Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Pink Flying Dutchman



This little quilt came about from a category in the SC State Fair: 
Fabrics & Threads - Machine Sewing:  Infant - Quilt (New).

It has been a while since I have entered anything in the state fair, seven years to be exact, but as the fair neared this year, I kept getting emails to submit my entries.  So I decided, why not?

The State Fair only lets you enter one piece per category. I perused through the categories to see if I had any quilts already sewn and good enough to enter.  I had a few quilts that fit the machine quilting categories and added those to my entry form.  

I scrolled through the rest of the sewing categories and came across the "Infant - Quilt (New)" category in the Machine Sewing class instead of the Quilting Class.

I didn't have an infant quilt made, but I had an idea of what I could make in time for the drop off deadline, so I added the class to my submissions.  



I made a quilt like this before but in blues, so I decided to do this version in pink.
I made quick work of the flying geese.  It helped that I had the Accuquilt dies for these shapes.  I grabbed a bunch of pink scraps and ran them through the cutter.

The accuquilt die cuts off the dog ears and helps with lining things up as you sew, so they went together pretty fast.





While making some Frankenbatting, Boonky decided the sewing machine was a good place to take a nap.





After nap time,  things got rolling.





I quilted free hand curves around all the flying geese.




And did some wavy lines in the sashing.




 I machine sewed the binding down on the front.  I wasn't sure if this was ok for entering competitions, but I went with it anyway.  



It must have been ok, because the quilt earned a blue ribbon!  Wahoo!

My husband and I went to the Fair on a Wednesday afternoon to check out all my entries.  I had forgotten how fun it was to enter items in the State Fair.  

Walking around and checking out all the exhibits and seeing all the other entries was a lot of fun.  




The cows were pretty cool too.



 Happy Sewing!




=^..^=





Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Island Batik Pieced to Perfection Blog Hop



I have been itching to show off this new quilt I made for the Island Batik "Pieced to Perfection" Blog hop!  There is also a giveaway by Island Batik. Keep reading to see how to enter.



I got to play with the Island Batik fabric line called Park Avenue, a Claudia Pfeil Design Original, which is should be arriving in quilt shops next month! 




The challenge for this blog hop was to use either Foundation Paper Piecing or English Paper Piecing in our projects. I went for the Foundation version and fiddled around in EQ8.








I tried out designing blocks using the curved drawing options.  They turned out pretty good, but I still have some learning to do to get all the blocks to line up perfectly and to have the actual paper piecing pattern print out with curves.  




Some printed correctly and some printed half curvy and half blocky,  I do believe it was the way I drew out the shapes but I'm not 100% sure what I did. I will have to go back and watch more You Tube vidoes and play around some more.




After getting the layout done, my next challenge was dispersing the colors and fabrics to keep my yardage under half a yard for each print.  All the colors in this line play so well together it ended up being easy to mix and match the prints to make everything flow.

I used 15 of the 20 prints that came in the Bundle.




I opened a package of Hobbs Heirloom Premium Wool batting for this one. It quilted up fantastic and has such a nice fluffiness to it.


 




  
I used a Schmetz 90/14 needle for the piecing and the quilting. 





 



I had enough white Aurifil thread for the quilting and the perfect blue for the binding.


I did some free motion quilting on this one using the points of the blocks as my guides. I don't enjoy marking my quilts so I am glad there were lots of points on this one. 




This was a fun project from beginning to end. I really enjoy paper piecing and had a good time sewing out each unit. I didn't even mind taking the papers off the back.  There is something fun to me about tearing perforated paper.

Make sure to check out my fellow Ambassadors who are also showing off this fabric line today:

Mania Hatziioannidi, Mania for Quilts

Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts




Now for the Giveaway! Island Batik is giving away two fat quarter bundles!

Two fortunate winners will each receive one of the two Fat Quarter bundles, featuring new Island Batik collections highlighted this week – Pin Dot Floral by Kathy Engle or Park Avenue by Claudia Pfeil

To enter for your chance to win one of these these stunning batik bundles, please follow the easy-to-use prompts on Rafflecopter! 



You can also visit the Island Batik blog post to enter if the Rafflecopter is not showing g properly here.



Happy Sewing!



=^..^=





Tuesday, September 19, 2023

McCall's Quilting - Nov/Dec Issue: Cabin Gathering


I am excited to help promote the newest issue of McCall's Quilting Magazine!  The November/December issue is out and when you flip inside you can see one of my quilts!   
Cabin Gathering!


You can get a digital copy here:  McCall's Quilting
Or a hard copy at your favorite fabric store!





In the magazine you can read all about the inspiration behind the design and how to put the quilt together using basic blocks.




The fabrics used in this quilt were provided by Island Batik.  
They are fabrics from their foundations lines. 
 



You can get these prints all year round!  



I am super excited to be a contributor in this issue!  The whole magazine turned out fantastic and there are lots of fun projects inside so check it out!   There are a couple  I want to make myself!





Happy Sewing!


=^..^=





Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Snails Squared - New Quilt Pattern


I have a new pattern for sale in my Shop! Snails Squared!

Today kicks off the Island Batik September Blog Hop showcasing the new Island Batik fabric lines hitting stores now.  Today's posts by Elita Sharpe (Busy Needle Quilting) and Denise Looney (For the Love of Geese) are all about the Blushing Garden fabric line by Kathy Engle.   


Photo by Jerry Kiev


I created this Snails Squared quilt for the Island Batik Catalog using the same fabric line and thought today would be a great day to show it off to everyone and announce the pattern is now available in my shop!






Click the image below to go to my shop and to get a discount on the pattern during the duration of the blog hop!




The Snails Trail block is the main block in the quilt, but with the unique placement of fabrics and colors, the sashing and cornerstones become the true stars of the quilt with the Snails Trail blocks becoming supporting blocks that create curls flaring off the diamonds.





Instructions are given for traditional piecing, but you can also use specialty rulers if you have them.   I used several of Deb Tucker's Studio 180 Design rulers to create most of the blocks.






Finished Quilt Measures approximately 63 x 63.


Be sure to follow along with on the Island Batik blog for weekly giveaways too!

This week they are giving away a Fat Quarter bundle of the complete Island Batik collections – Two winners will receive Chromatic by Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design or Blushing Garden by Kathy Engle!

Click the picture below and scroll down to the end of the blog post to enter.



This giveaway ends on September, 8 at 11:59 pm PST. Two random winners will be notified by email on September, 9 and announced on the Island Batik Facebook page on September, 12.



Happy Sewing!


=^..^=





Thursday, August 31, 2023

Island Batik August Challenge - Power Outage



 This month Island Batik Ambassadors had the choice to make what ever they wanted.  At first I wasn't sure what project I wanted to make, but I was definitely sure about what fabric I wanted to play with!
The Island Batik Chromatic line by Deb Tucker of Studio 180 designs.





I fell in love with this line as soon as I saw it!
So I was super excited when I received a strip set of it in my July Ambassador box.


But what to make with it? 

My brain went right to diaminds, and 2.5 inch strips cut nicely into diamonds.

Next I needed to come up with a layout for them.  I didn't want anything too fiddley where I would have to match up a lot of points, so I played around on a sketch pad and came up with a 6 inch block with three diamonds side by side where none of the points met up.








 I drew the block in EQ8, made a mirror image, colored it with Chromatic fabric and created several layouts. 





This layout won the vote and I got to Sewing.






I started out with strips sets, which made quick work of cutting diamonds with white edges.






Squaring everything up gave me a lot left over white triangle trimmings. I used some for the Half Square Triangle Border, but still had a lot left over.  I'll use the extras in another scrappy quilt, but if I ever make this quilt again I might use templates for the shapes to save on the white fabric.




With some careful cutting I was able to get all my Diamonds for the quilt from half of the strip pack. I used part of the other half to cut out the Half Square Triangles for the border.




Island Batik sent me two different blenders to go with the strip set. I chose to use the Teal Foundation for sashing, borders and binding.






The new kitty, Avi, is fascinated by the process. 





He tried to be paws on, but he needs a few safety training classes first. 





I used a Schmetz universal 90/14 needle for piecing. I like the Schmetz mocrotex for batiks as well but I ran out of those.




These blocks remind me of those old roof antennas. My neighbor had one for the longest time. The diamonds also make me think of lightening bolts. So I have decided to name this one Power Outage. 






Hobbs provided me with several different types of batting in July and I picked the Heirloom Natural Cotton for this quilt. I love this batting! It's so soft.




Again, using a Schmetz needle for the quilting as well.





I used an all over jagged quilt design in a light yellow thread and added teal binding to finish off the quilt. 




The hurricane pass by us last night with lots of rain and strong wind, but luckily we didn't have a power outage.




Today is blue skies, no clouds in sight, but the water at the park is super high from all the rain.  It is up to top the the bottom of the boardwalk




I love all the colors in this fabric line!  It is one of my favorites.






  


Quilt measures 65 x 79


  
Happy Sewing!


=^..^=