Island Batik Ambassadors September Child's Play Challenge

I was so excited when I opened my most recent Island Batik Ambassador box to find the Accuquilt Cleopatra's Fan die inside!  I knew that the challenge was to make a kids quilt using this die.  What to do?  I was scrolling through Facebook or Instagram one day while contemplating this when I saw an image of a hot air balloon.  Perfect!  I could play with the blocks and make them go across the balloon.  

I must admit that I was a little nervous about sewing these curved seams. However, a few pins and it was slick!  And the directions that come with the die are clear and word perfectly.  I look forward to using the die again soon.

For the backdrop of this balloon I decided to use scrappy blues.  I'm just about out of blue Island Batik fabrics now!  It was of course quilted with Aurifil thread and has Hobbs 80/20 cotton/poly blend.

My mom happily quilted my balloon on her longarm.  She had fun with feathers in the yellow.  Windy lines in the background and some curls in the Cleopatra's Fan blocks.

My son couldn't be happier with his new quilt!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

International Quilt Festival Houston Auction Quilt - Part 2

Complete!  My little quilt is off to Houston to be auctioned off as part of the small quilt auction at International Quilt Festival!

I appliqued my flower down to my background fabric.  Then I started drawing some lines for the quilting.

Here's a closer look at the plan

You can see that the red stitching goes through the blue and purple fabrics.  I am into layering my quilting like this right now.

Teeny tiny hexagon cross hatching in the center hexie

A purple flower in the center

I really like how this lavender stitching pulls your eye out since it matches the purple fabric.  I want to play with this idea some more.

The purple wasn't going to show the quilting much so I decided on simple pebbles.

The back at this stage.  I love the color!

I didn't want to use plain thread for the background so I chose a light lavender to add a little pop of color.

Ta da!  All done.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

International Quilt Festival Houston Auction Piece - Part 1

My friend Kim Brunner was telling me about some paper pieces by Helen Stubbings out of Australia that are made from a product you can LEAVE IN THE PIECE!  I heard about these a year ago and recently I found them in my local quilt shop!  I had to try them!  They're called Hugs and Kisses.  I bought the 1 inch hexies.  

I then designed a pattern using them with some help from my favorite 8 year old.  Next it was into my Island Batik stash to pick some yummy fabrics.

I can't believe how easily these pieces sewed!  And it was so nice not to be hitting paper with the needle!  It was like butter.  SO nice.  I'm sure to use them again sooner rather than later.  

I love this flower.

Look how seamless they look!  And I don't have to remove paper...yay!

Big flower all done.  

This was supposed to be the runner.  Ironically, I didn't like it all together.  It was too long and too busy.  What to do?  Make two projects!

So here's the big star.  I'll be attaching it to some cream background and quilting it for my International Quilt Festival Houston small quilt auction piece.

Stay tuned!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Wildflower Inspiration

I will always love the beauty of flowers.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

My Favorite Quilt Block Blog Hop

My favorite quilt block.  I have to be honest.  It's hard to choose?  So I decided to pick one I have always liked, but never made.  This block is called Capital T's.  I of course went to my favorite Island Batik stash of fabrics and picked out two fabrics to play with.

I started by making a bunch of half square triangles.

And a few flying geese.

Here you can see my ironing surface.  It's made of flannel.  The flannel fibers stick to the fabric and help prevent stretching.

Sewing some geese together.

Almost done!

Finished.  I love the way it turned out.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Be sure to check out all the amazing blocks from the other quilters on this hop!

Monday, September 9th

Just Let Me Quilt

Words & Stitches

VroomansQuilts

PamelaQuilts

Songbird Designs

Days Filled With Joy

Quilted Delights

Tuesday, September 10th

Quiltscapes

Melva Loves Scraps

Stitchin At Home

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Mary Mack Made Mine
Just Because Quilts

Den syende himmel
Selina Quilts

Wednesday, September 11th

MooseStashQuilting

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Kathleen McMusing

Karrin's Crazy World
April Grace Quilts
Hazel’s Daughter
Seams To Be Sew
Limeleaves

Thursday, September 12th

Websterquilt

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Nutz 4 Redwork
Quiltsbyjoanne
Ms P Designs USA
Pampered Pettit
Hill Valley Quilter

Friday, September 13th

For the love of geese
Life in the Scrapatch

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Alycia Quilts - quiltygirl
Domestic Felicity
The Joyful Quilter
QuiltFabrication
Creatin' in the Sticks

Back To School Blog Hop Day 8 - How to Solve Loops in Free Motion Quilting

Thanks to Sam Hunter for inviting me to be part of this blog hop.

I love to free motion quilt.  It truly is one of my favorite parts of the process of quilting.  However, I always know when my bobbin is getting low because I will get small loops on the top of my quilt.  Then it's time to break out the seam ripper and rip and wind a new bobbin and start again.

OR IS IT?

This is what I'd wondered.  Is there a way to get rid of the loops and save time?  

YES!  And it's super easy.

Start with a self-threading needle.  There are many brands available and they all work well.

Here is the loop (below red arrow).  It's really hard to take a good picture of a loop, but trust me it sticks up about 1/8 inch away from the surface of the quilt.  This quilt is destined for show and I can't have that!

Step One - Put matching thread in a self-threading needle.  Put the thread through the loop.  Take the needle OFF and leave the thread so it goes through the loop in the middle leaving two about equal length thread tails.

Step Two - tie a knot with the thread.

Step Three- Put the self-threading needle back on BOTH thread tails.

Step Four - Bury the knot just like you would any other knot on your quilting project.  This will pull the little loop into the batting and save lots of time and effort ripping for one little loop (which of course I never see until later...).

Step Five - Trim your tails.  Complete!

I hope this helps you avoid the seam ripper!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy