Monday, May 15, 2023

Island Batik Tool Craze Blog Hop

 


It's the start of week three for the Island Batik Blog hop  "Tool Craze"!

And Island Batik is having a giveaway,  check out their blog post for details or use the Rafflecopter at the bottom of the post to enter.


I am also having a small giveaway. Check out the end of the post for more details.




Today I am showing off the quilt I made using Summer Twilight, an original Island Batik collection by Tammy Silvers (Tamarinis), and the Tucker Trimmer ruler by Deb Tucker of Studio 180 Designs.


This fabric line is heading to shops soon!  
Below are just a few shops near my neck of the woods that will carry it:

Angel Oak Stitchery, LLC  Harleyville, SC
People, Places, & Quilts  Summerville, SC
Foust Textiles-NC King's Mountain, NC
Quilt 'N Kaboodle Cleveland, GA


The guidelines for this challenge were the following:

Make any size project we would like. - Check! Work with two or more different size units    - Check! Make at least 30 units total with the ruler we received. - Check! Encouraged, but not necessary, was to use another tool from Studio 180 Design if you had one. - Check, Check, ChecK!


I started with the Tucker Trimmer ruler, this is the ruler that came in my ambassador box in January.



First I made 3 inch Quarter Square Triangles.  I made 16 of these.





Next was some three patch quarter square triangles.  I made 36 of those.






I made even more for the border.  72 to be exact.





To meet the challenge of using two different sizes, I made these rectangles with purple half square triangles on the end.  These are just like Half Square Triangles, except the other half is way longer and yep, the Tucker Trimmer worked great to trim down that purple triangle.  The angle lined up perfect for a 1.5 inch HST.  These units give me the second size unit with the ruler for this challenge.

The purple fabric is part of the Island Batik Foundations. It is called Plurble.
The gray solid is also Island Batik!



The last part of the challenge was, if you had some, to incorporate more Deb Tucker rulers into our project.  I love these rulers.  My whole quilting life, sewing triangles have always turned out wonky, no matter how perfect I think I am cutting or sewing, so years ago I started making them a wee bit bigger and trimming them down to have nice crisp points.  I have used several different types of rulers for this, but these Deb Tucker Rulers are my favorite.  The extra lines on the ruler for trimming individual units are wonderful and make everything so easy!





The first extra ruler I used was the V Block ruler.  I received this in a previous ambassador  box. I love this block and try to squeeze into my quilts when ever I can.  Again three are three inches.




I made 104 of these.




The next part of the design used corner triangle blocks.  So I bought the Corner Beam Ruler to help with those.  Again, the extra marks on these rulers are wonderful for trimming down and getting nice crisp blocks.



I made 68 of these units.






Finally I used the Diamond Recs ruler.  I had purchased this one myself  a couple years ago and have used it several times for different projects.




  I made 24 of these.


All the different units came together nicely.  Each ruler has several different sizes that all coordinate with each other.  I used variables of three for this quilt but the rulers could easily change to a 4 inch variable to make the quilt bigger.  


All of the tools and Technique Sheets for the Studio 180 Design rulers have online instructional videos you can access through Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design YouTube channel. Check them out. They not only give you visual instructions on how to use the rulers, but they give you some Quilting inspiration as well!




Once the top was done, it was time to quilt it.  I used a nice teal thread color from Aurifl.  I love how it pops on the gray and pink fabrics.




The quilt was pieced and quilted using Schmetz universal 90/14 needles.
I've been using these needles for years. They fit perfect in my machine and always work well with my thread.









I wanted this quilt to be light weight and fluffy for the summer so I used Hobbs Poly Down Premium Batting.  The Island batik fabrics combined with the Hobbs Polyester batting makes the quilt soft and cuddly.









 

The quilt measures 63 x 63.




Boonky always likes to help out with the photo sessions.

Be sure to hop on over to Victoria and Maryellen's blogs today. They are also working with the Summer Twilight fabric line and some Studio 180 Design rulers.


Victoria Johnson, Forever Quilting for You
Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine



Give Away Time!



There were a couple prints in the fabric line I did not use and I offering them to one of you!  These two green prints are two half yard cuts that didn't make it into this quilt.  If you want a chance to win both, leave a comment and let me know if you use quilts in the summer.  I'll pick a winner this weekend.


We don't use quilts outside here in the south to cuddle under, it's just too hot, even in the evenings. But sometimes the AC is blowing so strong that some of us in the house need a quilt all year long to snuggle under while we watch TV.

You can also enter the Island Batik Giveaway for a chance to win one of these two Island Batik Bundles.   You can enter using the Rafflecopter below and you can read more about their giveaway on their blog:









Happy Quilting!


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Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Say What? - Crazy Quilting with Island Batik and Aurifil




Say What? ... I say, it's day three of the Say What? blog hop. There have been some great projects and stories shared so far and today I am excited to show off my project. 






I went with actual words on my project for the challenge theme, some inspirational words in the corner of these Piecekeeper Project Bags.  I made one of these a few months ago and decided I needed a couple more. This is a free pattern from ByAnnie and is a good starter project if you want to start using some of her other patterns.








Also, for the month of April, Island Batik Ambassadors were asked to work with Aurifil Thread and incorporate Crazy Quilting into their project.




I was sent an Aurifil color builder set in the green color way. It is called Walking Palm. I have lots of Island Batik scraps, but I knew the Sunshine Garden scraps left over from my February Puff Quilt project would go perfect with these threads.




And the back of these Piecekeeper Project bags from ByAnnie are the perfect place to show off some crazy quilting! 





I had a good time playing with the different stitches on my machine. They all sewed up really nice with the Aurifil thread and my Schmetz needle. 








I even threw in a couple other Aurifil colors thread to complete the look.




The Walking Palm Color Builder set comes with three greens, two light greens and a variegated green. I added an orange and a light teal. They all blend well together.




The blue and the dark pink Aurifil colors were used to construct the bag.





Some of these thicker stitches turned out fantastic.





I like the little hearts too.




The thread and the fabrics look so well together.




These are such fun stitches. I would like to use them more, but I'm not sure know what projects 
to put them on. 




Say, what other projects can I use these fancy stitches for? If you have some suggestions let me know!





Enjoy all the other Say What? projects by following the links below.


Happy Quilting!










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Friday, March 31, 2023

IBA March Challenge - Breaking Free


This month, Island Batik Ambassadors were given the challenge to create what ever they wanted.  




Let me tell you, that was a tough challenge.  I had the freedom to wander in any direction and there were so many directions to wander!  



I did have one constant though.  I knew I wanted to do something with the Exuberance ten inch precut that came in my January Ambassador box.  Exuberance is an original line by Deb Tucker of Studio 180 Design for Island Batik and is available in shops now.  Particularly these shops:

Block Party Studios IA
Creekside Quilts OR
Hancocks of Paducah KY
Tucker University OH
Castle Sewing Centre-CANADA BC
Mulqueen Sewing & Fabric Centers AZ
Amy's Quilt Room, PA
Boutique 4 Quilters, FL
EQuilter.com, CO



I My initial plan was use the whole precut, as in every inch of fabric from each 10 inch square. I wanted to try and eliminate any more scraps adding to my overflowing scrap bins.  So what to do??



After mulling things over, I came up with an idea that would let me use every bit of 40 of the squares.  I  decided to cut up each square into different shapes, mix and match the prints, and then sew them back together.  





I wanted some sashing to separate the different prints, but I didn't want the quilt to get humongous, so the sashing had to be thin. This is where my Accu Quilt 1 inch strip die came in handy.  I have cut these thin strips by hand in the past and the ruler does slide a bit once in a while cutting such thin strips, so it was nice to have this die.  As you can see I used a lot of one inch strips.




This finished design came together through trial and error.  Lots of ideas being thrown around with layouts and sashing, and a little bit of unstitching.



I started off with this block, but decided the outer edges needed to come off.  I also ended up taking the corner triangles off as well. Luckily I only sewed one block like this and not all 40.

I now have 80 left over triangles with white trim. I am envisioning a new smaller quilt for these.




I did a lot of switching things up and finally came up with the layout I loved.  




I was originally going to have a different print for each shape in the block, but I ended up liking pairs of the same print flanking the triangles instead of a random mix. It made the pattern easier on my eyes and helped showcase the prints better.




Once the top was done, it was on to quilting.  Time was running out so I was glad to have this bag of Heirloom 80/20 Bleached White Hobbs Batting from my January Ambassador box.  No franken-batting for this quilt!  Plus there is a lot of white in this quilt, so I really wanted the white batting to help keep it crisp and bright.



I quilted it using a light blue thread and a Schemtz universal 90/14 needle.  





It was the right sized needle to go with the thread it went through everything nice and smooth.





I did quick free hand wavy lines with swirls.  I was done with the quilting in about two hours.




My youngest son really loves this fabric line, he said the coloring and the patterns reminds him of sea coral. 





I have to agree with him. I really love these color combos.




I am calling this one "Breaking Free"




When I first cut all the shapes out of the ten inch squares I envisioned the triangles breaking free from the square to do their own thing.




 If you love this line too and want to see more projects using with it check out the Studio 180 designs blog. Deb Tucker is having a blog hop this week showcasing this fabric line!  Check out the link here:  Studio 180 Design Exuberance Blog Hop





Happy Quilting!


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Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Little Green Apples - Sew It Show It Challenge


This week is the "Little Green Apples Sew It Show It Challenge" Hosted by Carol of Just Let Me Quilt. For this challenge we could sew something about apples, use apple fabric, or just use green fabric.  I went with the green fabric option and sewed something somewhat apple shape... sort of. 



I saw some cute Kinchaku bags pop up on Instagram and wanted to give them a try. When you pull them shut, scrunch them down a little, and use your imagination they could look like apples. 🍏 



There are lots of fun patterns and tutorials on the internet for these types of bags. 



I saw the pattern by Sweet Cinnamon Roses and loved how she did the bottom so I wanted to give it a try.

These would make cute little gifts to hand out for when someone needs a pick me up. They sew up really fast and you can use up scrap batting and fabric. Once you make the first one, you could probably sew up half a dozen in an afternoon and fill them with fun treats.

You could even put an apple in them along with other treats for a the teachers in your life. 

Make sure to check out all the other blogs today to see their challenge pieces!


MARCH 20

Just Let Me Quilt

Quilt Schmilt

Quilting Gail

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

DesertSky Quilting

Days Filled With Joy

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Sew Many Yarns

 MARCH 21

Creatin’ in the Sticks

Quilted Delights

Karrin’s Crazy World

For The Love Of Geese

Vroomans Quilts

Quilted Snail

Homespun Hannah's Blog

The Joyful Quilter

MARCH 22

Inflorescence

Ms P Designs USA

Words & Stitches

The Crafty Grammie

Beaquilter

Texas Quilt Gal

Pinker n' Punkin Quilting & Stitching

 MARCH 23

Moosestash Quilting

Patchwork Breeze

Crazy'boutquilts

Selina Quilts

Samelia's Mum

Just Because Quilts

Scrapdash

That Fabric Feeling




Happy Quilting!


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