Island Batik Gradients - Step by Step

January's Island Batik Ambassador challenge was all about gradients.  

I got to play with some ravishing reds.

I had to build this one very carefully so I didn't put the wrong shades in the wrong spot. I started in the corners and worked my way to the middle. I put the 20 different colors in pairs so each rectangle has one dark and one light fabric along with some solid black and gray.

The triangles go from dark to light starting from the bottom left and the strips go from dark to light starting from the top right.  Its double gradient movement meeting in the middle.

I sewed and quilted this one with microtex needles by Schmetz.
They sure work great with Island Batik Fabric.

For the quilting I used Aurifl thread in gray #2605 and red #2260

The red looked great on the black and even the light colored fabrics.

Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 bleached cotton batting was perfect for this quilt.

It quilted out nice and smooth.

This quilt measure approximately 54 x 48.

How long did it take me to make it?

Not including design time,  it took 8 Star Wars movies.

So I think I may call this one Force Gradients.  Which side do you prefer?  The light or the dark?

Boonky checked out all the different fabrics before I cut everything up.

Afterwards...Boonky tested and approved.

Happy Sewing!

=^..^=

@QuiltedDelights
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Polar Bear Plunge Blog Hop

Welcome! Thanks for stopping by on this third day of the Polar Bear Plunge Blog Hop hosted by Joan of Moose Stash Quilting!  I hope you have been enjoying the hop so far and seen some good Polar Bear Plungy inspiration.

I had been itching to make a scrappy double bear paw quilt and this was the prefect hop to do just that.

My inspiration came from the pattern by Material Girlfriends, but I altered it to have more bear paws and less white space and added a couple borders.

I cut up lots of let over blue scraps from my Island Batik collection to make the center of the paws. I picked shades that reminded me of icy cold waters in the arctic.

I used two different Island Batik browns for the claws on the paws and even the borders came from my personal Island Batik Stash. I used up lots of left over Island Batik fabrics for this one.

For the back I picked a snowflake print for the center and then lined it with several different blues to make a striped piece backing.  Again using up the fabric stash for the backs.

The beach was the perfect place to photograph this one.  The colors of the water and the sky that day were perfectly matched.  But don't be fooled it was a cool 50 degrees with water temperatures to match. Not quite freezing, but cold enough for me.

I did not plunge into the water but sure enjoyed watching the dolphins play that day.  They don't seem to mind the colder water temperatures this time of year.

Make sure to not to miss any of the other stops today and check out their fun polar-ific creations.

 

Wednesday Jan 26

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Hazel’s Daughter 

Words & Stitches

Kathleen McMusing

Quilting & Learning - What a Combo!

Quilted Delights  (ME)

Happy Sewing!

=^..^=

@QuiltedDelights
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Island Batik Ambassador for 2022

I am excited to say I am Island Batik Ambassador again this year!

Island Batik Ambassadors already received their first challenge boxes and have gotten busy on the January project.  Check out my video below to see all the lovely fabrics and extras I get to work with during the first half of the year.

The video below gives you a nice close up of the Island Batik fabrics hitting your stores now (or in the next few weeks) and some of the foundations you can get year round.

Special thanks to Aurifil, Hobbs Batting, and Schemtz Needles for sending their materials to help with our projects.

=^..^=

@QuiltedDelights
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Island Batik December Challenge - EPP

This month Island Batik Ambassadors were challenged to make a project using English Paper Piecing...  aka hand sewing.  I don't mind hand sewing, but it usually isn't at the top of my to do list.. but I may have to add it closer to the top of the list.  In my search of something to EPP other than hexagons, I found some great patterns from Sue Daley I want to try.

For this project, I used different Island Batik Scraps left over from other projects and attached a scrappy EPP'd Sunflower to the back of a By Annie's Piecekeeper project bag.   This is a free pattern on the website and also has free add on videos!  This is great if you want to try out By Annie's patterns.  This project goes over most of the basics you will need to make some of her bigger and more complex bags.  It is great to learn with and you end up with a cool project bag.

This one holds everything I need to make more scrappy sunflowers!

I used papers from Sue Daley to make this scrappy sunflowers.  Check out her blog, she has a great pattern using these papers.

I tired different ways to attach the pieces, looking for the the best way to save thread. Then I watched some quick videos on You Tube from Sue Daley and got some good tips.

I already have more pieces sewn together for more flowers. 

Slowly but surely this will come together!

Happy Sewing!

=^..^=

@QuiltedDelights
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Colorful Horse Quilt

My neighbor asked me if I could make a horse themed quilt for her granddaughter for Christmas.

I also asked what her granddaughter's favorite color was and she said Hot Pink.

I found a colorful horse panel that fit the bill.  Lots of colors and even some hot pink.

I cut out the six horses on the panel and surround each one in with hot pink stars.

I mixed in some matching pinwheels all around and quilted it up.

My husband loves it when I put names on the quilt, so he was really in love with this one.

I used the Alphabet Soup Book by Jaybird Quilts to put her name in the center stripe on the back.

My neighbor asked if I could but a simple label on the back with the date and who it was from.

Easily done with the embroidery machine.

Now that it has been gifted I can show it off.

It was  fun quilt to put together.

=^..^=

@QuiltedDelights
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Two Quick Christmas Quilts

I hope everyone is having a good Christmas Weekend!

Today I want to show off some quick Christmas quilts I made this month.

During Thanksgiving weekend, I went to the sewing closet to look for something and I came across my Christmas Scrap bin.

Getting distracted easily, I pulled it out and looked inside and found several 2.5 inch squares and decided to sew up some Christmas nine patches.

With a little help from Sheen,  I cut and sewed...

and pretty soon had enough nine patches to make two lap quilts.

I put them on the design wall and decided I wanted something else in the off blocks so I tried out a pinwheel.  Looked good to me so I got to cutting.

Using the easy angle ruler I cut triangles from my 2.5 inch Christmas strips and some white and got to sewing.

A lovely pile of half square triangles to iron.

Pressed and ready for the next step

I put two green and two red together. for each pinwheel.  Then added a 1 inch white border all around to get them to 6 inches to match the nine patches.

All laid out on the design board.

The first one all quilted.

Sheen helping again with the binding.

I went with two different colored borders.  

I couldn't decide if I wanted green or red, so I went with one of each.

I really like the red one, but then again red is my favorite color.

The green border turned out pretty good too.

I went with stripped backing for both.

I started these on Thanksgiving weekend and had them both finished by the first weekend in December.

It helped to have some good chunks of sewing time on Thanksgiving weekend.  I finished the rest by sewing an hour or two before or after work the next week.

Merry Christmas!

=^..^=

@QuiltedDelights
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