Back to School Blog Hop

It's that time year again when the weather starts to turn cooler, and the leaves start to fall. The stores are full of Back to school specials and sales.  This only means it is back to school time for the kids.  Many schools and colleges have already started, but many will start after Labor Day, like the county I live in here in Maryland.  

Many of us have many memories of the first day of school.  I have memories of my first day of 1st grade at Frederick Post Elementary in Post Falls, Idaho.  I don't remember a lot from my first day of school, such as my clothes, and my teacher, The memories I do have are memories of my mom taking me to my classroom and getting me settled at my desk for the first time on that special day.  I also remember the brand new Holly Hobbie Lunch Box.  Other memories were when I switched elementary schools,  I only had to walk across the street to school.  It was ideal for those days when it was raining, or on those cold, snowy days,  I just waited until the last the recess bell was going ring, so I did not have to be out in the cold so long as the bused kids. I have memories of some great teachers and classmates that would be there until we graduated High School. It's crazy if you sit back now and think about your back to school memories come in mind.  I could list much more memories, but it would make a long blog post.  

What is your favorite Back to School memory?

Island Batik  2017 Spring/Summer Collection 

The Back to School Blog Hop starts today through September 29th.  Each day the Island Batik Ambassadors will be sharing favorite memories of going back to school, we will also be sharing Island Batik's newest fabrics, that will be showing up on at your favorite quilt shop now.  If you haven't seen the 2017 Spring/Summer Catalog, please check it out Here.

Today starts with Carol Steely from FunThreads Designs and me.  We will be sharing fabrics from the Beaujolais Collection.  This beautiful collection is beautiful combinations of lovely fall colors. If your favorite local shop does carry any of these beautiful fabrics, request them to carry them for you and your quilty friends.

As always the Island Batik Ambassadors, are making great projects from the fabrics.  Last month, I started using this collection with my Quilt As You Go Projects. 

This month, I made a beautiful wall hanging, out of more of the fabrics.  This project used ten of the different fabrics in the collection that we received.  The quilt primarily was made from one block, with two different color patterns.

  
It is amazing how changing the colors of one block can just change the whole aspect of a quilt.  The finished size of my quilt was 44" x 44" nice size for a little wall hanging.  

Blog Hop Schedule

WEEK 1

Monday, September 4 – Beaujolais
Quilting Affection Designs • FunThreads Designs

Tuesday, September 5 – Country Dozen
Cheryl Lynch Quilts • Inspired Layers

Wednesday, September 6 – Bonsai
Little Bunny Quilts

Thursday, September 7 – Sakura
Masterpiece Quilting

Friday, September 8 – Empress Garden
Dessert Bloom Quilting • Slice of Pi Quilts

WEEK 2

Monday, September 11 – Fresh Pick’ins
KISSed Quilts

Tuesday, September 12 – Lotus Blooms
Kathys Kwilts and More

Wednesday, September 13 – Olivera
Joan Kawano • Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

Thursday, September 14 – Rise & Shine
Den Syende Himmel • Sally’s Quilting Corner

Friday, September 15 – Diner Days
Ark Angel Creations • Karen Overton

WEEK 3

Monday, September 18 – Seas the Day
KISSed Quilts • Whispers of Yore

Tuesday, September 19 – Vineyard
The Inquiring Quilter • Inchworm Fabrics

Wednesday, September 20 – Abalone
PamelaQuilts • Yellow Cat Quilts

Thursday, September 21 – Batiks Go Retro
Adventures in Applique and Quilting

Friday, September 22 – Captain’s Anchor
Purrfect Spots Designs • Beaquilter

WEEK 4

Monday, September 25 – Cherry Berry
Freemotion by the River • Mary Mack Made Mine

Tuesday, September 26 – Lobster Bake
Seams to be Sew

Wednesday, September 27 – Solstice
Bejeweled Quilts • heARTs Creations

Thursday, September 28 – Sour Apple
Seams Like a Dream • Kauffman Designs

Friday, September 29 – Zen
Lizard Creek Quilting • Quilt’n Party

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I have 2 giveaways for you! 

Island Batiks Giveaway

Island Batiks is giving away 3 gorgeous fat quarter bundles.  Three different lucky winners will be randomly selected to win one these great bundles:

Captain's Anchor, Batiks Go Retro, and Abalone Collections

To Enter click on the link below. There are many ways to enter!

ISLAND BATIK GIVEAWAY

Quilting Affection Designs Giveaway

I will be giving away Two - 5" "Beaujolais" Fabric Bundle two lucky winners. Each bundle contains 4 - 5" strips of various fabrics from the "Beaulojais" Collection. 

Enter Rafflecopter below for a chance to win.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Quilting Affection Designs Guidelines and Rules for this give away.

• No purchase necessary. Open to residents of the USA only.
• While we hope you will leave a comment on the post of the day because we love comments, we want no reply bloggers to have a chance at winning also. Rafflecopter will collect your name, country, and email. 
• One - 5  inch “Beaujolais” Fabric Bundle will be given away to two lucky winners.
• The Winners picked at random via Rafflecopter at the end of the day on September 29th. Winner will be drawing be on September 30^th receive notification via email. 
• Winner will have approximately five days to claim their gift, if five days pass, the gift will be offered to another eligible entrant. Winner must provide name, address, city, state. 
• Only US Address, please
• Winner will be announced on this blog and in the Rafflecopter window here on this page. Winner agrees to allow their name, city, state to be publicized.
• Odds of Winning a prize are based on a total number of Rafflecopter entries.
• You are responsible for claiming and paying any tax owed on the value of any gift that you win where applicable. Some restrictions on gifts will apply based on shipping policies. This sweepstakes is void where prohibited by law. 

See you at the Winners Announcement on September 30th.

Tina

Island Batik Ambassador Quilt As You Go Challenge

This month the Island Batik Ambassadors were given the challenge to make a Quilt As You Go project.  This has was a great challenge for all of us, know it was for me since I had not done this before.  Some of the Ambassadors even did their projects on the longarms but chose my domestic Janome 7700 machine for this project.

Bloc_Loc® Kaleidoscope Heaven

Well, I must say this was my first time with making a project this way.  So I had to do some research. So, I started doing a little research and found a great tutorial by Sherri Noel, check it out Here. So, after doing some reading, I began working on my blocks for my project.

The Blocks and Fabric

The blocks I chose for my project came from some new Bloc_Loc® Rulers and book called "Kaleidoscope Heaven."  In the book, it gives you lots of different ways to use the new Kaleidoscope ruler and templates, the design I came up with was on page 18.

Island Batik "Beaujolais" Collection

The Island Batik Fabric I used for the project comes from one of the newest fabrics collections, called “Beaujolais.”  Now, I just used a handful of the colors in this collection.  I will be highlighting more of the fabric in next month’s Back to School Blog Hop.  

 

The Kaleidoscope blocks are fair easy to make. Basically, you are cutting your “A,” and “B” templates from strips either from one fabric strip or from multi colors strip sets to get the different effects in the block.

Step 1- Trimming the units.

After all the cutting is complete, you start by sewing the template "A" and "B" pieces together.  Once they were sewn together, you use the Kaleidoscope grooved ruler to trim the units down.  Then you sew all the units together to make a 6" block.

I made a second block in a different color variation for my little quilt. Now the fun begins!!!!

Preparing Quilt Block Sandwiches

My unfinished blocks measured 6 1/2", so I needed a 7" batting square and 7 1/2" backing pieces.  

For the batting, I keep all my scraps from my quilting for varies projects that may come up. The batting I used was some leftover Black Quilters Dream Poly.  Next, the backing came from two different fabrics.

The sandwich starts with laying the backing down right side facing down, then adding the batting in the middle and finally adding top with right side facing up, basting the sandwich with basting spray. The basting spray is there to help hold the pieces in place as I quilted the blocks.  

Quilting and Squaring

Once I had made all my quilt sandwiches were basted it was time to start quilting all my blocks were in place, using my sewing machines walking foot.  It takes some time to do all the quilting, but it will be worth it in the end. 

After I completed all the quilting I trimmed the blocks to 6 1/2". 

Joining Quilt Blocks

Once all the quilting and squaring is completed the next step is the joining the blocks.  I cut out (2) 1" x 6 1/2" strips for each block.   

I placed one of the 1" strip on the bottom the block (right side facing down), then put a second 1” strip on top of the quilt block (right side facing up) aligning up the edges. Pinning if necessary.  Once everything aligned up, you sew using a 1/4" seam allowance. Continuing with all the blocks, except the ones at the end of each row.  Pressing all the strips on top of the block only to the right.

Sew all the blocks together, by layering two blocks together with tops of the blocks facing together, ensuring to align the pressed strips to the right edge of the bottom block.  Once the block is sewn together, flip the blocks open and notice batting pieces will lay next to each other nice and flat. Repeat these step to complete your row. 

After the rows are made it's time to secure the back strip down.  Start by preparing the backing strips by giving them a nicely pressed 1/4" crease on the open edge, then fold the strips over one more time and hand stitch all the back pieces down, just like you would bind a quilt.  

Once all the backings in the rows are completed, It's time to stitch all the rows together, following the steps the same steps used in joining the blocks together.  Cut (2) strips would be 1" x width of the row.  Sew all the rows together by using the front strips and, followed by hand stitching the backs together, to complete the project.

My Quilt As You Go Project is now complete.

I found that Quilt As You Go was a fun and fast project.  I defiantly would do this again.

Be sure to check out the Quilt As You Go the other Island Batik Ambassadors are doing this month. The list of Ambassadors are at the bottom.

Also come back next month for the Island Batik Ambassador's Back to School Blog Hop starting September 4^th.  It will be so much fun!!

  

Nan from Purrfect Spots Designs

Turid from Den Syende Himmel

Stephanie from Quilt’n Party

Pamela from Pamela Quilts

Anna from Ark Angel Creations

Kathy from Kathy’s Kwilts and More

Jessica from Desert Bloom Quilting

Connie from Freemotion by the River

Kate from Seams Like a Dream

Sharon from Yellow Cat Quilt Designs

Tina from Quilting Affection Designs

Jennifer from The Inquiring Quilter

Barb from Bejeweled Quilts

Sally from Sally’s Quilting Corner

Jeanette from Inch Worm Fabrics

Connie from Kauffman Designs

Joan from Moosestash Quilting

Bernadine from Needle and Foot

Bea from Beaquilter

Cheryl from Cheryl Lynch Quilts

Maryellen from Mary Mack’s Blog

Joyce from Hearts Creations

Marlene from Kissed Quilts

Karen from The Quilt Rambler

Marian from Seam to be Sew

Laura from Slice of Pi Quilts

Linda from Inspired Layers

Vicki from Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

Nancy from Masterpiece Quilting

Carol from FunThreads Designs

Terri from Meanderings Along Lizard Creek

Alison from Little Bunny Quilts

Suzy from Adventurous Applique and Quilting

Jean-Sophie from Sophie Junction

Janet from Whispers of Yore

 Tina

Oh Baby! Island Batik Challenge

Oh, Baby was the theme for the Island Batik Ambassadors for July.  The challenge for the month was to make a baby or crib size (roughly 30” x 40” – 36” x 52”).

I had been going through what I had left in my box I found a cute charm pack called "Sweet Nectar," which I had been eyeing for the last couple months projects.  Working with Charm packs can be challenging and fun at the same time, so I was wondering what I can do with this project. 

So I went to my good drawing board called Electric Quilt 7 and started drawing a nice simple block.  Once I had the block figured out, I wondered what size can I make the block to assure that I had enough fabric. I decided on an 8-inch block.  And this is the final design I came up with.

The block is quite simple and consists of 2- 4 1/2" square blocks and 2- 2 1/2" blocks cut from the charm pack. Then add a little neutral color in 2-21/2" square and 2- 4 1/2" x 2 1/2" rectangles all sewn together in a 8 1/2" inch unfinished block.  

I need a little more fabric, so I did a quick order from Hancocks of Paducah, for a couple yards for the borders.  The final quilt measured 34" x 42", just a perfect size for a baby or crib quilt.  

Next months quilt will be a challenging we are to make a quilt as you go quilt. So make sure you check back soon.  

Make sure you check out the other Island Batik Ambassadors Projects for this month:

Nan from Purrfect Spots Designs

Turid from Den Syende Himmel

Stephanie from Quilt’n Party

Pamela from Pamela Quilts

Anna from Ark Angel Creations

Kathy from Kathy’s Kwilts and More

Jessica from Desert Bloom Quilting

Connie from Freemotion by the River

Kate from Seams Like a Dream

Sharon from Yellow Cat Quilt Designs

Tina from Quilting Affection Designs

Jennifer from The Inquiring Quilter

Barb from Bejeweled Quilts

Sally from Sally’s Quilting Corner

Jeanette from Inch Worm Fabrics

Connie from Kauffman Designs

Joan from Moosestash Quilting

Bernadine from Needle and Foot

Bea from Beaquilter

Cheryl from Cheryl Lynch Quilts

Maryellen from Mary Mack’s Blog

Joyce from Hearts Creations

Marlene from Kissed Quilts

Karen from The Quilt Rambler

Marian from Seam to be Sew

Laura from Slice of Pi Quilts

Linda from Inspired Layers

Vicki from Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

Nancy from Masterpiece Quilting

Carol from FunThreads Designs

Terri from Meanderings Along Lizard Creek

Alison from Little Bunny Quilts

Suzy from Adventurous Applique and Quilting

Jean-Sophie from Sophie Junction

Janet from Whispers of Yore

See you next month for another great challenge.

#ohbabyquilts #islandbatik

Island Batik Ambassador Curvalicious Quilts.

June is the month of Curves for the Island Batik Ambassadors.  The goal for everyone was to make a Curve Piecing project of any size.  

Curves wow, there are lots of ways to make curves.  I have three different rulers that can make Curves and probably a few more if I looked around my sewing room.  I have the Leaves Galore rulers by Sue Pelland, Bloc_Loc® Drunkards Path rulers, and Quick Curve Ruler by Sew Kind of Wonderful. 

I decided I wanted to play with something new, so I chose the Sew Kind of Wonderful Quick Curve Ruler.  Then I went to the Sew Wonderful website and watched a couple videos on how to use and sew the curves, which are great videos. Then I started playing with EQ7 and came up with an idea.

My project uses the remainder of the Pressed Petals strips used in the Modern Challenge the month before.  I also used the accent colors that came with the strip collection. So I went with a modified melon shape, by cutting the melon in half and adding another strip set in the middle. The quilt measured 35” x 30” when finished. 

Well here is the ending result of my first attempted using the Quick Curve Ruler. 

I found the ruler easy to use and the sewing was not difficult because there was no pinning or extra clipping needed.  Just make sure you go slow at first. 

Have you used the Quick Curve Ruler by Sew Kind of Wonderful? What is your favorite curve ruler?  I would like to hear.

Also, make sure you check out the other Island Batik Ambassadors Projects:

Nan from Purrfect Spots Designs

Turid from Den Syende Himmel

Stephanie from Quilt’n Party

Pamela from Pamela Quilts

Anna from Ark Angel Creations

Kathy from Kathy’s Kwilts and More

Jessica from Desert Bloom Quilting

Connie from Freemotion by the River

Kate from Seams Like a Dream

Sharon from Yellow Cat Quilt Designs

Tina from Quilting Affection Designs

Jennifer from The Inquiring Quilter

Barb from Bejeweled Quilts

Sally from Sally’s Quilting Corner

Jeanette from Inch Worm Fabrics

Connie from Kauffman Designs

Joan from Moosestash Quilting

Bernadine from Needle and Foot

Bea from Beaquilter

Cheryl from Cheryl Lynch Quilts

Maryellen from Mary Mack’s Blog

Joyce from Hearts Creations

Marlene from Kissed Quilts

Karen from The Quilt Rambler

Marian from Seam to be Sew

Laura from Slice of Pi Quilts

Linda from Inspired Layers

Vicki from Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

Nancy from Masterpiece Quilting

Carol from FunThreads Designs

Terri from Meanderings Along Lizard Creek

Alison from Little Bunny Quilts

Suzy from Adventurous Applique and Quilting

Jean-Sophie from Sophie Junction

Janet from Whispers of Yore

See you next month for another great challenge.

Brick Breaker Now Available!

My May Modern Island Batik Challenge project "Brick Breaker" is Now Available for download.

  

This simple weekend project is made from 9" blocks made out of the strip sets. The pattern above was made from Island Batik " Pressed Petals" Strip Packages and a neutral background fabric.

Get your pattern HERE!