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!


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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!


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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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Monday, February 7, 2022

Island Batik Row by Row Blog Hop - Citified


Today starts off week two of the Island Batik Row By Row Blog Hop and I get to show off my row by row quilt made with the Citified fabric line by Kathy Engle for Sherry Shish of Powered by Quilting.



Week two also starts with a new give away by Island Batik. 

They are are giving two lucky people a chance to win a Fat Quarter bundle of Island Batik collections by Kathy Engle – Citified, designed for Sherry Shish of Powered by Quilting or Contempo, designed for Kate Colleran of Kate Colleran Designs!

 Scroll down to the bottom to enter with the rafflecopter.




Citified has several shades of oranges, some blues, purples, and off white.
If you are a Clemson fan, the purples and oranges would make a great tiger paw block.

These prints should be in shops now or on the way.




I made some smaller block for the rows that helped separate the larger blocks.  They are three inch blocks.  I love little blocks!






Everything was sewn and quilted with Schmetz Microtex needles.


And there is Hobbs inside!  I used  Hobbs Heirloom Premium Cotton Batting for this one.







It quilted up nice with Aurifil orange thread and Hobbs batting.



I used the lightest orange from the Sumatran Tiger thread set.  








It showed up perfect on all the fabric colors.




I used a lot of my favorite blocks: Ohio Stars, Friendship Stars, Churndash, Courthouse steps, Dutchman's Puzzle, and nine patches.





I used 19 of the 20 fabrics in the line. I only left out one of the oranges.
  I used up every bit of the off white prints for the background and sashing.




We took it with us on vacation to take more pictures of it.



Fort the back I used up the last bit of one of the orange Citified fabrics and then surrounded it with some Island Batik Foundations.  I've always been able to find a foundation print that goes with the new fabric lines, they come in super handy sometimes.



Boonky was my helper again.  This time with the binding. Sewing came to halt for a bit while Boonky inspected my binding.





Enter the Island Batik Giveaway!






And be sure to check out what Emily made with Citified as well.  You can find her at The Darling Dogwood.

Happy Sewing!


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