Violin Collage - Quilt the Music!

  Welcome to Creatin' in the Sticks 

and 

my day - the final day for the Music Blog Hop.

To all that participated or commented -

Thank you so much!

My head is swimming with all kinds of music

and

stitching ideas I can't wait to try.

But first, it's my day to show my

Violin Collage Quilt.

Dedicated to my daughter.

This was a year ago when she was about ready to have our grandson.

She can play about any instrument, but has a passion for her violin.

I love that I can still go to see her play.

I love to make collage quilts.

To start with a drawing and add fabrics to add shadows and highlights with the fabrics.

In the meantime adding little bits for character.

Here is the violin coming to life...

Close for quilting and a little more detail:

I've used this technique a lot!

I have a brief tutorial using a sugar skull HERE if you want to see more collage ideas.

Please check out the bloggers posting with me today:

Thursday, November 17th

Creatin' in the Sticks

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Quilting Gail

Just Because Quilts

Purring Cottage

Scrapdash

You can find the rest of the schedule HERE.

This blog hop is for everyone!

Have fun visiting each blog and making new friends.

They have worked hard to show us some new ideas, so be sure to thank them with 

a sweet comment!

You can check out the

Pinterest Board

to stay up to date, too.

We are making sweet stitching music together!

#MusicBlogHop

Happy melodies to you!

Welcome Fall - I'm Falling For You Blog Hop

  Welcome to the first day of the

I'm Falling For You

Blog Hop!

I'm happy to kick things off with

Welcome Fall

Joan at MooseStash Quilting presented bloggers with the challenge to make something for 

fall or fall-inspired.

Thank you, Joan, for inviting me to join this super fun blog hop!

Welcome Fall is a wall hanging that I designed with raw edge applique for my front door

and

is the perfect addition to my fall decor.

The leaves will be falling soon and I thought it would be fun to incorporate a basket of leaves.

I added dimension with leaves around the binding too.

My favorite product for raw edge applique is from Thermoweb.

It's HeatnBond EZ Print Lite iron-on adhesive so you can skip tracing by just printing the templates right on the paper side of the fabric adhesive.

Get inspired by all the blogs posting for Fall this week:

Monday, September 20

Creatin' in the Sticks -you are here
Samelias Mum
Quilting Gail
Vroomans Quilts
Quilt Schmilt

Tuesday, September 21

Just Let Me Quilt
Just Sew Quilter
Days filled with Joy
Kathy’s Kwilts and More 
The Morning Latte

Wednesday, September 22

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Beaquilter
Inflorescence
Selina Quilts
Sew Many Yarns

 Thursday, September 23

Karrins Crazy World
Words and Stitches
Patchouli Moon Studio
Karen’s Korner
That Fabric Feeling
Scrapdash

 Friday, September 24

QuiltFabrication
Ms P Designs USA
Lianne Makes Stuff
Quilted Delights
MooseStashQuilting

It's so fun to get inspiration from Blog Hops.

I'm sure we will have way too many ideas swimming in our heads by the end of the week.

See you next month when Carol at Just Let Me Quilt hosts the 

Ghastly Ghouls blog hop!

 

Official sign-ups for the November Blog Hop will start soon 

(after the I'm Falling for You hop is over).

Stay tuned for the announcement here at 

Creatin' in the Sticks.

Happy Fall!

Framed - Island Batik Ambassador October Challenge

 The October Challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors is

Thread Painting with Aurifl

and

today I am excited to share

Framed.

As Island Batik Ambassadors,

we received Aurifil 50 weight cotton thread in our second ambassador box

to use in this month's challenge.

My decision on what to use was made easy because the threads I received matched

the fabrics from the Island Batik Spring 2020 collection,

William's Garden, designed by Kathy Engle.

These fabrics should be in your favorite local quilt shop now

and the 50 weight Aurifil threads are (left to right)

#2021, #2545, #2692, #1148, and #2890.

The blocks are Hawaiian applique designs from Electric Quilt 7

that I printed and cut out with HeatnBond EZ Print Lite. (no tracing!)

Next, I framed the blocks with Island Batik Foundations Solid in White

and "painted" thread "frames" with black (#2692) Aurifl thread.

Once the frames were finished, I stitched them together and added a pieced border.

The top was spray basted and pinned with Hobbs Premium Heirloom Wool batting in the middle

and Island Batik Foundation Neutral - Yolk for the backing.

I chose wool batting to show off the stitching of the frames a bit more

and

the quilting went super smooth with a

 Schmetz Microtex Chrome Professional Grade 80/12 needle.

I stitched the frames one more time and free motion quilted all the blocks with my Aurifil threads

on my domestic Janome MC 6600 sewing machine.

This direct sunlight picture really shows the quilting.

Framed is a 24" x 24" wall hanging and takes me back to vacation time

 and visiting quilt shops in Hawaii.

This month's Ambassador challenge was a lot of fun.

I always enjoy creatin' with thread and Aurifil makes it easy with all the colors and weights.

Check out the 

2020 Island Batik AmbassadorsHERE.

3D - Float Your Hills and Valleys

The December Challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors is

3D

and

today I'm excited to share

Float Your Hills and Valleys.

As an Island Batik Ambassador for 2019

every month there is an ambassador challenge.

December's 3D Challenge is all about using

optical illusions,

textures, trapunto, or whatever else makes

a quilt pop into life.

For this month's project, I started with a block pattern

I had designed for the

A Time For All Seasons Block of the Month

called Waving Stripes.

I added another column to make the block
12" x 12" finished.

Next, I picked Island Batik fabrics for the 3D effect.

The dark green (BE31-G1) and dark blue (BE21-D2) are batik foundations in the blender collection and the grey and white fabrics are in the solid batik collection.

The light blue in called Bluebird and is in the Freedom collection by Kathy Engle.  

The light green (111932612) is from the Petal Pushers collection also by Kathy Engle.

I cut the pieces for the blocks with the Accuquilt GO! Half Square Triangle-2" Finished square (55712)  from the Accuquilt Go! Qube Mix and Match 8" Block

This is my favorite way to make half-square triangles
and
the accuracy is amazing.
Then I chain pieced all those half-square triangles with
Aurifil 50 wt thread in white.

I designed the quilt in Electric Quilt with 3 of the Wavy Stripes blocks 

I quilted the background of Float Your Hills and Valleys on my Handiquilter with

 Glide thread in white.  

The blocks were quilted with straight lines following the wavy stripes with 

Aurifil 50 wt variegated #4670

The binding is Island Batik foundation blender fabric (BE21-D2).

I love the way this quilt looks against the white wall in the bedroom 

and 

that is where it will stay.

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

3D Challenge

by clicking HERE.

This is my last post as an Island Batik Ambassador for 2019.

It's been a super fun year and I want to thank 

Island Batik and the industry partners, Aurifil Thread, Accuquilt, and Hobbs Batting,

 for the great products and super fun challenges.

The experience has been priceless!

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!!