Try It! - A Day at the Beach

The June challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors is

Try It!

Today is my day to show

A Day at the Beach
with a new, to me, piecing technique.

The challenge was to face our fears or sewcrastination and step outside the box to try a technique that is new to our sewing toolbox. There were no rules other than to try something new and use the fabrics that Island Batik provided in the Ambassador Box.

I had bookmarked an article in the May 2008 issue of American Quilter magazine by Scott A Murkin, "Strata Quilts: Layer upon Layer" that inspired my quilt. It's all about freeform curved piecing, a technique I had never tried but had always wanted to.

I started with an Island Batik

"French Blue" package of 10" squares.

Next, the blocks were paired with right sides up and a soft curve was cut with a rotary cutter.

The pieces were switched and stitched with matching Aurfil 50 wt thread. Then the process was repeated.

Each block has 8 curvy pieces and the process was so much fun.

The blocks were trimmed after they were stitched.

They were pretty wonky before they were trimmed to 7 1/2" but that was part of the fun.

The 8" border is also from the "French Blue" collection by Kathy Engle and is Paisley in Sky.

The finished size is about 57" x 57" and is perfect to wrap up in.

The colors of the quilt remind me of the beach and the quilting is just a simple wave design.

A Day at the Beach was too much fun.

I really loved doing this curvy improv technique and really can't wait to try it again.

You can find the full list of Island Batik ambassadors posting for the 

Try It! challenge 

by clicking HERE.

What will you be trying next?

What does the Sheep Say?

It's animal week over on the Thermoweb blog 

and 

I'm happy to be sharing a sweet and soft applique sheep pattern.

Here's my sweet inspiration for the outfit.

She has quite a few of the animals figured out.

It may be her love of all furry creatures.

She's going to love this outfit I whipped up in about an hour

with HeatnBond Soft Stretch Ultra Fusible Web Adhesive.

It's a NO SEW project with soft fleece and a purchased tee and pants.

The complete tutorial and free pattern can be found on the Thermoweb blog today.

Click HERE for the post.

I really wanted to make a black sheep because she loves the song,

but then the Grammie in me just couldn't have her feeling like the

black sheep of the family... lol

Blend Fabrics Spring Quilt Market - Pillow and Round Zipper Boxes

When Blend Fabrics asked if I would make items for their booth for Spring Quilt Market,  I couldn’t have been more thrilled to help.  

Now I am able to share the tutorials to make the Garden Pillow and Overnight Jewelry Boxes.

Anna Griffin has the pretties designs for Blend fabrics and if you have a garden at your home, her newest fabrics, Lila, are perfect for you

I was so happy to get to go to Quilt Market this year and see my items in the Blend Booth.

This pillow is a quilt as you go project with HeatNBond fusible fleece, therefore it has so much soft texture you’ll love lounging with it.

You can find the full tutorial to make this pillow over at Thermoweb.

Blend had originally asked me to make a few of the Round Boxes for market.

These are always perfect for pretty fabrics like the ones Anna Griffin designs.

These were made with a previous tutorial I did for Thermoweb.

Click HERE for that one.

I just didn't add the ruffle and I made a couple of different sizes.

It's so much more fun to create items for Quilt Market when you know you'll be able to go and see the projects in the booth.  I really hope this happens again.  

Crossing my fingers...

Make It Modern with Hobbs - Trig Play

The May challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors is

Make it Modern with Hobbs.

Today is my day to show

Trig Play
with a new, to me, batting technique.

As Island Batik Ambassadors,

this month is our second industry partner spotlight challenge
and

we are to use any of the Hobbs Battings provided to create a Modern Quilt.

The biggest challenge this month for me was deciding which of the modern characteristics my quilt might include.

A modern quilt as defined by the Modern Quilt Guild (the use of bold colors and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, Minimalism, expansive negative space, alternate grid work)

I chose an Island Batik Basic, Butternut, and the black and white fabrics from the ambassador fabrics that were provided.

I was going for minimalism with expansive negative space and designed a large triangle pattern.

Once the quilt top was finished, it was time to choose which Hobbs batting to use and black seemed to be the obvious choice.

But, I was concerned about the large white triangles looking grey with the black batting.
As luck would have it, I was able to visit with Steph in the Hobbs Batting booth during quilt market and fellow Island Batik ambassador, Jennifer - The Inquiring Quilter. was there too.

Steph suggested putting white Hobbs Thermore batting behind the white triangles to keep the white fabric from greying out with the black batting.

In order to do this, I simply cut triangles from the batting with the same pattern that the fabric triangles were cut from. As I quilted on my long arm, I placed the white batting pieces under the white fabric triangles and right on top of the black batting.

Next, I just placed the quilt top over the layers of batting and quilted as normal. The white batting stayed in place with no problem and I just love how the white stayed white and the quilting has so much texture.

I quilted with more triangles
and
for the quilting in the butternut triangles, I added a little sunshine and circles for a bit of quilting contrast.
The color of the butternut batik makes me think of Tuscany and the sun quilting seemed to fit.

The binding is black with 4 random stripes of the butternut to mark my 4th Island Batik Ambassador challenge and I thought it added a little modern touch to the binding.
Trig Play finished at 42" x 50".

You can find the full list of Island Batik ambassadors posting for the 

Make It Modern with Hobbs Challenge

by clicking HERE.

It was so fun to play with a new batting technique and I will definitely do it again!
Thanks, Hobbs!

Sugar and Joe - Food For Thought Sew Along

When dessert is served,

I like a nice cup of joe to go with it.

Today, I’m happy to be back over on the 

Thermoweb blog

 to share my 

Sugar and Joe Table Runner

created with the Thermoweb Food For Thought Sew Along Quilt Blocks

This runner will be perfect for a dessert table.

Combining patchwork with applique is one of my favorite ways to make quilts. 

So when it came time to put the designer blocks together, 

I designed a coffee cup quilt block to add to the patchwork border.

All of the block patterns and the free pattern for this quilted table runner

 can be found on the Thermoweb blog.

I used Hash Dot by Michael Miller fabrics

and Kona Cotton White.

Teaming up with other Thermoweb designers for the 

Food For Thought Sew Along

 has been so much fun! 

As a member of the designer group,

I shared this quilt block:

Strawberry Cake Quilt Block

 I used HeatNBond EZ Print Lite to print the patterns right on the fusible adhesive to create all of the quilt blocks. 

 Just print, fuse, cut, bond, and stitch.  It's that easy.

Click HERE to find my free pattern in a special blog post over at Thermoweb.

Enjoy a little Sugar and Joe today!!