July: Never too Early!

/ quiltinggail

It’s Never to Early is the Island Batik theme for this month! And this is what the instructions said, “No one typically thinks of winter in the summertime but it’s the best time of all to get an early start on Christmas and holiday projects! No matter what special holidays you celebrate around the end of the year, this challenge has something for everyone.”

I’ve always wanted to make a log cabin wreath. Like forever. And THIS is the year to make it. I googled Log Cabin Wreaths and there are a TON of patterns out there. But none that I really liked. SEW … EQ to the rescue.

I drew my own block since I wanted the finished size of the blocks to be 7″ and I wanted the centre red square to be 1″ square.

I gathered various Island Batik green scraps, some from Mystery, some from Napa Valley, the red is Wavy Dots Cherry BE. The light background is Coconut.

It definitely needed a bow … so many to choose from! I found one I liked. It’s not perfectly even on both sides and that fits my style completely! Besides, when a bow hangs on a wreath, it’s never symmetrical. Well, at least mine aren’t!

I decided to trapunto the bow and here is a picture of the extra backing being cut away. Again, I used Wavy Dots Cherry BE for the bow. Although, you can’t tell in the picture below!

And, even though I absolutely HATE applique, that’s how it was sewn down. (I’ve been known to call it “CR-AP-plique!) An obvious sign that I need to practice it more! (right?)

I decided to try a double batting to see if I could get the bow to pop out even more. So 2 layers of Hobbs 80/20 were used. And, the white stars popped out, but the green ones did not.

In the centre and the 4 corner blocks, I used a Silly Moon “Twinkle” ruler for the stars. Then did a fairly small stipple so that the stars would pop. I used Aurifil #2600 – Dove to do this part. I quilted the stars in the green portions of the blocks with the same thread. Then I stippled with # 2890 – Very Dark Grass Green.

Since it is July, this little wall hanging decided to lounge in the pool and hang out by the flowers …

There’s more!

This Fusible Batting Strip package from Hobbs batting inspired me to make a Christmas basket!!!

Fabrics for the basket were some of the same fabrics I used for the log cabins above, some strips from stash builder bundles and a red large dot fabric that I bought at a booth selling Island Batik fabrics . (Obviously a few years ago since there have not been “in person” quilt shows for quite a while.)

I started by joining 2 1/2″ strips of fabric together (the same way you would join binding. Then I pressed them in half. Opened it up, placed the batting strips on the wrong side of the fabric, folded the fabric and batting towards the middle and then in half … pressed it together.

I tapered the end and sewed a 1/4″ seam along the edge of the strip. Then I placed about a 7″ piece together, scrunching the ends and started sewing. I used the Schmetz Microtex Chrome 70/10 needle and it sewed through all the layers like a dream!

Once I had about 3″ of a flat surface, I started to curve up the sides.

And here is the finished basket!

Disclosure: The fabrics, thread, batting and needles were generously supplied by the following companies:

Make sure that you visit the other Island Batik ambassadors for your holiday inspiration this month!!

Megan Best ~ Best Quilter
Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts
Elizabeth DeCroos ~ Epida Studio
Jennifer Eubank ~ Archipelago Quilting
Jennifer Fulton ~ The Inquiring Quilter

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts
Joanne Hart ~ Unicorn Harts
Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania For Quilts
Jane Hauprich ~ Stitch By Stitch Custom Quilting
Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood
Denise Looney ~ For The Love Of Geese
Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
Sally Manke ~ Sally Manke, Fiber Artist
Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine

Claudia Porter ~  Create with Claudia
Gail Renna ~ Quilt Haven Threads
Brianna Roberts ~ Sew Cute and Quirky
Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde
Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Andi Stanfield ~ True Blue Quilts
Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations
Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt
Janet Yamamoto ~ Whispers of Yore

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

24 thoughts on “July: Never too Early!”

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  5. Gail both of your projects are beautiful and have me daydreaming of snowy days (longingly). The heat was mild today (only 36c) but we now have helicopters picking up water in their huge buckets to dump on the 2 wildfires burning within 6 miles of home. This is quite the summer. Do you blame me for longing for winter? 😉

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  6. I love your wreath. My zigzag stitching always looks like crap but a straight stitch much better. I’d rather do needle turn applique because it always looks so much better. Nice basket.

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    • Hi Denise,
      My satin stitching often doesn’t look very good, so I often go over it twice and that seems to help. And I have a huge dislike of hand work, so needle turn isn’t going to work for me! 🙂

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  9. Love the Log Cabin. The bow is awesome – I believe that trapunto makes it spectacular. The fabric basket/bowl is too cute. I am surprised that 70/10 needle worked for you. My machine would skip stitches unless it was a new 90/14 needle going through all the bulk.

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    • Hi Pretti,
      My wonderful machine technician told me that sometimes, when working with bulk and batiks, a smaller needle with a larger stitch will work best. The batik is so tightly woven, that it’s what you need. It worked great for me! (But I also have a super duper wonderful machine – Janome Continental M7). 🙂

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