Island Batik Try A Tool Blog Hop

This month Island Batik Ambassadors are showing off the new fabric lines shipping out very soon along with different specialty rulers by Deb Tucker of 180 Studio Design.   

I got to play with Sticks and Stones by Jean Wells for Island Batik and the V Block ruler.  Check out the bottom of the post for info on how to win some of your own Sticks and Stones fabric.

Sticks and Stones was designed by Jean Wells and takes inspiration from different elements in Nature.

It is Black, White, and Gray with some muted browns and blues.  It was super fun to work with.

I downloaded the fabric swatches in EQ8 and played around with color placement till I came up with the quilt I have now.  I am calling it Curved Sticks and I was able to use all the prints.

The ruler I got to play with is the V block ruler.  It helps make precise triangle in a square blocks, or V blocks as some call them.

These V blocks are seen in the 54-40 or flight block and its variations, which I used in my quilt.

When paired well with other blocks, these V Blocks create the illusion of curves in the whole quilt.

It is a fun way to create movement without sewing curved seams.

And there is Hobbs inside!  I love that hashtag they use on social media  #hobbsinside.

I used their Heriloom Premium Cotton Batting for this one.

It is quilted with #2625 gray Auriful Thread.  These fabrics are super busy and custom quilting wouldn't show up so well, so I did an all over straight and curvy design.

Pieced and quilted with Schemtz needle.  Pieced with a Microtex needle and quilted with a 90/14 quilting needle.

Make sure to also visit Andi Stanfield of True Blue Quilts. She is also showing off her creation using the new Sticks and Stones Fabric line.

Happy Quilting!

Island Batik is giving away some Sticks and Stones Precuts to two lucky winners!. Enter using the Rafflecopter link below and visit their blog post for all the details.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Orange You Glad Blog Hop

I was excited to join this hop hosted by Carla of Creatin in the Sticks. 

I had the perfect fabric just waiting to be unrolled!

I was sent these orange Stash Builder rolls in one of my Island Batik Ambassador boxes and knew they needed to be used in their own quilt. 

In my most recent Ambassador box I was sent the V Block ruler by Studio 180 Design and knew these two items would go great together.

FYI - You can stop back on the 26th for my day of the Island Batik "Try A Tool Blog Hop" when I show off another project using this same tool and an new Island Batik Fabric line coming to stores soon!

It was easy to pick what size triangles I wanted to cut for this quilt. I just used the size of the strip!

I lined it up on the 5 inch Cut Strip mark on the ruler and started cutting.

I also had some blue stash builders and used strips from those for the background triangles. 

The V Block ruler makes it easy to trim up the blocks nicely. 

I made 120 V Blocks and turned them into 30 Pinwheels.

They sewed up pretty quick.

Next I had a border dilemma... go with an all orange border or a thin inner orange border with a thicker outer blue border.

I couldn't decide so I took votes from the family. The inner orange/outer blue won out.

I took the quilt on Vacation with me and got its picture in front of Center Hill Lake in Tennessee. 

I used up some of my older stash fabric for the back.

For the quilting I used orange thread. It blended well with the blue fabrics.

I quilted an all over meander swirly design... pretty much what ever I felt like drawing with the needle.

And there is Hobbs Batting inside.  I sewed together two large left over pieces of Hobbs Natural Cotton batting with Scrim.  I love this batting.  Everything sticks together so nice and quilts up soft.

This was a fun little quilt to put together!

 It measures 55 x 63.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the other projects today!

Wednesday, August 18th

Quilted Delights  (ME)

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Days Filled With Joy

Patchwork Breeze

AlyciaQuilts- Quiltygirl

Lianne Makes Stuff

Homespun Hannah's Blog

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Never Too Early with Island Batik - Hunter Star Table Runner

It is never too early to start on those holiday projects! This month, Island Batik Ambassadors were challenged to make a holiday project to get things rolling for the holiday season! I chose to make a quick Hunter Star table runner for one of my small end tables.

I used some of the 5 inch strips from the stash builder sets that came in my Island Batik Boxes along with some left over scraps I had from other Island Batik Projects. The white is called Sprinkles, one of my favorite neutrals from Island Batik.

I used the Hunter Star die from Accuquilt to help me get the pieces cut out.

This die is so nice to have.  I purchased this one myself and I am glad I did.  I thought I would cut a couple pieces out by hand because I didn't have that many pieces this time around, but they didn't sew together as nice as when the fabric gets cut through the accuquilt cutter.  Having precisely cut pieces with the notches already cut out makes a whole world of difference when piecing everything together.

Of course everything was sewn and quilted with a Schmetz Needle. I got some in my first Island Batik box in January, but they are also the only ones I buy when I need more.  They never let me down.
I used a universal 80/12 for this one.

And there is Hobbs inside!  Soft and comfy just for kitties to rest on. 

I have now used up almost all the Hobbs Poly-Down premium polyester batting they sent me.  I got several projects out of this bag and I probably have enough to make another small square table topper.

The colors in this table runner were inspired by an image I saw on Pinterest. I didn't use the same cutting and piecing method or layout, but I really liked like the green, red, and gold color combo she used. You can see the original inspiration post here:

https://detodounpococonmismanos.blogspot.com/p/camino-de-mesa-hunters-star-variation.html

Happy Quilting!

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It's a Guy Thing Blog Hop

Welcome to the first day of the "It's A Guy Thing" blog hop, hosted by Carol of Just Let Me Quilt.

For this hop we were challenged to make something for a guy or tomboy, or in manly-man colors of blues, grays, browns, etc.

Sitting in my stash was a layer cake perfect for this hop, it was full of blues, browns, and grays.  So it only took a few seconds to pick out the fabric for this hop, I just had to grab the layer cake.  

The block I wanted to make came to me quick too. There are so many different layer cake patterns, but I decided on Delectable Mountain blocks.  I'd been seeing different versions of this block pop up on Pinterest lately when I looked up other things, so it was already sitting in the back of my mind, waiting for the right time to come out and this blog hop was it.

I paired it with some Kona cotton in Coal and used 40 of the 42 squares to make 80 Half Square Triangles.  Once trimmed up, I cut each HST into four strips and rearranged them to make the "mountains". 

You have to make sure to cut half of the HSTs one way and the other half the opposite way in order to get two mirrored sides of the mountain.  I used You Tube and searched "Delectable Mountain quilt" and found a couple videos with some good instructions to make sure I didn't screw it up.

I played around with the layout for a bit and decided on diamonds in the center flanked by mirrored zig zag mountains on each side.

The back of the top looks pretty cool.  It was windy on the side lawn to get a good picture of the top,

So we moved the the side porch.

Here is the top before its quilted....

and after it is quilted and bound later in the evening.

I intended to quilt large wavy curves, but as I was echoing the first row of curves, they started turning into what I thought looked like topographical lines so I just went with it.

Pieced my backing again.  That brown in the center is the last of that fabric in my stash.  Feels good to use all of something up with little to no scraps left behind.

This was my first time making this block.  It was super quick and easy.  Way easier than I thought it would be.  I think it took me longer to square up my 80 HSTs then it did to sew the blocks together.

Thanks again to Carol for hosting the hop and inspiring me sew up some dandy delectable mountains!  

Make sure to check out the other hoppers today to see what they were inspired to make.

July 26

Creatin' in the Sticks

Storied Quilts

Quilted Delights  (Me)

Samelia's Mum

Vroomans Quilts

Karen's Korner

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