"WHISPERING FEATHERS"

This quilt pattern made it into the Island Batik Fall/Winter Catalog 2019

                                                              Free Space

The fabric line is "Whispering Feathers"

I just love these fabrics but I have yet to not like any of Island Batik Fabrics.

 

I used Hobbs batting (I just purchased a whole roll of Hobbs Batting)...love it!

I used Aurifil Threads  #2315 (light tan) and #2568 (burgundy for blanket stitching)

Notice all of the circles?  At one time I could have told you how many I used but I am too lazy to calculate or go and look it up (that is right lazy).  As you can see there are a lot.

I used the Accuquilt Go Cutter Circle Die #55012.  Sure made fast work of the circles.

I opted not to use any fabric adhesive.  For one, it would take a lot, and then you would need to cut and iron....so this gal is LAZY!!  Also, it would make the quilt stiff in places.

I used elmer's glue and a lot of starch, only putting the circles on when I wanted to sew them on.  Normally if you use fabric adhesive you will iron all of the pieces on and then applique.  I just did one at a time.....I glued the circles, ironed them and then glued them on, as I said one at a time.  Worked out great.

This was a lot of fun but for me stressful because I wanted it to turn out perfect.  Each year I say I am not going to do another pattern for the catalog because I get so stressed but this is my fourth pattern in one of Island Batik Catalogs.  Will I say never....NOPE

CHILD'S PLAY - BEAR'S PAW

The Island Batik Challenge for this month is Child's play using the BOB (block on a board) Accuquilt Go die.  It does not get any easier than this or any more fun!

I was given the Bear's Paw die.

Here are a few things you can do with this die.

Beaquilter received the same die, if you are interested in seeing what she has done for this months challenge, go here.

I used Hobbs Batting

Aurifil Threads #2605 (grey) for sewing and #2130 (light yellow) for quilting.

I made the center block by using the ten minute block method.

I had originally planned a different border but didn't like how it looked so I opted for this border.  They are sewn together like you would sew your binding pieces together (on the diagonal).

The brighter the fabric the better.  That is my Motto!

51" x 61"

I used Island Batik Foundation Bundle Coordinates - basics and blenders from the recent box they sent to us.  Island Batik White (can't go wrong with white).

The whole time I was making this quilt I kept thinking of crayons. I always loved the beginning of the school year when we had a brand new box of crayons.  I also love smelling them....just like glue, and fabric....ha ha....  yep...I am a crayon,glue, fabric sniffer and proud of it!

BLACK BATTING (HOBBS BATTING)

I have to confess that I had not ever heard of Black Batting before until I received some in my Island Batik Box in January.

I was kinda leary about it.

I used the black batting in this quilt above (my phone takes better picture than my camera, this is a camera shot).

I have had several questions and concerns from others about using black batting.

So....

Several years ago I was teaching the girls at church (ages 8 to 12) how to embroidery.

So far only two have completed theirs, two sisters.

The oldest sister made a pillow out of hers and entered it in the State Fair and won a blue ribbon.

That being said, she came over to my home to make a pillow.  You should have seen the back of her embroidery....  Oh my gosh.  I am not telling you this to shame the girl.  I was so proud of her for completing the project and being a first timer...well...who expects perfection?

We spent a good hour trimming her back.  I attached the heat n bond to the back to keep the stray threads in place so they would not come through.  It is not easy to explain but we got the tangles down to a minimum.

FAST forward to last week.

Her sister comes in and she wants to make a wall hanging.

 

Trust me, this back looks great compared to the oldest sister.  This is actually not bad.

But.... while I was thinking on this.  I remembered I had some remnants of Hobbs Black batting.

Here is the front.  You can not see a single thread shinning through.

So you see, the black batting hides any colorful lose threads that might be hanging out in your quilt.  Or hides the shadow from the seams that might occur.

It truly is awesome batting and I am so glad I was able to try it out.

My October project is using Hobbs black batting as well.

Have a fantastic day!

REMAKE, FINISHES, AND HAPPINESS

You probably thought a remake was either a quilt or a piece of furniture, not so, it is a tray.

I purchased this tray about ten years ago, and have truly loved it, if you can love an object so.

Well...apparently, my grandson loved it to because when  he was able to stand he started picking at the bottom as you see here.

I was telling my husband that I would probably have to throw it out and he suggested that I do something with the bottom.

Ok....challenge accepted.

I kept my eye out for a large piece of cardboard (actually two large pieces) which I came into possession of last week.  Then today as I was looking for a quilt top, (which I found four that need to be quilted...sigh)...I came across two table runners that were never finished.

There you have it.

I cut out the cardboard,

Cut out some batting,

glued the batting to the cardboard, then I glued the runner to the cardboard and then the second cardboard I glued over the backing to cover the raw edges (not that anyone would see it).

Now I have my tray back.  I took it to my grandson and told him to not ever bother it.  My husband said, good luck with that.

He usually doesn't bother anything, not even the glassware I have around the house but he loved this.

I have been lax in showing what I have been up to.

Here is a star quilt using 10" Island Batik Stacks, this line is "All a Flutter."  I just love this fabric.  There is enough left over from the stack to do another one.

You have seen this quilt several times on my blog.

You can find the tutorial at Diary of a quilter

If you were wondering what I was doing with all of those star block...no need to wonder any longer.

This quilt is 80" x 92", this is the one I quilted on my domestic machine since I can not get to my long arm.

Here it is on a queen size bed....you can't even see the border.

It really wasn't that hard to quilt.  I just started on one side, meandering to the middle (the middle was the hardest part).  Keep in mind that when you are doing a project this size you have to fluff and fluff....you don't want a drag or you get sad little lines which I confess I have some.

Once I got to the middle, I flipped the quilt around to where I was working from the middle out to the other side.

Many many moons ago, I started out quilting on my machine in the middle but I soon found out that that technique did not work for me.  I start as I stated on the side and work my way to the middle and flip and work from the middle out.

To make the stars I used my Accuquilt Go cutter and the Go Qube 8", the 4 1/2" square and the half square triangles.  

Truly this is the fastest and most accurate way to do half squares.  The worst part of doing half squares is the squaring up when you are done sewing them.  With the Accuquilt Go, there is no squaring up which makes it a breeze to make these.

Then in this quilt I used the Aurifil White 50 weight thread as you see above.  Also, you can see that I am almost out.....
Just yesterday I used a different brand of thread and as I was quilting the thread kept breaking, I have to be honest with Aurifil my thread does not break.  Love it!

 Last but not least I made this Quilt from Missouri Star Quilt Co magazine "Block", volume 5 issue 4 of 2018.  I used the rhombus ruler that I also purchased from them.  If you see the post below this, you will see a different version of this.

I am sure most of you know it is so much easier to post on facebook and instagram.  I have been bad about posting all of the things I am doing on my blog.  It is also easier to comment on those social medias.  I have even noticed that people come by but don't comment.  I promise you, if you come by and have a blog, I will come by your blog and comment as well.

Just as a reminder, this Awesome blog hop is going on right now.  Do go by, there are a lot of giveaways and fun ideas.

Monday August 5

Leanne Parsons - The Devoted Quilter

Sherry Shish - Powered by Quilting

Tuesday August 6

Bill Locke - Studio BIll Locke

Lisa Nielsen - Lisa Lisa and the Quilt Jam

Wednesday August 7

Sandra Walker - Mmm! Quilts

Terri Vanden Bosch - Lizard Creek Quilts

Thursday August 8

Pamela Boatright - Pamela Quilts

Kathleen McCormick - Kathleen McMusing

Monday August 12

Karen Neary - Sew Karen-ly Created

Carol Moellers - Carol Moellers Designs

Tuesday August 13

Michelle Roberts - Creative Blonde

Laticia "Tish" Stemple - Tish's Adventures in Wonderland

Wednesday August 14

Anne Wiens - Sweetgrass Creative Designs

Gene Black - Gene Black

Thursday August 15

Tina D Dillard - Quilting Affection Designs

Bea Lee - Bea Quilter

Monday August 19

Joanne Hart - Unicornharts

Carla Henton - Creatin’ in the Sticks

Tuesday August 20

Connie Kauffman - Kauffman Designs

Vasudha Govindan - Storied Quilts

Wednesday August 21

Vicki Schlimmer - Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Mania  Hatziioannidi - Mania for Quilts

Thursday August 22

Gail Sheppard - Quilting Gail

Monday August 26

Maryellen McAuliffe - Mary Mack's Blog 

Jennifer Strauser - Dizzy Quilter

Tuesday August 27

Connie K Campbell - Freemotion by the River

Joan Kawano - Moosestash Quilting

STAR LIGHT STAR BRIGHT!

STARS IS THE CHALLENGE FOR THE ISLAND BATIK AMBASSADORS FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST.

Who doesn't like stars?

So as I was looking for ideas, I came across my little stash of Missouri Star Quilt Company's  

BLOCK magazines

I saw this pattern and loved it.

I ordered this  Rhombus ruler and loved it.

I loved it so much that I made two quilts but the second one will have to wait for it's appearance another time.

I used the Island Batik 5" stash builders, this strip was totally perfect for this ruler.  Unfortunately Island Batik no longer carries these 5" strips.  POOOOOORRR ME!!

Aurifil white 50 weight thread

Hobbs Black batting

I have to say, there was no shadowing of the seams at all or any stray threads that happen to show through after quilting..  I did enjoy using this batting 

Now......this was not my first idea for this months challenge so.....

 tomorrow I will show you that quilt.

This month The Island Batik Ambassadors are having a blog hop with the 

Spring/Summer 2019 Collection.  I don't have that line but....here is the schedule for it.

Monday August 5

Leanne Parsons - The Devoted Quilter

Sherry Shish - Powered by Quilting

Tuesday August 6

Bill Locke - Studio BIll Locke

Lisa Nielsen - Lisa Lisa and the Quilt Jam

Wednesday August 7

Sandra Walker - Mmm! Quilts

Terri Vanden Bosch - Lizard Creek Quilts

Thursday August 8

Pamela Boatright - Pamela Quilts

Kathleen McCormick - Kathleen McMusing

Monday August 12

Karen Neary - Sew Karen-ly Created

Carol Moellers - Carol Moellers Designs

Tuesday August 13

Michelle Roberts - Creative Blonde

Laticia "Tish" Stemple - Tish's Adventures in Wonderland

Wednesday August 14

Anne Wiens - Sweetgrass Creative Designs

Gene Black - Gene Black

Thursday August 15

Tina D Dillard - Quilting Affection Designs

Bea Lee - Bea Quilter

Monday August 19

Joanne Hart - Unicornharts

Carla Henton - Creatin’ in the Sticks

Tuesday August 20

Connie Kauffman - Kauffman Designs

Vasudha Govindan - Storied Quilts

Wednesday August 21

Vicki Schlimmer - Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Mania  Hatziioannidi - Mania for Quilts

Thursday August 22

Gail Sheppard - Quilting Gail

Monday August 26

Maryellen McAuliffe - Mary Mack's Blog 

Jennifer Strauser - Dizzy Quilter

Tuesday August 27

Connie K Campbell - Freemotion by the River

Joan Kawano - Moosestash Quilting

FOX ON ROCKS? FOX ON TREES?

I am happy to tell you that I have only one of the five quilts left to bind.  It is a bugger, will try to finish it today.

Unfortunately, I am only able to show you two of the quilts.

Here is one of them.

         I am not much of a red person but I like how the border just fits right in with all of the foxes.

You do know if you are SHORT, that it stinks to be SHORT????

I had to go and get my step stool and carry it around with me while trying to decide how to takes photos of this quilt.

When I was making the Fancy Forest quilt I said to myself after making the fox block that one day I was going to make a fox quilt.  I am so thrilled with how it turned out. 

I used Island Batik scraps (again)......   You just need 2 1/2" x 18" for the actual fox, the black and white fabric don't take much either.  Trust me when I tell you that I had left over bindings that worked great, left over scraps large enough to cut down to 2 1/2"....

I used Aurifil Grey, White, and Red 50 weight threads.  I do get thread in my box from Island Batik but I also buy a lot from Hancock's of Paducah or on amazon.  I am trying to get a stash up but in the last few weeks I have gone through one spool of grey and have almost used up a spool of off white and I call it a light yellow brown  # 2310...  Oh well...I do know how to order online, much to my husband's dismay.

These last few weeks have been so fun in my sewing room.  It is not often I can just spend a lot of time in there.  I am trying to get all five of these quilts finished before I move on to other projects.  I am dying to do the Ocean by Elizabeth Hartman, I have an idea for my Sept challenge with Island Batik, well...you know...more projects you want to do than have time for.

Hope you all have an amazing week-end.

FANCY FOREST BY ELIZABETH HARTMAN

What is wrong with me?

Two post in two days?

Here is one of the five quilts that needed to have a binding put on.

                             Today I got three of the five quilts all done.  YEA ME!!!

Don't you just love this quilt?  I know I do.  I love Elizabeth Hartman's Patterns.  This one is called Fancy Forest which I purchased on amazon.   I recently purchased her Ocean pattern as well.  I am not good with small pieces but I confess I think I am getting better.

She gives very detailed directions.  At first you look at her patterns and go..OH NO>>> I am not doing that.  But she breaks it down to where it is doable.

I used Flea Market by Island Batik, and Aurifil #2835 thread.

I had planned this to be Septembers Island Batik Challenge but it didn't fit within the rules so...I just finished it anyways.  My daughter in Law saw it and said with much enthusiasm that she wanted me to make her a quilt just like this one.  Well...how could I refuse her this one.  I am going to pet it a while before I give it to her.


Just call me a fabricfile....ha ha...