm Fabrics

Jen at Patterns by Jen

Jennifer at Curlicue Creations

Jennifer at Dizzy Quilter

Jennifer at Inquiring Quilter

Jessica at Desert Bloom Quilting

Joan at Moosestash Quilting

Joyce at heARTs Creations

Karen at Sew Karen-ly Created

Karen at The Quilt Rambler

Kathleen at Kathleen McMusing

Laura at Slice of Pi Quilts

Leanne at Devoted Quilter

Mania at Mania for Quilts

Maryellen at Mary Mack Made Mine

Michelle at Creative Blonde

Myra at Busy Hands Quilts

Nancy at Masterpiece Quilting

Pamela at PamelaQuilts

Sally at Sally Manke

Sandra at MMM Quilts

Sarah at Sarah Goer Quilts

Sharon at Yellow Cat Quilt Designs

Sherry at Powered by Quilting  

Stephanie at Steph Jacobson

Suzy at Adventurous Applique and Quilting

Teri at Lizard Creek Quilts

Tina at Quilting Affection Designs

Vicki at Knitbug2

Every Quilt Tells A Story

Every quilt tells a story - even a small one.

This quilt was made by Carol Denton.  Carol and I both belong to The Heartland Quilters guild and she showed it at our last meeting.  This little quilt is darling and has a story to tell.  After Carol's husband passed away, she made quilts for her family using lots of his plaid shirts.  The quilts were lovely.  When she had shirt fabric left over, she made pillows for other family members.  When she still had fabric leftover (we're talking pockets and shirt collars), she made this little beauty for herself!

I'm glad Carol had enough fabric for a memory quilt for herself.  I love the heart in the center- that says it all!  Thanks for sharing Carol!

The pattern for this quilt came from my book Little Gems.

The pattern is called Playing With Plaids

Carol turned each of her blocks a different direction which gave her room for the heart in the middle.  Isn't it great to see the design in the lighter, brighter colors!

Elementz Blog Hop

Welcome to day 4 of the Elementz Blog Hop.  I was happy to be asked to be included in this blog hop, because I love working with the Island Batik Elementz fabrics by Tammy Silvers.  I made this original quilt and posted about it on my blog Oct 2017.  This was a Borders and Bindings Challenge with Island Batik Ambassadors.  I used a Stack pack of 10" squares and some yardage of orange fabrics.

I am an Island Batik Ambassador and the fabrics featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik 

Isn't it bright and whimsical!  I love how the fabrics work together.  Using the Stack Pack made it easy to mix and match all the different fabrics.

I had lots of leftover Elementz fabrics that I can play with for some other future project.  The colors are playful and bursting with color.  Sometimes with a pack of fabrics there are some I don't use as I don't feel they don't all match up well.  With this line, they all work together and you can pull out about any fabrics from the group and they look good together.

Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter at Island Batik for a chance to win a Fat Eight Bundle of Elements!

This blog hop started on Feb 26, so be sure and check out each stop on the hop.

Monday, February 26

Island Batik 
Aurifil
Tamarinis
Sew Many Creations

Tuesday, February 27

Cabin in the Woods Quilter

Swan Amity Studio

Wednesday, February 28

Quiltoni

Seams Like a Dream

Thursday, March 1

Poorhouse Quilt Designs

Fat Quarter Gypsy

Kauffman Designs

Friday, March 2

Cranberry Pie Designs

Stephanie Jacobson

Saturday, March 3

Den syende himmel

Funky Friends Factory

Lizard Creek Quilting

Elementz Blog Hop

Today is the first day for the Elementz Blog Hop.

This is a hop created by Tammy Silvers to highlight her new Island Batik fabric collection called Elementz.  This is a bright and fun collection.  The hop starts today and you can go to the blogs listed below to see some great projects and enter to win some nice prizes.  I'll be posting on March 1, so be sure and come back then!

Monday, February 26

Island Batik 
Aurifil
Tamarinis
Sew Many Creations

Tuesday, February 27

Cabin in the Woods Quilter

Swan Amity Studio

Wednesday, February 28

Quiltoni

Seams Like a Dream

Thursday, March 1

Poorhouse Quilt Designs

Fat Quarter Gypsy

Kauffman Designs

Friday, March 2

Cranberry Pie Designs

Stephanie Jacobson

Saturday, March 3

Den syende himmel

Funky Friends Factory

Lizard Creek Quilting

Mini Love Island Batik Challenge

I am an Island Batik Ambassador.  The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik, including products from Aurifil Threads and Hobbs Batting.

As an Island Batik Ambassador, we are given a challenge to create a new project each month.  This month the challenge was to make a mini quilt.  I love to make mini quilts and thought a lot about what I would make.

In this post I'll show you a little how my mind works...

This idea all came from a plate.

This is a photo of the plates we selected when we got married.  It is Noritake Stoneware.  I love the design in the middle and we've used them every since we got married.  When we lived in PA about 25 years ago, I drew out a design similar to the plate and made a stencil out of it.  I stenciled the design using blue paints to match above the cupboards and sink in my kitchen.  It looked very nice.  I wish I had a photo to show you how it looked.

Just recently I was going thru old files and came upon the plastic stencil I used.  I didn't think I'd use it again, so I threw it away, but I couldn't seem to part with the design I'd drawn out.

It happened to be laying out when I was thinking about a mini quilt for this month of Feb,  I was thinking about some kind of quilt with a heart.  As I looked at this design, I thought if I reversed part of the image it would look like a heart!  I also added a small flower on the side.

How would this look in reds instead of blues?

Island Batik sent a box of fabric to each Ambassador with materials to use in our projects this year.  I decided to use two of the lovely pink fabrics and a neutral Island Batik from my stash.  I think it is called Rice.

I added pearl beads to the flower centers.

Once again I made my favorite size 12" x 12".  I used some of the Hobbs Heirloom Premium Cotton Batting and Aurifil 50 wt white thread that were included in our Island Batik box.  They worked wonderfully in this little project.

Here it is on the great Ackfeld Wire Stands- a perfect way to display your minis!

It never hurts to go back and look over past designs and update them with new fabrics or change the size and try something new with them.  Have fun!

Happy Galentine's Day

Happy Feb 13 or what some people now call Galentine's Day.  It's become a day to celebrate all our "Gal-friends".  Island Batik sent every Ambassador a small fat quarter bundle of 4 beautiful pink and white batiks to make something small like a mug rug for Galentine's Day.  This is the pretty bundle they sent to the Ambassadors this year.  Aren't they just like candy!  And not fattening either!

*I am an Ambassador for Island Batik.  The batik fabrics featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik.

I was wondering what to make this year and decided instead of me making a mug rug or two- how about I let a group of my "gal friends" have the fun of making their own!  My local quilt guild in Nappanee Indiana met last Thursday night which was perfect to do before the 13th.  Unfortunately I hadn't received my new box of Island Batik fabrics with the fabric above, but we were told we could use fabric that we had leftover from last year.  I had some lovely fabric from last year's Galentine's project, so we were good to go.

Being a cold Feb night- just hours before a big snow storm was to arrive, we had 8 brave ladies that showed up.

I gave everyone a small kit with  backing, batting, mini quilt top, fusible web, some heart templates and a selection of pink and red Island batiks.  They each decorated their mug rug in their own way.  I think they had fun and they turned out cute.

Here is the cupcake mug rug after she went home and finished it!

This lady took her's home and added a clear acrylic sleeve so she  could add her granddaughter's photo!

Everyone got the top put together and they took them home with a piece of binding to finish any applique and quilting they wanted to add.  Hopefully they will have a lovely mug rug finished to celebrate Galentine's Day.

2018 Feb Island Batik Box Reveal

The BOX!  Every Island Batik Ambassador is on high alert when the box from Island Batik is about to arrive.  Twice a year Island Batik sends the Ambassadors a box filled with wonderful fabrics that we use throughout the year.  Each month we have a challenge on what to create and we share that with you on our blogs and with a couple blog hops during the year.

My box arrived yesterday amid a big snow storm.  My husband and I shoveled several times to keep our driveway clear for the Fed Ex man to deliver.  Here is the first peek when I opened the box.

Hobbs batting and Aurifil Threads are partnering with Island Batik this year, so they sent several things to be included in the box.  Doesn't this look exciting!

This is a fat quarter bundle to use in making a Galentine's Day project.  Be sure and check out my blog again on Feb 13 to see what is made.

This is a lovely 10" Stack pack of Pumpkin Patch fabrics with a light and dark selection of Pumpkin Patch with yardage.  I can hardly wait to work with this...

Here is a large cut of a neutral batik called Mini Dot Buttercup and a selection of various foundation fabrics.  Island Batik is great to give us so many various fabrics for our stash so we have lots to draw from in our projects.

Did you know Island Batik also has batik rayons?  They sent yardage in this lovely orange and also a lovely scarf to wear!  Does this feel like Christmas or what!

Here is a fun bundle of fat eighths of the Sunflower Serenade Collection.  I already have a project in mind for April using these lovelies.

Hobbs batting sent this roll of 80/20 Cotton batting and a package of Thermore batting.  I've used these in the past and they are very appreciated.  They also sent a brochure about all their products which is handy to have.

This is the second year that Aurifil has partnered with Island Batik.  I love their threads.  They sent a super big cone of white and a variety of colors in 40 and 50 weights.  They will be used for sure!

The box just keeps offering more items!  Here are brochures about Aurifil threads and a package of stash builder rolls- each roll has four 5" strips of different fabrics.  These are a great way to expand your batik color stash.

Last but not least- a surprise bundle!  This is fabric that is not released yet.  I'll be doing a blog hop post with a project using these fabrics in August so be sure and check back then to see what they are!

(I got to open this, but can't show you yet.  But believe me- they are great!)

Wow!  That is a lot of inspiration in a box isn't it!  I have to admit, I've unpacked it all and have it sitting on the floor in front of me and I've just been admiring it and thinking of what all I might create. It looks like an exciting year for all the Island Batik Ambassadors.  I hope you can follow along and get inspired too.