Sunday, April 17, 2022

A Herd of Mini Mooses



It's a herd of mini Mooses!  




This month's Island Batik Ambassador challenge was to use one of the patterns by Funky Friends Factory.




I chose the Mickey Moose Pattern.




I knew right away I wanted to make four for a mini herd.




But when I was finished with the four I started stacking them and thought to myself, "If I a make two more I can have a moose pyramid."  So I made two more.





I pulled out some of the Island Batik foundations that came in some of my Ambassador boxes. The first moose used the basic foundation called Tourmaline and I added some purple antlers and blue feet.  For moose two and three I used the foundation basics blue bubbles and green netting.  I had some left over fabric from the Mandala Magic fabric line and I choose the pink and green splat print for moose number four.




This pink one was the 5th one I made and I used another older Island Batik line called Sweet Hearts,  you might can still find some of this in shops.




These were all sewn together with Schemtz chrome Microtex needles.  
I really love these needles for the Island Batik fabrics.  Everything sews together so smooth.








We found the perfect field for them to graze.




I made the brown one last.  I found a perfect left over piece of brown in my Island Batik scrap pile and added some different Island Batik Blenders for his nose, belly, hooves, and Antlers.





These moose were fun to put together.  The pattern is nicely written and it even has link addresses for visual photos and more tips on how to put everything together. Those helped out a lot. 





It was fun going through the different Island Batik fabrics coming up with different color combos.


Be sure to check out the Funky Friends Factory and see all the fun patterns they have.  There are so many cute animals to make.


Happy Sewing!


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Thursday, March 31, 2022

Dolomite Mountains with Aurifil

 


This month Island Batik Ambassadors got to play with some colorful Aurifil threads from their Italian Color Builders collection.



I choose to work with the Dolomite greens.  I had not heard of the Dolomite mountains before, but when I googled it and saw those pretty green hills and valleys in front of the gray mountains I knew I wanted to play with some lush green thread and green fabrics.








Most of the fabrics I used are from Island Batik's foundation line along with a couple scraps leftover from other projects. You can find a foundation print to go with almost any Island Batik collection coming out. They are so versatile.


Now I had the thread and I had picked the fabric, all I needed was a pattern idea!  


Then March came...  and kept going... and I still didn't' have a pattern idea.

I spent most of the month mulling over different ideas of what to create.  I originally envisioned making a landscape quilt, but I couldn't settle on a layout I really liked.  Finally as the end of the month was nearing the idea came.


Something a little more blocky than curvy.




I jotted it down.  A rough sketch on a very small piece of paper.  This was my working pattern. I even taped it to the sewing machine so I could look at it for reference as I put the quilt together.



Since the challenge this month was to be a small wall hanging I went with small pieces.  The small squares measure 1 inch finished.  The rectangles measure 1 x 2 inch finished.






The quilting was fun.  Even though the pattern was blocky, I used the thread to add some curves.  





The curves and waves contrast quite nicely with the sharp edges of the squares and rectangles.  





To me the thread has created movement of rolling hills, climbing mountains, and a windy sky.





I added some extra Aurifil colors to finish out the quilting.












I had the perfect size scrap of Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 Bleached Cotton Batting for this project.  

It shows off the quilting beautifully.






And of course, sewn together and quilted with a Schmetz microtex needle.





Happy Sewing!


=^..^=





Thursday, March 17, 2022

Time in a Bottle Blog Hop

 


Welcome! Today I am showing off my creation for the Time in a Bottle Blog Hop.

And since it is also St. Patrick's day,  I went for a green color pallet.



For this hop we were challenged to use at least one hourglass block in our project.



I knew immediately I wanted to make Ohio Star blocks as they have four hour glass blocks inside them. I initially was going to make the traditional two colored hour glass blocks, but then I saw some Heather Ross frog fabric poking out of my stash and decided they needed to be in the center with a tad more green in the block.  So I guess you can call it an hour glass with a green shadow.



After I had the Ohio Stars made, I wasn't sure how I wanted to lay them out into a quilt.  I thought about separating them with sashing, but then I thought they needed to be surrounded by more shapes and color. Of course more green.




  Then the double Irish chain quilt popped into my head.  Again perfect for St. Patrick's day.  So I made a bunch of four patches.






This is Boonky, trying to be a quilt Supervisor... falling asleep on the job.




I added some extra pieces to the four patches and had block A for my Double Irish Chain.





I had to add some extra side pieces to my Ohio Stars too to make block B.





Again... Boonky falling asleep on the job.





I alternated blocks A and B together to make the top.





The frogs are so cute!  I almost went with shamrocks, but I am glad I picked the frogs.






Now I need to decide if I want to custom quilt this one or do an all over design.






Make sure to check out the other Blogs today to see what everyone else made with their hour glass blocks!






Happy Sewing!


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Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Scrappy Nine Patch Stars



A UFO is off the to do the list! Yay!






I started this quilt in September 2019. You can read about it here.





This one got moved to the top of the finish pile because of the daily Instagram Quit Fest photo prompts by Amy of Amy's Creative Side.






March is national Quilting month and for each day of the month Amy posted a new photo prompt for us to show off our quilty photos.





March 8 was "Scrappy Finish". I thought for sure I could squeeze in some quilting by the 8th.






I already had this exploding Tardis fabric picked out and sewn together for the back. All I needed to do was load it on the frame.

Well I started the quilting, but decided to quilt each little square which takes longer than an all over design so I didn't finish in time for the 8th....





But I did finish in time for the March 14th prompt "Recent Finish".
Yay!






I have a sister-in-law who loves scrappy quilts and it just happens to be her birthday month.  So this quilt got photographed and shipped on Saturday and she should be opening her package today!
 


Happy Sewing!


=^..^=



Thursday, February 17, 2022

Pink Pinwheels - Tickled Pink Blog Hop

 


Today wraps up the Tickled Pink Blog Hop hosted by Carla of Creatin in the Sticks.  I'm excited to show off my Positively Playful Pink Pinwheels. 

I was short on crafting hours this time around, but I still wanted to play along and use up some of my Pink scraps piling up.


I picked a small block I knew I could sew up lickety split: Pinwheels, and I pulled out my 2.5 inch pink strips and cut triangles for 4 inch Pinwheels. I ended up with 35 different Pink prints for my Pinwheels.


The Pink border is full of pink hearts and brings my total to 36 different pink prints. 

I cut all the pieces out in one evening. The next evening I sewed the top together. It took two and a half Pirates of the Caribbean movies from sewing the first pinwheel to adding the last border strip.  

Maybe one day I'll use a real timer, but for now I suppose I'll keep time by the movies I play while sewing.



I got up early yesterday morning and quilted it before work. I used a pastel Pink thread and quilted an all over "whatever I felt like quilting" motif. Mostly swirls and partial feathers. 

Since the quilt is small it only took about 45 minutes to quilt.



If you need a fun quick project, especially for a baby gift, try Pinwheels with sashing.
 
The top measures approximately 41 x 53.





Check out the other hoppers today to see more tickled pink creations and be sure go back and check out any others you may have missed.


Happy Sewing!


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