Artsy Fartsy Island Batik Ambassador Challenge

The July challenge for Island Batik Ambassadors is titled Artsy Fartsy and we were challenged to use three different weights of Aurifil thread to create a fabric work of art.

This was a fun challenge that focused on the threads first instead of the fabric.  It is like buying a cool pair of shoes and then searching for the perfect outfit to go with them.

I was sent some dark purple and peach Aurifil thread in my first Ambassador box and then I received a light purple and an orange a little later.  I must say it was a struggle to come up with something that coordinated with these thread colors.

My mind eventually drifted to a sunset scene, with purples and oranges and I added a spool of Yellow Aurifil thread from my stash to finish off the colorway.

For the fabric I went to the stash builder rolls we were sent at the beginning of the year.  These are fantastic.  I love all the different colors that come in them.  I used up several more of the pieces from these rolls to make my skinny strips and I threw in some left over scraps from the other projects.

I wanted the piece to be mostly purple, to go with the purple threads, so I opted for purple water, sky, and clouds. Check out those 1/4 inch strips!  I tried adding red, but I liked the pinks a lot better for this one so I stayed with that.

I really wanted to use the peach and orange thread I was sent in the center of the sun, but the thread was a heavier weight, 12 weight, and was a little too thick for the look I was going for.  I wanted the rays to have more of a halo look. I will have to save that nice thick peach and orange for another project.

On a side note. I did try the orange in a small section and had trouble with it in my machine at first. So I went to the Aurifil website and they tell you what size needle is recommended and even what size thread is reccomended in the bobbin for each thread weight. It helped me out when trying to get the heavier weight thread to place nice together.

I ended up using:

• 40 weight in light purple for the wisps in the sky and the reflection in the water. I used every last bit of that spool thread. That is why it is now just a green spool.
• 50 weight yellow was used for the sun rays.
• 28 weight dark purple for the water and inside the clouds.

I quilted it using Hobbs Theramore Batting and it quilted up beautifully.

The final peice measures approximately 22 x 30 and my smallest strips finished up a 1/4 inch. My largest strip finished at 1 inch.

Make sure you take some time to visit the other Island Batik Ambassadors to see their Arsty Fartsy projects. Most have posted for July already and there are still more to come before the month ends.

Carolina Asmussen ~Carolina Asmussen

Gene Black ~ Gene Black

Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts

Connie K Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Anja Clyke ~ Anja Quilts

Tina Dillard ~ Quilting Affection Designs

Becca Fenstermaker ~Pretty Piney

Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter

Barbara Gaddy ~ Bejeweled Quilts by Barb

Dione Gardner-Stephen ~ Clever Chameleon

Sarah Goer ~ Sarah Goer Quilts

Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts

Lori Haase ~ Dakota City Quilter II

Joanne Hart ~ Unicornharts

Mania (Magdalini) Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for Quilts

Carla Henton ~ Creatin’ in the Sticks

Stephanie Jacobson ~ Steph Jacobson Designs

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Joan Kawano ~ Moosestash Quilting

Kim Lapacek ~ Persimon Dreams

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Leanne Parsons ~ Devoted Quilter

Bea Lee ~ BeaQuilter

Toby Lischko ~ Gateway Quilts & Stuff

Bill Locke ~ Studio Bill Locke

Denise Looney ~ For the Love of Geese

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Sally Manke ~ Sally Manke

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack’s Blog

Kathleen McCormick ~ Kathleen McMusing

Carol Moellers ~ Carol Moellers Designs

Karen Neary ~ Sew Karen-ly Created

Lisa Nielsen ~ Lisa Lisa and the Quilt Jam

Jackie O’Brien ~ If These Threads Could Talk

Laura Piland ~ Slice of Pi Quilts

Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde

Vicki Schlimmer ~ Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Sherry Shish ~ Powered by Quilting

Anita Skjellanger ~ Quilt in a not-Shell

Laticia “Tish” Stemple ~ Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland

Jennifer Strauser ~ Dizzy Quilter

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Terri Vanden Bosch ~ Lizard Creek Quilts

Alison Vermilya ~ Little Bunny Quilts

Sandra Walker ~ mmm! quilts

Suzy Webster ~ Adventurous Applique and Quilting

(Debora) Anne Wiens ~ Seams like a Plan

Geraldine Wilkins ~ Living Water Quilter

Janet Yamamoto ~ Whispers of Yore

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Pink Bricks - 2nd Finish for Q3 FAL

My second finish for Q3 of the 2019 Finish-A-Long.  Wow, I can't believe it! Two finishes already this quarter.  I have already doubled last quarter finishes.  Haha!

I think it helped my sew-jo by putting small, almost completed projects on the list.  This one had been a top waiting for quilting.  It is about 34 x 40 inches. Once I got it on the machine, it only took about 35 minute to quilt using this all over quilt design.  

I started this one sometime in 2018.  I think in the spring.  

This is one of the few that I don't have an actual start date for but I do remember having a lot of pink "bricks" cut out so I whipped this little top together to have a gift ready to go in case a baby girl ever comes around.

Now it is finished and ready for gifting.

You can check out my full Q3 list here.

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That 70's Halloween Quilt - 1st Finish Q3 FAL

I know it is supposed to be Christmas in July not Halloween in July, but I finished my first UFO for the third Quarter of the 2019 Finish-A-Long and had to post it.

This one was started in October 2014 when I was doing the Black Cat Crossing Blog Hop.  

It is a pattern called "That 70's Quilt" from the book Strip Savvy by Kate Henderson.

I had made several projects for Black Cat Crossing hop and this was a final project I started with some of the leftovers of the zig zag quilt.  I didn't have enough background fabric to finish it though, so it got put on the UFO pile while I waited for that fabric to come in.  Then other projects kept it on the UFO pile.

I almost had it finished for the fourth quarter Finish-A-Long of 2018. I got the whole top together In October that year and I was about to start quilting it when I realized I had left out some fabric pieces.  Ack!

In my haste to get the sashing added four years later, I didn't look back at the pattern and I sewed all the blocks and sashing together before adding the background corner triangles to each square and I totally left out the cornerstones!  So much for thinking I remembered what it was supposed to look like.

I contemplated keeping it the way it was, but the actual pattern looked so much better to me, so I unstitched all the sashing enough to get to the corners of the blocks and redid it.  It didn't take too long, just one night and a good movie to listen to and I am so glad I did it.

It is now stored with the Halloween quilts and will come back out at the end of September when we decorate for the fall.

The Back.


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Quilts of Valor Blog Hop Featuring Freedom by Island Batik

Welcome to the final day of the Quilts of Valor Blog Hop, hosted by Jen of Dizzy Quilter

The mission of the Quilts of Valor Foundation is to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.

 This past November I happened upon a Quilt of Valor Ceremony during the city's yearly Jingle Bell Market.  I had never been to one, so I sat down to see what it was all about.

I had heard of Quilts of Valor and knew of their mission, but had never actually witnessed anyone getting a quilt from them before. It was a wonderful ceremony and got me thinking about volunteering for Quilts of Valor.

So this Spring when Jennifer of  dizzyquilter.com asked the other Island Batik Ambassadors if they wanted to make Quilts of Valor, I couldn't sign up fast enough.

I was ready go go buy myself some red white and blue fabric, but Island Batik graciously donated the fabric for these quilts. They sent a stack of 10 inch precuts along with red, white, and, blue yardage from their new Freedom line coming out.

For the pattern I played around in EQ8.  I fiddled around with the 54-40 Fight block altering some of the 4 patches and came up with this color way.

I used all but one print from the 10 inch squares, all the dark and medium blue yardage, all the white yardage, and almost all the red yardage.

Once all my four patches and triangle squares were done it was just like sewing a 9 patch together.

I had 18 blocks with four patches in the corners and 17 with Half Square Triangles in the corner and alternated between the two.

We spent the 4th visiting with family and hit the beach in the evening after most of the crowds left.  It was raining in the evening, but it stopped sprinkling long enough for me to take some photos.

The quilt measures approximately 62 x 80.

I used Hobbs Theramore batting for this one. This bating was sent to me as part of the Island Batik Ambassador program.  It is super light and thin and perfect for a summer quilt down here in the south.

Now I need to get in touch with the closest QOV chapter to get this to its new home.  The chapter who did the ceremony in the fall is not local.  If I remember right they were the chapter from the beach.   I go down to the beach a lot to visit family, so it will be easy to get it where it needs to go.

Today is the last day of the hop, make sure you go back and visit any posts from previous days if you missed them.  And check out Jen's post from Dizzy Quilter, she giving away a stack of Freedom fabric from Island Batik! 

Participants

July 1

Becca Fenstermaker — Pretty Piney

Denise Looney — For the Love of Geese

Gail Sheppard — Quilting Gail

July 2

Pamela Boatright — Pamela Quilts

Anne Wiens — Sweetgrass Designs

July 3

Bea Lee —Bea Quilter

Carla Henton — Creatin’ In the Sticks

July 4

Emily Leachman — The Darling Dogwood

Joan Kawano — MooseStash Quilting

Jen Strauser – Dizzy Quilter

July 5

Steph Jacobson — Steph Jacobsen Designs

Leah Malasky — Quilted Delights  (Me)

Anja Clyke — Anja Quilts

Maryellen McAuliffe — Mary Mack Made Mine

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Results from Teaching a Beginner Quilt Class

I started teaching a beginner quilt class at the beginning of this year. These 9 patch quilts are the first project we worked on. As the teacher I sew along with the class and make what they are making.

What made me decide to start this class was the phrase, "I wish I could quilt."  Over the past year I  have heard that phrase a lot when talking to people about my quilts.

I would respond, "If you can sew a straight line you can quilt." Sometimes I would add, "If you are really interested, I can teach you."  Sometimes I got an "OK"... or "I have a machine, but never even opened it,"... or "I'll have to take you up on that."  But no one really took me up it and I'd still hear the phrase,  "I wish I could quilt."

So I decided to start a quilt class.  I mentioned it to one of my friends at church and she said we could use the church building and suggested Tuesday nights.  I knew I couldn't meet every Tuesday night, but wanted to do it more than once a month, so we decided on every other Tuesday at first and then after the first couple of classes we changed to the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month.

I opened it up to anyone who wanted to come free of charge. All they needed to bring was their own supplies. My husband even comes and started his very own quilt.  This is his blue one,  He sewed most of the 9 patches and quickly realized sewing is not for him, so I helped finish his up.

He still likes to come to class though. He enjoys the design process, playing with the pattern layouts, and hanging out with me, but the sewing part just isn't for him.

It has been a fun class.  All skill levels are represented from those who have never sewn a stitch on their machine to people who have made several quilts already.  We have already done a second quilt with half square triangles and are about to start our third quilt in the middle of July.

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Island Batik Try it! - Fabric Origami

The June challenge for Island Batik Ambassadors is "Try It!"  This month we were to try a technique that was new to us using Island Batik Fabrics. So I tried Fabric Folding.

  At first I wasn't sure what technique to use, I have tried a lot already in all my years of quilting.  Hmm... That may be the reason why I have so many UFOs.

Then I remembered I remembered the book Fantastic Fabric Folding that has been sitting on the shelf for a couple years.  I had never tried any of the projects in it, only admired them, but not anymore!  This month I folded my first origami flower and I must say it was a super fun technique.

I used fabrics from the stash builders provided to me by Island Batik and some left over scraps from other Island Batik projects.  The stash builders are perfect for cutting 5 inch squares, which are smaller than the instructions called for in the book, but the folding technique is the same, so I just ended up with smaller flowers.

I made four flower sections with the intention of making the mini quilt in the book, but halfway through I decided I wanted  something functional that could stay out all the time instead of being swapped out with the seasons.  I opted for this fabric box and put the flower on all four sides.

I started out using the Fabric Keepsake Box tutorial from www.threadsmagazine.com, but altered the measurements to  make it the perfect size to fit some of my favorite one and two yard Island Batik cuts and left off the box top.

The tutorial called for cardboard cut outs for the inserts, but I wanted something a little more durable, so I broke out my old 26 x 36 cutting mat and cut my inserts from that.  Now if it ever gets wet for some reason the inserts will be fine.

It is the perfect width to set at the end of the cutting table and show off those yummy fabrics.

My handsome helpers.

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