Beat the Heat Blog Hop with Island Batik - Weaving Stems and a Giveaway

Today kicks of Week 3 of the 

Island Batik 

Beat the Heat Blog Hop

where all the new fabric collections are showcased.

What better way to beat the heat than to visit all these fun projects
in gorgeous new Island Batik fabrics

 while sitting in the air-conditioned comfort?

I'm thrilled to share my quilt

Weaving Stems.

I was so excited to receive the fabrics in my first 
Island Batik Ambassador Box.

 Petal Pushers Collection
 by Kathy Engle.

I fell in love with the fabrics at first sight. 
 All that color made me want to use each fabric from the collection.  So I did!

The fabric collection name and fabrics made me think of 

gathering flowers, fruits, and veggies.

That inspired my idea of weaving - like a gathering basket.

I didn't start with a pattern but had a block in mind.

Here are the measurements for the blocks in case you want to try it.


Put together, it's an 8 1/2" block and finishes at 8"

AccuQuilt generously provided the Island Batik Ambassadors with an

Accuquilt - Ready Set Go! Ultimate Fabric Cutting System 

and

that helped me cut the 2 1/2" strips in record time. 

I had 20 different fabrics in the collection so I made 9 rows across and down with 18 of the fabrics and used the other 2 fabrics for the strips on each block.  The light strips across and the dark strips up and down.

A little creative border with Island Batik White Solid and I achieved the basketweave effect.

I had so much fun watching this quilt come to life with each row
and
love that it's big and bright.

I quilted Weaving Stems with flowers in an edge to edge design with 
Hobbs wool batting in the middle.
Found out I really like wool batting for the way the quilting pops.
 Also, this is a big quilt and I had it folded, but the pictures show no folds or creases!
I will definitely be trying wool batting again.

Weaving Stems

stats

Size:  84" x 84" (nice and big) 

Fabric:  Island Batik - Petal Pushers Collection by Kathy Engle

Pattern:  modified Double Stuffed blocks with a custom border

Piecing Thread:  Aurifil 50 wt #2535

Batting:  Hobbs Tuscany Collection 100% wool

Quilting:  Handi Quilter Avante long arm pro-stitcher

with Glide Trilobal Polyester 40 wt white thread 

Thank you for stopping by.

Today, see what Joanne Hart did with her Petal Pushers Fabrics
AND
be sure and check out all the new fabrics and ambassador projects in the blog hop.

The complete schedule can be found by clicking HERE.

Giveaway time!!!!

To kick off week 3 of the
Beat the Heat Blog Hop,
Island Batik is giving away this
precut bundle of  Quiet Shades Batiks.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I have a bunch of Petal Pushers fabrics left from my quilt and I'm giving them away.

The bundle includes a piece of each fabric from the collection.

Each piece is at least 8" x 11"

There are over 20 pieces!

I'm covering the postage so this one is limited to U.S. only.

Entries are open until September 1st to allow everyone to enter.

I'll announce the winner by September 2nd.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I try to reply to every comment, but with giveaways and blog hops I may not get to reply every time.  Please know that I read each and every comment and appreciate all the sweetness.

Two Bottle Wine Tote Tutorial for Thermoweb

What's better than a bottle of wine for a hostess gift during the holidays? 

 Two bottles of wine of course. 

There is a divider inside to keep the bottles separated.

It's perfect when you want to take one red and one white.

Christmas will be here before you know it.

Thermoweb is celebrating Christmas crafting this week with 

some ideas to get you started.

With just a few items, you can make your own 

2 Bottle Wine Tote.

So grab

HeatnBond® Craft Extra Firm Non-Woven Interfacing

HEATnBOND® Fusible Fleece

HeatnBond® Soft Stretch™ LITE 5/8” x ’10’ roll

and

Michael Miller Fabrics – Home for the Holidays Collection

and head over to the Thermoweb Blog

for the full tutorial to make your own 2 bottle wine tote.

Make a bunch for all the holiday parties you'll be attending.

Your hostesses will love them.

A Time For All Seasons Block of the Month - August

Today is the first day of August

and I have the applique quilt block finished

for

A Time For All Seasons

Block of the Month.

Our team of designers has been so busy with this

Block of the Month

 and

love showing new blocks each month.

Amy of Sew Incredibly Crazy is the designer for August.

There are 2 blocks.

Dog Days of Summer

 is the applique block for the month of August.

Isn't he the cutest?

and

Summer Log Cabin is the pieced block for August.

Find Amy's  August pattern information by clicking HERE.

You can find a list of the fabric requirements and more information about the

Block of the Month

by clicking HERE.


I love printing the applique patterns right on the fusible adhesive with

 HeatnBond EZ Print Lite 

(no tracing!)

I'm stitching around my appliques for the most part with

Aurifil 50 wt thread #6730

It's a nice neutral color for all the pieces and the thread is awesome.

Join us for this fun Block of the Month. 

 There are over 3000 friends on the Facebook group and we are having a blast.

Everyone is so encouraging.

Come have some fun with us.

July - An Island Batik Month

I had so much fun this month as an

Island Batik Ambassador.

I wanted to do a recap of the month

because the projects are some of my favorite to date.

The beginning of July brought the

Island Batik was super generous and provided the fabrics

from the new

Freedom fabrics collection designed by Kathy Engle

for my

Carpenter Star quilt.

I've always wanted to participate in the 

Quilts of Valor Foundation

and this was the month I finally did it.

That post can be found by clicking HERE.

One of the biggest challenges for July was a video challenge for Island Batik.

We receive 2 boxes a year and this was box number two.

Mid-July I was super excited to join other

talented Thermoweb designers

 for the

Summer Fun Sew Along.

I combined my Thermoweb designer gig with my Island Batik Ambassador gig

and

had so much fun 

 designing a quilt block inspired by so many childhood memories.

Later I made the Summer Fun Kitchen Towels with the sew along quilt blocks.

The post with all the pattern information is HERE and the towel post is HERE.

I saved my favorite July project for last:

The July Challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors was

Artsy Fartsy.

I went out to our pond and spent time just looking around and taking pictures.

That was my inspiration for

Patience - The Art

The real challenge was to make him look half in and out of the water of the pond.

Check out the fun pictures of my frog process HERE.

He was so fun to create and I didn't want him to get lost in the shuffle of vacations

 and 

crazy busy summer fun.

Bring on August!!

Summer Fun Kitchen Towels

I had a great time joining other

members of the Thermoweb Fabric Design Team

to make a series of 

Summer Fun Quilt Blocks.

All 4 free quilt block patterns are available over at Thermoweb.

Click HERE for the patterns.

Catching Fireflies

is my design.

It's a 6" finished 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.

My fabrics are all Island Batik 
and 
the thread I used to stitch around the appliques is
Aurifil Thread:  50wt #2620.

Today I am over at Thermoweb

to share a tutorial

for

Summer Fun Kitchen Towels.

The smaller quilt blocks make it a cinch for this quick summer project that is perfect for gifts or your own home decor.  

Who can't use a new, super cute kitchen towel?

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

Craft a little summer today!!