Island Batik Ambassador's Sew Stylish Challenge

This month the Island Batik Ambassador's were challenged to make a by Annie bag.  I chose the Take A Stand bag from Patterns by Annie.  It has a great Add On video that was helpful in making the bag.

I have made a lot of fun bags, but this is truly one of my favorites.  I used my favorite Microtex needles by Schmetz needles, Aurifil thread, and the fabric from the beautiful Berry Crush line.

The inside of the bag has a lot of pockets and I love that it stands up.

This weekend I went on a quilting retreat this weekend and it worked perfectly to transport my large Oliso iron!

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Island Batik Ambassador Threaded Chaos Blog Hop

This month the Lumin Fabrics Island Batik Ambassadors were challenged to use some gorgeous Aurifil thread to create a crazy quilt.   

For this challenge I received the beautiful Stone Strata collection by Kathy Engle for Terri Vaden Bosch of Lizard Creek Quilting.  Now I'm going to pause here and be honest.  I adore these prints.  Nautiful shapes, bubbles, and other great patterns. But the colors?  They're a little dull for me.  I'm a screaming brights kind of person.  HOWEVER, sometimes it's good to go outside your comfort zone.  The fabrics definitely are pretty!  So I took a deep breath and I got started.

I decided to make a baby size quilt for this challenge.  I started with big sheet of 24 inch by 30 inch paper.  Then I drew a big block that's sort of like a wonky log cabin block.  Then I foundation pieced the whole thing right on the paper. 

Here is the final block all complete and ironed flat with my wonderful Oliso iron.  Once I was done and stepped back I realized how fun the fabrics were and how much they played well together.  

I knew this project was coming so I bought a pack of tan crochet laces.  I started auditioning where they could go on the quilt.  To attach them I used a thin cut strip of Steam a Steam 2 light and fused them in place.  Then I stitched on top of them in Aurifil invisible thread or a tan thread depending on complexity.  I also used my fun Aurifil threads to do some decorative stitching.

Here are the beautiful threads I received.  The darker brown on the right came from my own stash because I wanted to add a thicker thread.  The orange threads are 50 weight, the green thread spool is 40 weight, and the gray thread spool is 28 weight.  I used a tan as well, but I already used it all up so it is absent from the picture.

I have a fabric store near me that carries tons of trims and decorations.  I had a blast picking things out for this project.  Below you can see some blue roses.  These were premade out of ribbon and I was wondering how to attach them.  Before I put the pin in the roses stuck to the needle and lifted up off the quilt.  Fortunately I could use a pin to anchor then and sew right through them.  My Schmetz Microtex needles sure did the trick!

Let's look at some of the fun details on this quilt.  I found 8 different kind of butterfly appliques so I decided to start with that.  I also found some fun trims and LOTS of buttons!

Look carefully.  You can see that I often did some decorative stitching and then layered appliques on top.

In the corner of the picture above you have a white lace.  If you look closely the top is overstitched with a light blue decorative stitch.  It was a fun way to soften the hard edge of the lace and add a pop of color.  Also those buttons!  My sons decided they looked like pineapples. 

These brown and sequin butterflies were some of the first things I picked out for this quilt.  I love them!  And the thick blue rick rack?  I love rick rack so much.  I have a whole shoebox full.  The flower buttons in the upper corner?  They're wooden!

Here is another place where I did some decorative stitching with my Aurifil thread over the edge of the lace.  And then there are some decorative flowers underneath that I added some yellow rhinestuds to.  At the bottom you can also see some thick dark blue decorative stitching.  I love the way that patterned turned out so much I added a second line.

Here is also added rhinestuds on top of the decorative stitching to help emphasize patterns.  On the left is a tan ribbon.  I added the blue decorative stitch on top of the ribbon to make it fancier!  Such fun.

Below I used a stitch to try to make clouds.  It didn't turn out quite as even as I wanted....so what to do?  Why hide the worst part under and applique of course!  And the far left than piece?  That's a leather ribbon.  It was quite the challenge to stitch on top of as the leather wants to stick to the bottom of the presser foot.  That's what Teflon presser feet are for!

On the left I added some French knots with embroidery floss to my decorative stitching.  I also added a bead to the top of the butterfly appliques.

Crazy quilts have never been my thing.  I have always admired them and all the work they entail, but I've never really wanted to make one or hang on in my house.  HOWEVER, this one!  It was so fun.  Who knew?  I think the reason I so enjoyed this project was having a limited color palette.  That way I could be sure that everything was going to coordinate.  I loved it so much I couldn't put it down and finished in just over a week.  Who knew?  I'll have to make another some day!

I hope you get to quilt today! 

Suzy

Be sure to check out all the other amazing Island Batik Ambassadors on the blog hop!

Renee Atkinson @ Pink Tulip Quilting
Tina Dillard @ Quilting Affection Designs
Connie Kauffman @ Kauffman Designs
Emily Leachman @ Darling Dogwood
Denise Looney @ A Quiltery
Susan Deshensky @ Lady Blue Quilt Studio
Brittany Fisher @ Bobbin with Brittany
Carol Stanek @ Stitch with Color
Solomae Stoycoff @ Cuddle Cat Quiltworks
Jennifer Thomas @ Curlicue Creations
Gail Sheppard @ Quilting Gail

Preeti Harris @ Sew Preeti Quilts
Susan Michaels @ Dragonfly Fiberart
Connie Kresin Campbell@Free Motion by the River
Leah Malasky @ Quilted Delights
Lisa Pickering @ Lisa’s Quilting Passion
Sarah Pitcher @ Pitcher’s Boutique LLC
Suzy Webster @ Webster Quilt
Mania Hatziioannidi @ Mania for Quilts
Kimberly Flannagan @ Kimberly’s Quilts
Kim Jamieson-Hirst @ Chatterbox Quilts
Brenda Alburl @ Songbird Designs

Island Batik Ambassador's Hot Stuff Challenge with Oliso

This month the Island Batik Ambassadors were challenged to decorate Mini Iron Carry Bag from Oliso.  They fit our M3Pro Mini irons perfectly.  The M3Pro is my favorite mini that I've ever owned.  It's light and has a great silicone pad to rest it on and cover it with when traveling.  But my favorite feature is the headlight it has.  It's so helpful when doing thing like ironing black binding in half.  You can see it!

For this challenge I decided to use up some of my applique scraps.  When I use fusible I throw decent sized scraps with fusible attached in a bag.  Then I have some when I need a little something.  

I adore circles.  I decided they would be the perfect addition to my iron cover.  So I pulled out my Accuquilt GO BIG! and got busy cutting up my scraps into circles.  It ended up taking a lot of scraps to make enough circles for the entire iron cover, but it was so fun!  Then all I had to do was iron them on.  

A fun feature of the Mini Iron Carry Bag from Oliso is that it has a hole in the front for the silicon pad to poke out of.  It's a great feature.  

It's fun to look at all these dots and remember past projects and collections they were from.

Now my iron is ready to go somewhere.  Looks like I need to find a retreat to go on!

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Island Batik Ambassador 2025 Box #2 Reveal!

Each year Island Batik (now a part of Lumin Fabrics) sends their ambassadors two boxes of amazing fabric and products.  This latest (my 20th?! ever) was no exception! 

These are two sets of foundations fabrics.  Foundations are fabrics that are available all the time from Island Batik and are not part of specific collections.  They have solids, batik solids, and batik prints.  

This 10" stack is called Colorburst.  It's a beautiful rainbow.  I also received two yards of red and cream to go with it.  I'm already thinking of what rainbowy project I could make.

I was really excited to find this Naturally Neutral strip set in my box!  It's going to be a great background for a scrappy quilt.

This is 4 yards of black, white, and gray solids.  It's fabulous for backgrounds for quilts.  It doesn't fray like traditional cottons can and is a pleasure to work with.

I also received 6 yards of this fun cream fabric.  I think it would make a great background for a modern quilt. 

This 10" stack of playful purples is also so pretty.  I'm thinking it might make a good lone star.  I also received 2 yards of cream and purple to go with it.

You can see I've already opened and started playing with this half-yard bundle of fabric.  It's the fabric for my September project.  Gorgeous.

I also received 4 spools of Aurifil thread to go with this collection.  So beautiful!  I'm already thinking about exactly what I want to make.

These three fabrics are for making a By Annie bag!  I am in love with the middle red flower fabric.  SO SO pretty.

These are Stash Builder Rolls!  They are 5" strips of a whole variety of fabrics.  Each set has 20 fabrics.  I use them all the time to add more range to quilts.

I'm a Hobbs Batting girl and was so excited to find these two batts in my box.  The first one is Cotton Wool Blend.  It's fabulous for putting behind machine applique quilts.  The other is Supreme Cotton which is thicker than normal cotton and great to work with.

These three batts are polydown (I use this in warm quilts), 80/20 blend (my favorite ever) and fusible batting (great for when you don't want to baste!).  I'm excited to use them in my projects.

Here's a video telling you even more about what was in my box!

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Island Batik Ambassador's Funky Friends Factory Challenge

This month the Island Batik Ambassadors were challenged to make some fun stuffed animals from Funky Friends Factory.  I have made a few of their patterns before and they are always fun and I always learn a lot.  This year I chose to make Chrissy Camel.  My youngest son loves stuffed animals and I knew the camel would end up in his collection so I asked him which color he wanted the camel to be and he decided on purple.

This pattern had a lot of pieces, but once the sewing started it with my favorite Schmetz Microtex Needles he went together quickly.  I started by ironing my fabric with my Oliso iron.  It sure does a great job steaming out wrinkles.  There are pictures of what to do on the Funky Friends Factory website which were really helpful!  I of course sewed him together with my favorite Aurifil thread.

Putting the bottom hoof on.  It was a lot of pins, but went together more easily than I expected.  I stuffed him with Hobbs polyfil and it worked wonderfully.  I'm always surprised how much stuffing actually goes inside a stuffed animal!

I couldn't find my box of embroidery floss to make his tail.  However, I have a ton of rick rack and happened to have the perfect purple.  It's funny because I bought this rick rack on the way back from Paducah and it was so old it only cost 38 cents a yard!

My flowers are in full bloom in my yard so I decided it was the perfect place to photograph my camel which my son has dubbed Caramello.  He started out by checking out some salvia, but it wasn't purple enough for him.

Next up were the iris.  Two beautiful purples to choose from.

And finally into my son's arms.  He sure likes him!  It made all the effort worth it.

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Island Batik Ambassador's Irish Chain Blog Hop with Accuquilt

This month the Island Batik Ambassadors received the new Irish Chain Die from Accuquilt.  Irish chain is a very traditional pattern and always fun to make and the Accuquilt die makes it super easy to cut out.  It was fun to take a picture of it with all my spring bulbs in bloom!

For this blog hop I received the beautiful Jabberwocky Collection.  These patterns are fun and modern and were a blast to play with.  I pieced my quilt using my favorite cream Aurifil thread and pressed flat with my Oliso iron.

I had fun quilting my project using my favorite Hobbs 80/20 Cotton/Poly batting and Schmetz Microtex needles.  I did a bunch of continuous curve over the entire surface.

I used the orange - purple plus the white print for the x's in my Irish Chain.  I then used the yellow-blue for the backgrounds.  I love how the rainbow came out and I think the blue binding sets it off nicely.

Be sure to click to enter to win a fat quarter bundle from Island Batik!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Be sure to check out all the other amazing new collections from Island Batik!

May 5:

• Mania Hatzioannidi, Mania for Quilts
• Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations

May 6:

• Kimberly Flannagan, Kimberly’s Quilts
• Solomae Stoycoff, Cuddle Cat Quiltworks

May 7:

• Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs
• Sarah Pitcher, Pitcher’s Boutique LLC

May 8:

• Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights
• Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

May 9:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway

WEEK 2

May 12:

• Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion
• Suzy Webster, Websterquilt

May 13:

• Connie Kresin Campbell, Freemotion by the River

May 14:

• Denise Looney, Quiltery
• Brittany Fisher, Bobbin with Brittany

May 15:

• Susan Michaels, Dragonfly Fiber Art
• Kim Jamieson-Hirst, Chatterbox Quilts

May 16:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway

WEEK 3

May 19:

• Renee Atkinson, Pink Tulip Quilting
• Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs

May 20:

• Tina Dillard, Quilting Affection Designs
• Carol Stanek, Stitch With Color

May 21:

• Susan Deshensky, Lady Blue Quilt Studio

May 22:

• Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail
• Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood