Friday, April 30, 2021

Modern Leaves Block 2

Modern Leaves block 2 has a great Island Batik background fabric by Claudia Pfiel.  It's one of my favorites.  When I was working on this project I realized I have three pieces of it!

Here is the block all stitched up.  I like how the dots really pop once the blanket stitching is done.

A close-up look at the stitching. I like to use different length blanket stitching to help emphasize different fabrics.

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

An Island Batik Solids Modern Mini


I was in the mood to play with Island Batik solids and doing something really modern.  I got out my Accuquilt and started cutting!


These are all tiny 1 inch finished triangles.  They are itty bitty!


I decided on rays to emphasize the green triangles.  I love how the Hobbs Wool batting really makes the quilting pop.


I also used curls to give a contrast to the angular quilting and piecing.


All done!


 I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Monday, April 26, 2021

Inspired by Helen Godden

 Last year I bought two of Helen Godden's drawings to hang near my Handiquilter Capri.  They are so inspiring to me.




I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Friday, April 23, 2021

Modern Leaves Block 1

I have been pondering a new series of applique blocks and finally came to a decision.  I'm making applique leaves.  Modern ones.  It's wayyyy to much fun and I'm having a blast creating using my favorite Island Batiks of course! This is going to be such a fun adventure.

For this block I chose this fun blue background to mirror the red shapes.  I then added a string of green dots.


The photo above shows the block with all the stitching complete.  The photo below shows the block without the stitching.   You can see that the green thread really adds definition to the dots.

 

Taking the first stitches!


A closeup of the stitching.


I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Repeated Block Color Play Part 2

Oh the fun I had arranging all these blocks I made with one of my favorite Accuquilt bow tie dies and some gorgeous red and teal Island Batik scraps.  You can read more about it here.  But the big challenge was how to quilt it?

I decided I wanted to use the same thread and quilting pattern for each color.  For the green I chose to do a flowing squiggle of curvy lines.


Think of it like extra long smooth curvy meandering.


For the red I wanted a different texture so I went for geometric spirals to match the shape.



And done!  So modern and fun!


I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

 

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

In the Kitchen Stitchin' Blog Hop

I decided to make coasters for Carla of Quiltin' in the Stick's In the Kitchen Blog Stitchin' Blog Hop.  Not totally in the kitchen, but they can definitely be used anywhere.

I decided to use Island Batik's Baja batik solid for my coasters because it's just beautiful.


I started by quilting a section of my fabric and then cutting it into circles.  I also cut circles out of a backing fabric for the coasters.  I decided to create them by turning them inside out because I didn't want to have to add binding to such a small circle.

Then I layered the circles RIGHT SIDES together and sewed around the circle as shown below.


I then cut a small slit in the backing fabric and turned the coasters right side out.


Now there was a slit....what to do?


Before any other step, I ironed my coasters flat and ran a topstitch right around the edge to keep them nice and crisp.



Then to solve the hole problem I cut a leaf shape with some fusible on the back and ironed it over the hole.  Problem solved!



I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Be sure to check out all the great Kitchen Stitchin'!



Monday, April 19, 2021

Spring Flower Inspiration

It's been a crazy year.  We all know why so I have no desire to ruminate on it here.  However, I have been really bad about keeping up with blogging, but no more!  Back to three times a week:  Monday is for inspiration, Wednesday and Friday/Saturday for projects.

Here are some gorgeous spring flowers I've taken photos of while on walks with my mom this week.

Snowdrops


Daffodils


Flowers I don't know the name of with a few Daffodils


Crocuses

I hope you get to quilt today!

And enjoy the spring flowers too!

Suzy

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Island Batik Ambassadors It's All Up To You Challenge

This month's Island Batik Ambassadors Challenge is called It's All Up To You.  We got to pick anything!  There were so many amazing choices!

I decided I wanted to play with Claudia Pfeil's gorgeous new collection called Melody.  I had a ten inch stack of this beautiful springy collection.  Now that I'd picked my fabric and a cream for a background, what to make?  


I was chatting about this with my mom and she was talking about the hunter's star quilt she'd just made.  It was so gorgeous so I decided to make one too using her Accuquilt die.



Cutting on my Accuquilt is so fast!  I was doing cutting these beautiful pieces in no time at all.


I'm a pinner.  Pin. Pin. Pin.  It makes sending the pieces through the machine so quick and easy.


All sewn into triangles and ready to sew into block using Aurifil thread and Schmetz Needles of course!


I layered my quilt with Hobbs Batting 100% cotton batting.  It's one of my favorites.  Then I had fun quilting on my Handiquilter Capri.  So much fun to make these swirl feathers.  I did a big swirl in the middle of each background area and then feathered around it.  In the background diamonds I did some continuous curve quilting.  Then I added a binding by machine.



Project complete!  So pretty.  I can't wait to use it now!


I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy