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Monday, November 9, 2020

Inspired by Nature Island Batik Blog Hop - A Cloudy Rainbow

 Today is the 1st day of the
Island Batik Ambassador
Inspired by Nature Blog Hop
where all the new fabric collections are being showcased.

What better way to show the gorgeous new Island Batik fabric collections
than with a fun blog hop?

I'm thrilled to share my quilt today,
"A Cloudy Rainbow"


featuring the new summer 2020 Island Batik collection, Bliss by Barbara Persing.


During the next three weeks of the Inspired by Nature Blog Hop,
 the team of twenty-five Ambassadors will be sharing projects made with new Island Batik collections we received in our second Island Batik Ambassador boxes. 



 I was so thrilled to find the Bliss Collection in my box.


The rainbow of colors made my nature inspiration easy.  
Rainbow is my favorite color!

In western Kansas, we don't have mountains, ocean, or a lot of trees, but what we do have are gorgeous sunsets, sunrises, and rainbows. 
 Wide-open skies with lots of colors.


The colors of the Bliss collection were perfect to make a rainbow effect,
so I designed the quilt in Electric Quilt 7 
with a pieced orange peel design.


PIecing in curves can be challenging.  

Here are a couple of tips from my experience:

I made all 80 blocks
by marking the center of each "cloud" with one small bite of a pin.


Next, I pinned the first edge to make sure it fed into the machine straight.  This made it easy to just ease the pieces together.  Each was stitched with the "cloud" down and the color on top so no folds happened.


Once all the blocks were made, I found that pressing the seam allowances with one side away from the "cloud" and one side towards it made the construction of the quilt a lot less bulky.


The clouds and sashing are Island Batik Foundation fabric in solid white.

Each block was stitched with Aurifil 50 wt and a Schmetz Microtex (Sharp) Chrome 70/10 needle.  If you haven't tried these needles, they are perfect for the tight weave of the Island Batik fabrics.


I had so much fun watching this quilt come to life with each row
and
love that it's colorful and bright.
It's a great throw size at about 58" x 72"


I did the quilting edge to edge with my
 Handi Quilter Avante long arm pro-stitcher (pre-loaded pattern - swan song)
using Glide Trilobal Polyester 40 wt white thread.  




The Bliss collection will be in stores this month.
Be sure to ask your local quilt shop for Bliss!


I hope you have a chance to check out all the new fabrics by Island Batik and the beautiful projects made by the Ambassadors.

November 9:

November 10:

November 11:

November 12:

November 13:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway

November 16:

November 17:

November 18:

November 19:

November 20:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway

November 23:

November 24:

November 25:

November 26:

November 27:

End of Blog Hop and Round-Up


Island Batik is giving away Bliss and Just My Type

You can enter here

a Rafflecopter giveaway 



Thanks to Island Batik for these gorgeous fabrics

 and

 to you for visiting!

37 comments:

GranChris said...

I love the quilt. Beautiful colors and patterns.

mumbird3 said...

Beautiful fabrics! Boldsaturated fabrics always inspire me! Lovely quilt! Thank you for sharing!

Connie said...

The rainbow effect was just right for your Island Batik fabrics. Great work!
Connie

Lori said...

wow this is gorgeous. this really shows these fabrics so they shine. thanks for sharing and inspiring. quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

Slovenka said...

Nature inspires me.

Carolyn said...

Love your quilt and all the beautiful fabrics

Cindy Shelley said...

Love your quilt. Thanks for sharing and for all your tips.

Pamela said...

Just beautiful!

Carol Swift said...

I've never sewn curvy blocks, so thanks for the tips! It's a beautiful quilt, Carla!

Susan Stanton said...

Bloggers inspire my creativity! I like what you do and often copy it or change it up just a bit! Keep blogging!
yoyopattycakes at hotmail dot com

Karen said...

Fun pattern.
I'm mainly inspired by nature-- landscapes, plants, animals, etc.

works4me said...

What a beautiful and uplifting quilt.
Dare I say I am inspired by Halloween? It seems I see a pattern lately, and if it doesn't immediately say 'I would make a great Halloween quilt' to me, I pass it by. Otherwise, I honestly don't know what inspires me. Maybe pretty fabrics, or a pattern, or a walk in nature.

For the love of geese said...

Looks great Carla. Those colors are very pretty.

Quilting Gail said...

Beautiful quilt!!!
And the tips on how to sew and press the curves ... perfect!
Yes, the rainbow effect is great!

Michelle in Scotland said...

Absolutely beautiful; very inspiring.

Sue D said...

Beautiful quilt. Other people's projects inspire me.

cghundley said...

Looks beautiful and
love the colors and
the quilting.
Carla from Utah

Danette said...

This is just absolutely gorgeous!

Juls said...

Love the quilt, Carla! I am inspired by sunsets over the Gulf, and our beautiful spring-fed Rainbow River.

Brenda @ Songbird Designs said...

Love the rainbow quilt and the quilting, Carla! Great job!!

Carol Andrews said...

Another beautiful Rainbow Carla! I love the curved piecing (thanks for the tip on pressing opposite directions) and this collection is incredible.

Emily said...

So pretty! Love the rainbow, and your picture of a Kansas sunset. I am not a fab of curved piecing but I can admire it in works by others, and this is beautiful!

Cecilia said...

Very pretty! Thanks for sharing!

JANET said...

I get motivated by surfing the internet, reading newsletters, IG and FB. So much info and eye candy!

tpott said...

Your quilt is beautiful, it looks so complicated. It’s a fantastic use of color.

teachpany said...

Love this! Great job on the design, use of fabrics, and quilting choice.

Μοιρούλα said...

Love your quilt and all the beautiful fabrics

Carol said...

Absolutely gorgeous! I love those colors, and they do remind me of a sunset (or sunrise). We see a lot of lovely ones in rural central IL too. Thanks for sharing your beautiful quilt!

OhioLori said...

OOOOH YOUR QUILT IS GORGEOUS!!! Loooove it!! I am inspired by the Blogs..and my quilty Daughter...she is Awesome..and soooo Creative..and lives a 9 hour drive from me...so we do alot of things together..long distance. We both have several quilts in progress...and a same BOM in different colorways,,to finish up. Thank you for chance to win your Give-a-way too :D

Pamela said...

Lovely quilt and it really showcases the beautiful rainbow of fabric! You did a great job with all that curved piecing, too! That pressing tip will be quite useful if I ever try this project :)

MooseCarol said...

Your color work is inspiring and the pattern is sweet as well. Lovely work!

Jennifer Thomas said...

Wow! I love this so very much! The rainbow and the clouds curvy design makes my heart sing. Have a fabulous day.

Kathleen said...

Another great quilt. I love the rainbow colorway and the beautiful pattern you chose to make...perfection!

Terry Carney said...

Lovely transition of colours!

Turid said...

I love your bright quilt and the pattern. Thanks for showing how you sew the curves.

Beth said...

That is such a beautiful quilt, Carla.

Helen L said...

Gorgeous quilt! I love the gradation of color that gives a rainbow look! Hugs, H