2/13/2017

10 Days of Quilting

Since I last blogged (10 days ago), I have been able to work on quite a few sewing projects--even some that were not quilting related. It really does energize me when I get some sewing completed. And I cherish each day I can sew, as I have hip replacement scheduled for later this spring and I never know how long I can sit comfortably.

Rachel, who is also a member of the Gridster Bee, began making the monthly block for each Queen Bee, and one for herself, too. This way she'll have 12 Gridster bee blocks for her own quilt. I decided that I would do this as well. I completed the pineapple block for myself as well as Sherri, who requested them. Pat Sloan has a tutorial HERE.

 Sherri's is on the left. Mine is on the right. On mine, I tried the leaf patchwork that Elizabeth used for her pineapple HERE. I am not sure which one I like better. 

I will make my own New York Beauty (Susan requested them in January). But it is a block I have not done until now. I found the curved piecing on the machine to be nerve-wracking. But I was please with the 2 I sent Susan. 

I spent about 3 days finishing my niece's T-Shirt quilt using her sorority shirts. I put it together in January. I quilted it on Feb. 2 using the Sweet 16 at the art studio I go to once every so often. This week I put the binding on it. One shirt had a pocket. I printed a photo on fabric of her and her dad at the Dad's Day event. I fused it to a thicker fabric, stitched around the raw edges and tucked it into the pocket. A nice memory. I forgot to take a photo of the finished quilt before I mailed it out. So you here it is trimmed and ready for binding. 



I finished my sister's birthday present. The center panel was 1/4th of a table cover our mother had in the 1950s or 60s. It was one of the things I saved after she passed away (many years ago). I have now made each of my siblings a table topper with one of the pieces. I have mine yet to make.
I was very pleased with the mitered corners. 

I had happy mail one day. I received the rotating Calibre Arts Cutting mat I won from the Sunbonnet Sue and Sam Travel The World BOM at Seams To Be Sew. I have wanted to get a mat from this company because of what I have read about their products. 

The mat does rotate very smoothly and I am pleased that I don't smell an odor in the room like I have when I have purchased mats from the stores. If I put my nose right up to it I smell a little odor, but my sewing area doesn't smell!

On the same day, my order from Missouri Star Quilt Co. arrived. I am going to make a quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild Challenge with Riley Blake fabrics. I tried to find Riley Blake fabric locally, but to no avail. MSQC had the best selection, so I placed the order. 

I saw these Island Batik Stamp packs and couldn't pass them up. So they went on the order, too. 

One final project that I sewed yesterday was Dilby Duck from Funky Friends Factory. I am sewing it for Island Batik Fabrics with some of their new fabrics. I have not sewn any stuffed animal this involved before. It wasn't too hard. I thought 4 hours total wasn't bad for my first time. I stuffed it while watching TV that evening. I don't know if I can show a photo of it yet, but here is the photo from the Funky Friends Factory site. You'll have to believe me, I made him much more colorful!

So that is a summary of the past 10 days. 






2/03/2017

This Quilt Has a Name!


The quilt I made for the Island Batik New Beginnings Blog Hop needed a name. 
In my post HERE, I asked blog visitors to help name the quilt with a giveaway of 
this Sea Canyon Stamp Pack (42 pieces, 5" square).


I thank all who participated and visited during the blog hop.
I was amazed with all the creative names you gave me. 
I listed all the ideas submitted and asked my husband to help choose. 
This would be a good way to involve him, 
since he chose the layout design from those I had made in EQ7.

His favorite name was 
DANCING DNA
which was submitted by 
RACHELL.

I have sent Rachell an email and look forward to mailing her the Stamp pack. 

Are you sewing this weekend? 
I'm off to sew a table topper for my sister's birthday present.


2/02/2017

Four-in-Art Reveal

I belong to a quilt group called Four-in-Art. Every 3 months we reveal individual quilt projects we have designed based on our yearly theme and a quarterly sub-theme. This year our theme is Light. This quarter's sub-theme was Shimmer. 

I had some silver lame in my sewing room that I wanted to use. I backed it with fusible woven interfacing for stability. I wanted to use batiks in blues and teals for a watery effect. I had two tries that didn't please me. My final try was what I had envisioned. So here is my 12 inch square quilt:

Shimmering Ponds

The 4 blocks were paper pieced. I randomly placed the lame in the pineapple block.
The day I photographed this, the sun was shining and the snow was fresh and white. 
I was pleased with the shimmering effect in the photo. 

I appreciate you visiting and welcome comments. 
I am a day late in posting, but if you have not seen the other members' quilts, 
here are links to their posts.

Betty        Sun Shimmer, Filtered
Camilla         http://faffling.blogspot.co.nz/
Catherine         http://www.knottedcotton.com
Janine         http://www.rainbowhare.com
All of our blocks are on our blog, Four-in-Art.
______________________________________________________
Island Batik New Beginnings Blog Hop, if you haven't seen these quilts HERE.

2/01/2017

Island Batik New Beginnings Blog Hop

Welcome to my post for the Island Batik Blog Hop. 

This is the last day of the blog hop.
Island Batik has a giveaway through Rafflecopter HERE.
You will also find links to all the Island Batik Ambassadors' 
blog hop posts there, as well. 
I have a giveaway, too!

Details on entering for a chance to win my giveaway 
are at the end of my post.

We Island Batik Ambassadors were charged with interpreting the theme "New Beginnings" by creating a project larger than 24" x 24" using the fresh, new Fall/Winter 2016 fabrics introduced at Quilt Market in November. We had to use at least 8 of the fabrics from the fabric collections we received. I had some of the Merry and Bright collection to use. 

I bought this black Island Batik Blender (BE23-E1) from a local quilt shop, 
to use as my background.

This is the quilt I designed. 
It looks different depending upon how it is viewed. 

I thank my husband and future son-in-law 
for holding the quilt and apologize for a wonky photo.


I used EQ7 to design this quilt. 
Scanning the fabrics and adding them to the fabric palette 
allowed me to determine which quilt layout was the choice I wanted.




I used half yard cuts of the 8 fabrics and 3 yards of the black. 
The Merry and Bright fabrics were cut into 2.5 inch strips. 
The blocks finish at 9" x 18" long when sewn into the quilt. 

I have to thank Michelle Fialek, my longarm quilter for quilting this for me. 
I was under the gun to get it finished for today and she came through. 
She used a lovely variegated black and gray thread with the swirls. 
(The photo is a larger file, if you want to click on it and see a close up.)

Now, for my giveaway. 
I haven't given a name to the quilt I designed. 
Leave a comment with a name for this quilt. 
I will choose a suggestion on Friday, Feb. 3. 
Please leave a way for me to contact you if you are a no-reply commenter. 

The chosen name will be sent this Stamp Pack of 5" squares from

For a giveaway chance for a random selection of 
fat 1/8ths from my Island Batik fabrics,
leave a comment on my Facebook page HERE

(I am sorry I can only ship to United States addresses due to postage costs.)
But if you are outside of the United States, I will email you a some of my PDF patterns.

If you would like an idea of what can be made with 
a Stamp Pack of Island Batik fabrics, 
see what I did HERE or HERE.

Thank you for visiting and I look forward to choosing a name for the quilt. 
Tomorrow I will post the reveal of my 
Four-in_Art group quilt. I hope you return.