Monday, July 31, 2017

Island Batik Ambassadors Box 2!

I absolutely love being an Island Batik Ambassadors.  I adore their fabrics and enjoy creating something new for them each month.  On Saturday I got my second box of fabrics for the year and they are stunning as usual.  Check it out!

Five inch strip rolls.  So very useful.


A new collection coming in the fall!


Some current fabrics


Another new fall collection.


A neutral piece.  Dots!  Should be fun.


Some yellow rayon.  Hmmm....a tunic for someone!  If I can figure out how to sew it.  A new challenge clearly.


And a last new fall collection.  So yummy.


I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Island Batik Ambassador's July Challenge - Oh Baby!

This month's Island Batik Ambassadors challenge was to make a baby quilt.  I received a wonderful bundle of the Batiks Go Retro Collection by Tamarinis.  I knew right away that the graphic nature of these prints would work fabulously for a Passacaglia quilt.  This is one block of a larger pattern from Millefiori Quilts by Willyne Hammerstein.  My mother made one and I wanted to try it (though I did my English Paper Piecing by Machine rather than by hand.  I ordered pieces double the usual size from paperpieces.com and had a blast using the collecting to make a baby quilt!



 I started with the center star using these great orange shapes.


Then I added some blue pieces for a lot of contrast.


Next I made ten stars.  I fussy cut the purple so they would each have a starburst in the middle.  Because after all, half the fun of paper piecing is fussy cutting fabric!


Then I added diamonds to the stars and formed them into a ring.



Then I assembled the pieces and added the dark blue border.  So much fun!


Then I started quilting it and having fun.  Here's a few final shots of hte quilting.


 I tried using some echoed curls like Angela Walters does, it's not as fluid as hers, but it was fun.


As usual, working with Island Batiks was a blast!



I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Friday, July 28, 2017

My First Experiment with Rulers

I started this piece about a year ago, but just got around to quilting it.  I decided to do some divide and then design because it only has the flowers you see below.  I started with the spikes you can see.


The marking was done with a white Clover Iron Off Pen.  It works great even on light fabrics if you go over the line more than once.


This piece was also the first time I used rulers.  It was quite the adventure.


More outlining complete. 


Here I used a ruler to make these lines.  They aren't evenly spaced, but are pretty good and they are straight for the most part. 


Next I tried marking the lines first so I had something to follow.


It turned out well and was helpful.


Straight lines all done.  I love the effect that they give!


More on this quilt next week.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Clam Flower #10 - Part 1

How did I already get to ten of these lovely flowers?!  Wow.  Here is number ten.  If you look at the orange striped batik in this block you can see that I stitched across between the petals.  I knew that a darker piece was going to cover that so I did it to make it easier on myself.


The back of layer 1


The front of layer one.  I love the shape of these leaves! 


I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Monday, July 24, 2017

Flower Inspiration

Here are a few of my recent inspiration pictures.

I love wild iris.  So pretty!


This spray of butterflies was in a bathroom.  I love how the flow across the wall.


A Brown-Eyed Susan getting ready to pen.  I love how the leaves seem fuzzy.  It would be hard to get across in a quilt though.


This dead tree has great branches.


I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Clam Flower #9 - Part 2

Here's a close-up of Clam Flower #9 with some added detail.  You can see I chose a shorter stitch length for the orange than I did for the yellow to let it recede some.


Layer 3 



A closeup of where the seam overlaps on the two greens.



The back of layer 3



The back of layer 4



Layer 4.  



And I forgot to take a picture with the final dot on the top.  Oops.  You'll have to wait until the whole quilt is done to see it!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Friday, July 21, 2017

Free Motion Friday - Changing up the Inside

On this little quilt, I used the same motif, a teardrop surrounded by a three bump feather and then outlined.  What I changed however, was what I put inside the teardrop.  I challenged myself to change up the inside every few motifs and came up with all sorts of interesting things some of which I like better than others.  Take a look.  You'll find all sorts of things including curlicues and curls and bumps and triangles and....












It was so much fun to play!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy