AccuQuilt
SAHRR – Round # 7
Just to remind you … SAHRR is Stay At Home Round Robin. If you missed the previous posts about this year’s SAHRR – you can see them
- Intro
- Centre block
- Round 1 Piano Keys
- Round #2 Plus Signs
- Round #3 Flying Geese
- Round #4 Checkerboard
- Round #5 Wonky Stars
- Round #6 Log Cabins
Today is the day that I tell you to add pinwheels. If you take a close look, you will see that I changed my log cabin layout from last week. (See HERE). I put 4 of them together to make a diamond … It helped to make the quilt longer and not square. I really like the look!
For the Pinwheels, I used the Accuquilt die # 4 of the 8″ Cube set. I wanted the half-square triangles to be bigger than the ones in the stars. It worked! Since I was working with awesome Island Batik Fabric, I didn’t have to worry a lot about bias!
I will be adding 6″ white borders onto the top and bottom and 3″ white borders onto the sides.
Again, I continued to use a variety of fabrics from Island Batik’s Ohana collection. I hope I have enough scraps to bind it! It’s getting close!
Make sure to visit all of the other co-leaders. Here’s their links:
- Chris @ Chrisknitssews
- Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
- Anja @ Anja Quilts
- Roseanne & Sue @ Home Sewn by Us
- Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
- Susan @ Quilt Fabrication
SAHRR Linky Party
Here is a Linky Party to link your flimsy. MARK you calendars for March 29th !!! I will have a linky party for everyone to show their final quilts or tops!
One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!
Happy Quilting!
Gail
Linking to:
- Tish @ Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland
- So Scrappy @ Scrap Happy
- Sunday Stash @ quiltpaintcreate
- Oh Scrap @ Quilting is More Fun than Housework
- 15 minutes to Stitch @ Life in Pieces
- Frédérique @ Quilting Patchwork Applique
- Table Scraps Runner / Topper @ The Joyful Quilter
- Monday Making @ Love, Laugh, Quilt
- Design Wall Monday @ Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
- To-Do Tuesday @ Chris Knits
SAHRR – Round #5
Just to remind you … SAHRR is Stay At Home Round Robin. If you missed the previous posts about this year’s SAHRR – you can see them
Today is the day that Wendy told us to add wonky stars. I’m a rebel … and I did friendship stars instead! I used the Accuquilt to cut the half-square triangles. Do I ever enjoy using it for those!
However, I didn’t do the math very well and I have extra stars left over. I wanted to leave the cornerstone as a plain white block, so … who knows what will happen with those extra stars?
Again, I continued to use a variety of fabrics from Island Batik’s Ohana collection.
Make sure to visit all of the other co-leaders and link up toWendy’s linky party to show us your blocks! HERE
Here’s their links:
- Chris @ Chrisknitssews
- Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
- Anja @ Anja Quilts
- Roseanne & Sue @ Home Sewn by Us
- Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
- Susan @ Quilt Fabrication
Design Wall
Piecing:
I’m working on my March Island Batik project. Sorry, no pictures yet!
Quilting:
I took a Silly Moon Ruler Quilting class on Saturday by Zoom. It was fun and I learned some things. Believe it or not – the fabric is dark blue and the thread is light grey . Obviously, my phone did not pick up the true colours!
Stash Report
No change from last week!
- Fabric Used this week 0 yards
- Fabric Used this year: 5 yards
- Fabric Bought this week: 0 yards
- Fabric Added this year: 9 yards (my husbands amounts as well)
- Net Fabric used – 4 yards
- Husband’s purchases: 0 yards (which are added into my total amount of Fabric added this year). For those of you who don’t know … my husband often buys more fabric than I do … so, I’m keeping track! Unfortunately, he doesn’t sew!
Stitchin’ Time
I’m aiming for at least 30 minutes a day.
I have stitched for over 30 minutes each day
- January – 31 / 31
- February – 14 / 14
- Percentage = 100 %
For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces
TO DO
Roseanne & Sue’s “TO DO” Tuesday is no longer. However, Chris from ChrisKnits is going to be hosting it from now on. Her blog is HERE.
Last week:
Total success this week!
- Work on next round of SAHRR √ done
- Sandwich Moorewood Mystery √ done
- Work on March Island Batik challenge √ done
- Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! √ done
- Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes √ done
This week’s list:
- Work on final round of SAHRR
- Start quilting Moorewood Mystery
- Work on March Island Batik challenge
- Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder!
- Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes
One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!
Happy Quilting!
Gail
Linking to:
- Tish @ Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland
- So Scrappy @ Scrap Happy
- Sunday Stash @ quiltpaintcreate
- Oh Scrap @ Quilting is More Fun than Housework
- 15 minutes to Stitch @ Life in Pieces
- Frédérique @ Quilting Patchwork Applique
- Monday Making @ Love, Laugh, Quilt
- Design Wall Monday @ Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
- To-Do Tuesday @ Chris Knits
- Colour Inspiration Tuesday @ Clever Chameleon Quilting
Inspired by Nature Blog Hop: My Day
I received “Ohana” fabric collection to use for this blog hop. Aren’t the fabrics awesome?
They made me think of flowers … Well, there are pretty flowers in some of the fabrics. H I thought of the Accuquilt die that I have, “Cleopatra’s Fan.” To me, this die never made me think of a fan, but it did make me think of flowers …
SEW … off to EQ and I played around with the design and the fabrics and came up with this …
Below is some of the pieces on the Accuquilt die. I wasn’t able to lay all of the fabric out at once because I wanted specific fabrics in specific places. So each fabric was cut and placed into the sections where they were destined to go.
I did need to have reverse pieces of each fabric for this block. However, working with Island Batik fabrics, it is seldom that I can decipher the wrong side from the right side. That made it super easy! I just needed 8 pieces of each cut and I didn’t have to worry about right or wrong sides! Island Batik fabrics are pretty cool that way!
Here are all of the blocks on the design board before being sewn together and borders added.
Here’s a close up of the quilting from the front. I outlined all the shapes and quilted little 3 or 4 petal flowers in the grey neutral portions. Wavy leaves formed the border.
And from the back showing more of the border’s wavy leaves.
Once the borders were added and the quilt quilted, … I only had 2 fabrics that I had not used in the quilt … and neither of them was good as a binding. A scrappy binding just didn’t feel right for this quilt. I was given “Marble-Purple-BE” as a coordinating fabric and it is perfect for the binding. Just a hint of the dark purple frames the quilt.
Stats:
- 54″ x 54″
- Quilted with Aurifil #2600, light grey.
- Binding attached with Aurifil #2581, dark purple.
- Hobbs 80/20 batting
- Pieced and Quilted on my Janome Continental M7 sewing machine.
Be sure to visit my Blog Hop Partner, Mania and see the quilt she made with the same fabric collection! Ohana!
Ohana should be arriving in stores soon!
Opportunity to Win
There are 3 opportunities to win some fabric! One from me and 2 from Island Batik.
From Me:
You could win scraps from 5″ x 10″ to 12″ squares of 12 Ohana fabrics. If you live in Canada, in the comment section, tell me how nature inspires (or could inspire) your quilting.
From Island Batik:
Click on the link below to have an opportunity to win Fat Quarter bundles of wonderful fabric: either Sweet Hearts or Love and Kisses
Click HERE
Disclaimer: All of the fabric and supplies (other than my sewing machine and iron) were given to me by Island Batik and the industry partners! Thank you!
One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!
Happy Quilting!
Gail
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Studio 180 Design Tool
The August Challenge for Island Batik is “Try a Tool” using a Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design tool.
In my July box, I received the 4 Patch Square Up tool. This tool gave me the choice of 4 Patches or Offset 4 Patches. No pattern was provided. We were to make a quilt with at least 16 of the “units” made with the tool.
I have never used any of Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design rulers before (except for the Quilter’s Magic Wand for one marking half square triangle). As you read through this post, you’ll discover how delighted I was to use this ruler!
⇐ Mesa Verde
I received a fat quarter pack in my July box.
Designing
EQ7 was used to design my quilt using the “Mesa Verde” fabric collection, along with Island Batik’s solid black. The black just seemed so right with this line of fabric! I had several layouts to choose from. It was fun to manipulate the quilt by changing the block orientations with a click or 2 of the mouse!
But in the end, this is the quilt I decided on:
Of course the location of where the fabrics ended up in the quilt is totally different than in the EQ version!
Sewing the Creation
I used Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 tool “Four Patch Square Up.” I made the Offset 4 patches. There is no accompanying video -yet – for the Offset 4 patches … but after watching the video for the 4 patches and reading the directions for the Offset 4 patches – it was easy to make. Really easy!!!
Here is the back of the first unit I made. The instructions teach you how to “spin” the seams. If you’ve taken a class from me, you know how much I LOVE to spin the seams. It certainly makes the quilt lie flatter. But, you do need to be consistent when sewing your unit blocks together.
I was able to spin ALL of the seams when I put the quilt together. It certainly made it lie nice and flat!
I readily admit that I am NOT a perfect quilter! I learned to fudge A LOT when I was learning to quilt … in the last century! BUT … with using this ruler … not to boast or anything … but each block is perfect!!! It sewed together like a dream. PERFECTLY!!!
OH MY!!! Now, I get why people like to have perfection in their sewing!!!
YUP … I’m in LOVE ♥ with the 4 Patch Square Up ruler and can’t wait to try some of the other Studio 180 rulers!
Anyhow … on to the quilt I made!
The Quilt
Here it is on the clothesline. I made the largest Offset 4 patch block: 5″. The smallest is 3/4″ … that’s a super mini size! The quilt measures 43″ x 53″ … The binding is scrappy and used the every scrap of the green fabric that was left from the small blocks.
I used my walking foot with an olive green Aurifil thread #2887 to quilt, Hobb’s Heirloom 80/20 Black batting, and Schmetz Microtex Chrome 80/12.
The quilting is super simple: I just did diagonal lines through the black rectangles and then straight lines through the Mesa Verde fabrics.
I like how the quilting looks pretty funky on the back. I backed this quilt with the same black I used on the front – but with the sun shining, the colour certainly isn’t true!
I love the earthy tones in the Mesa Verde fabrics and this tree said “lay the quilt here for a picture.”
And the wooden fence said the same thing …
Disclaimer: All of the fabric and supplies (other than my sewing machine and iron) were given to me by Island Batik and the industry partners! Thank you!
One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!
Happy Quilting!
Gail
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Linking to:
- Midweek Makers @ QuiltFabrication
- Wednesday Wait Loss @ Inquiring Quilter
- Happy Needle and Thread @ My Quilt Infatuation
- Andrée / Free Motion Mavericks @ Quilting & Learning – What a combo!
- Put your Foot Down @ For the Love of Geese
- Can I get a Whoop Whoop? @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict
- Finished or Not Friday @ Alycia Quilts
- Sherry @ Powered by Quilting
- Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty
- Off the Wall Friday @ Creations – Quilts, Art, Whatever
- Peacock Party @ Wendy’s Quilts and More
- TGIFF @
Monday, a day after Zoom Quilting
Yes, today is Monday … a holiday here on the West Coast of Canada (BC Day) … a beautiful day that promises to not be tooooo hot! Perfect! Edit: the afternoon became hot and muggy! ULK!
Yesterday, my sister and a cousin in Ontario Zoomed together while we quilted. It’s a lot of fun! My sister invited the other cousins to drop in and visit … one said that watching us quilt would be like watching paint dry! We had a good laugh about that!
The tumbler quilt that I started in July received the final stitching of the binding as we Zoomed! When quilting this quilt, I practiced ruler quilting. I used Silly Moon’s Turkey ruler to do the waves across the quilt. With how inconsistent I am, I made sure that the ‘waves’ were all started in a different spot. That way, you wouldn’t notice the one or two waves that were different! ~grin~
I didn’t like how the waves of the turkey ruler would go up and down the quilt … OK … honesty here: I couldn’t figure out where to line it up with sloping seams … so I just used a straight ruler and went up and down that way.
The batting is Hobbs 80/20 (my favourite!) and it is quilted with Aurifil 2311.
The tumblers were all cut with the 3½” Accuquilt tumbler die. It certainly didn’t take long to cut them out! You can read more about the sewing together of this quilt HERE.
And do you see that skinny border? Last month, Terry (my cousin I was zooming with) had shown us this cute little flower that she uses in a skinny border. Of course, at the time, I didn’t draw it out … so when I was quilting this border, I attempted to do it. It was a fail … but a GOOD fail …. I came up with this bow with ribbon between it … how sweet is that? Don’t you just love it when things like that turn out?
The back … oh the backing! I didn’t have enough of any one fabric to make a diagonal slash with another fabric in the middle … SEW … I used LOTS of different fabrics from the front and pieced them together. Most of them were cut 11 – 13″ wide, with the blue cut 5″ wide. And yup! It used up stash! But I still can’t figure out how the “floral” box is still full!
Design Wall
Last week, I missed my usual Monday report … so here’s this weeks.
Piecing:
I’ve pulled out this UFO: It was a Murder Mystery quilt that I started in 2010 at a Wild Rose Retreat in Orting Washington! It was a fun retreat! (Um … I haven’t been to a retreat that wasn’t fun …!!!) Anyhow, one of the shop’s owners was ‘murdered’ with a pinking rotary cutter … the evidence was the rick rack around his neck and the red fat quarter next to him … and the weekend went from there.
The instructor for the Mystery quilt and murder was Sherrie Jaqua and we ended up making the Bouquet block … an asymmetrical block.
When I pulled out the container, I realized that the top was done … I just need to add borders … sew that’s what’s on the design wall.
Quilting:
The Carpenter’s Wheel (Star) is ready to be sandwiched … the quilt was webbed together and the border was added after this picture was taken.
Stash Report
Dog/Cat Quilt #2 used 8 yards of fabric. You can see more details of this quilt HERE.
The Tumbler Quilt (above) used 8.5 yards of fabric …
The snowman from Christmas in July used 1 yard of fabric. So the total used in the last 2 weeks is 17.5 yards. No shopping, no fabric purchased.
- Fabric Used this week 17.5 yards
- Fabric Used this year: 230.5 yards
- Fabric Bought this week: 0 yards
- Fabric Added this year: 23.5
- Net Fabric used 207 yards
Stitchin’ Time
I am aiming for 30 minutes/day – at least! I switched from 15 minutes / day to 30 minutes/day in April! No stitchin’ on the 19th … ’cause it’s not a race!
- 15 minute days: January – July: 210 / 212
- 30 min days/ Aug: 2 / 2
- Total days in 2020: 212 / 214
- Percentage = 99%
For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces
TO DO
I’m linking up to Roseanne & Sue’s “TO DO” Tuesday. Their blog is “Home Sewn by Us.”
2 weeks ago list:
I’m not surprised that I got everything done … I had 2 weeks! grin!
- Sandwich, Quilt & bind Dog/Cat #2 √ done
- Finish IB July project √ done (see HERE)
- Work on IB December project as a leader & ender … √ done
- Spend at least 30 minutes this week CLEANING/ TIDYING my sewing room. √ done
- Work through another Artistic Digitizer lesson. √ done
This weeks list:
- Sandwich & Quilt Carpenter’s Wheel
- Add borders to Bouquet Murder Mystery
- Work on IB Sept project
- Spend at least 30 minutes this week CLEANING/ TIDYING my sewing room.
- Photo shoot and blog about IB August project
What’s in the plans for August?
- August’s Island Batik challenge
- Morewood Mystery!!! Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs is hosting a mystery quilt. The cutting directions are up. I haven’t had a peek – but if you want to know what the finish looks like, she will give you a peek. With this mystery, she will be releasing a clue once a month, so it should be a nice leisurely mystery. Are you going to join in on this mystery?
No UFOs finished so far this month! (it’s only been a couple of days) … but the Bouquet Murder Mystery is out of the box … so hopefully there will be progress on it!
One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!
Happy Quilting!
Gail
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Linking to:
- Tish @ Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland
- Sunday Stash @ quiltpaintcreate
- Oh Scrap @ Quilting is More Fun than Housework
- 15 minutes to Stitch @ Life in Pieces
- What I Made Monday @ Pretty Piney Quilts
- Monday Making @ Love, Laugh, Quilt
- Design Wall Monday @ Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
- Main Crush Monday @ Cooking Up Quilts
- To-Do Tuesday @ Home Sewn By Us
- Colour Inspiration Tuesday @ Clever Chameleon Quilting
Unboxing video: Island Batik July, 2020
Well, my boxes FINALLY arrived!!! It took them only a few days to travel from California to Vancouver … but it took over 2 weeks for them to travel from Vancouver to my home, about 45 minutes away!
But they came! I resisted opening them until I was ready to do the video. Lots of beautiful surprises!
Here’s the video:
Stash Builders
- Width of Fabric, 5″ wide
- 4 in each bundle
- 20 in each package!
Mesa Verde – designed by Kathy Engle
- Fat Quarter pack
- 20 fabrics from the collection
- Fall/Winter collection
Foundation Packages
- 5 fabrics in each package
- 1/2 yard cuts
- Solids, blenders and basics
- Available all the time
2 Yard Cuts
- Celery
- Dandilion
4 Yard Cuts
- Solid Black, White & Grey
- Neutral: Custard
Nouveau Soul
- Strip Pack: 2½” by width of fabric
- 2 of each 20 fabrics in the collection
Bag Kit “ByAnnie”
- Fabric
- Pattern
- Zippers
- Mesh
- Hardware
- Webbing
- Elastic
- Interfacing
Aurifil Thread
- 50 weight
- Purple: 4225
- Dark Blue: 2783
- Light blue: 2815
- Grey: 2625
- Light grey: 2600
- Black: 2692
Studio 180 – Deb Tucker
Accuquilt Go!me
You can see the projects I made with it and the gifting of it HERE.
Hobbs Batting
- Heirloom Black 80/20 – Queen Size
- Heirloom Fusible 80/20 – Queen Size
- Heirloom Fusible 80/20 – Batting Strips
- Tuscany Silk Batting – Throw size
THANK YOU to Island Batik and Industry Partners!
One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!
Happy Quilting!
Gail
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Christmas in July!
Christmas in July!
Our monthly challenge for July’s Island Batik Ambassador program is to use the Accuquilt Go! Me cutter and dies that we received in our 2nd boxes from Island Batik. My June boxes took their time getting here. They spent over 2 weeks at Customs in Vancouver (a mere 45 minute drive). Once they arrived, I did my unboxing video (you’ll see that next week) and got to work on my challenge.
The GO! me cutter comes with 2 dies, a Quarter Square and a Half Square Triangle.
The Go! me is a perfect starting set! It’s small, it’s portable and it will help new quilters make those perfect HST and QST.
It was easy to come up with a design and I used EQ 7 to plan it out. However, all of the neutral blocks consisted of a HST and 2 portions of a QST … I loved the end result of all the scrappy neutrals! And the scrappy greens!
Here are a couple of the sample squares that I teased you with earlier in the week. Do you see how they fit into the quilt?
I had some green scraps in my Island Batik stash, and some neutrals … but I was SUPER excited when the stash builder bundles I received had some neutrals and some greens!! Heaven!! You can’t have too much variation when making something scrappy!
The 2nd part of this challenge was to gift the GO! me to a new quilter. My sister is starting to quilt and it was the obvious choice for her to receive the cutter. The only problem is … she lives 12 hours away and I can’t just pop over to her home and give it to her. SEW … what to do? We are in a Zoom Yoga class and at the end of the class, I took a little video and told her that she was being gifted the Go! me. She was over the moon. She couldn’t believe it! She’s the one in the upper left corner. And, you can see the partially finished wall hanging on my design wall.
My sister wants the pattern for this tree as does one of the other yoga classmates. They live close to each other, so I’m sure my sister may lend the cutter to her! Sew, a pattern will be written up in the near future.
And finally … here is the finished wall hanging:
Yes, I made 2! One for my sister and one for me! I decided to take the picture with petunia’s in front of them. It is July!
And here is the back which shows the FMQ. Swirls in the neutral areas, arcs in the tree, straight lines in the tree trunk and on the border. I used 2 squares (6″) folded into triangles to hold the dowel to hang it with.
Wall Hanging Stats:
- 26″ square
- Hobbs 80/20 batting
- Aurifil Thread
- Cream (neutral area) #2311
- Red (border) #2460
- Green Variegated (tree) #4653
- Brown (tree trunk) # 1285
- Green (binding) # 5012
- Schmetz Needles
- Backing: Island Batik solid Grey
- Fabric: assorted Island Batik Greens and Neutrals. Red is “Wavy Dot Cherry” and the Green used in the binding is “Grass.”
Disclaimer: Thanks to Island Batik for the fabrics, Hobbs batting, Schmetz Needles, Aurifil thread and AccuQuilt for providing the necessary tools and supplies to make the quilts!
One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!
Happy Quilting!
Happy Christmas in July!
Gail
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My Day: Ultimate Home Decor Blog Hop
I have made a couple of projects for this Blog Hop. The collection I was given is Santa Fe designed by Kathy Engle. It was love at first sight! Look at those beautiful teals and browns, purples and neutrals! Aren’t they rich and beautiful? This collection is part of the Winter 2019 fabrics and should be available in your local stores pretty soon – if they’re not already there!
Here are the instructions we were given:
What is home decor? It’s anything you would use to decorate your space: wall hangings, cushions, rugs, linens, and decorative craft projects like bowls, wreaths, lampshades and baskets. Big or small, dramatic or subtle, it’s up to you!
Project #1
My first project was a jelly roll rug. I cut at least 2 strips of each fabric using the AccuQuilt 2½” strip die. The batting was 2¼” strips cut from the edges of many quilts where I had used Hobbs 80/20. I mostly followed the directions on the pattern and put the prepared strips into a bag. I didn’t roll it into a ball … just shoved them into the bag. When I took a class, Dawn F., said to do this! It works like a charm.
I used Aurifil #2370 and Schmetz Microtex Chrome 70/10 to sew the rope together and also to do the zig-zag when sewing the rug. I started out using Microtex 80/12 and my machine revolted. It did not like it. When I talked to my sewing machine technician, she said to try a smaller needle and make a bigger stitch. I did and it worked like a charm. She also said that sewing through that many layers with a close-weave batik, the smaller needle will work better. She was right! My machine just purred as I finished sewing the rug!
I LOVE my rug … it lies next to my ironing station in my studio! Sew nice to have something a little softer to stand on!
As nice as this rug is … it doesn’t highlight the fabric in the collection very well. Even though it does use every single fabric. SEW … I decided to work on projects #2, #3 & #4.
Projects #2, #3, & #4
The back story:
I moved into my studio last summer. It wasn’t quite finished, but my wonderful hubby promised that it would be completely finished soon. I think his definition of “soon” and mine are completely different. But that’s OK … he does all of the building type work around here.
I told him that I was going to make curtains for the 3 windows in the studio. Now, I won’t say that he has selective hearing, but he swears that I said I was only going to make one curtain. That’s weird, because why would I only make one, when there are 3 windows?
Anyhow … he got to work putting in the window frame and trim for the largest window. He finished this the day before I need to post my projects! We’ll have to wait to see how long it takes to get the frame and trim done for the remaining 2 windows.
The curtains:
The curtains are all backed with the same fabric that provides the background in each curtain: Tossed Seeds – Desert Sand. I love this fabric! It has shades of grey & light brown and is a perfect background fabric. These curtains are not quilted, but are stitched a ¼” from the 1″ border that is on the top and bottom of each. Aurifil #2000 – a light beige, was used for the piecing and top-stitching.
The first curtain is a series of 6″ stars and measures 52″ long. The stars were cut with the Accuquilt Go 8″ Qube dies. I’m in LOVE with these dies and use them as often as possible. I love piecing triangles without dog ears … and they are close to perfect (depending on my sewing).
The 2nd curtain has a 6″ rope. Again, I used the same Accuquilt die to cut all the triangles. This curtain measures 39.5″ (the 2nd & 3rd windows are smaller).
The 3rd curtain was designed in EQ7, using 6″ tall flying geese blocks. They are paper pieced without sewing on the paper. I think I’ve been influenced by another Island Batik ambassador who blogs at “For the Love of Geese.” At least, I decided on flying geese after visiting her blog! This curtain measures 39.5″ long.
Island Batik’s Give Away
This week Island Batik is giving away 2, yes, 2! Fat Quarter bundles of “River Valley.” Click on the Rafflecopter link below for you to click on for your entry for a chance to win.
My Give Away
There are 14 pieces that are 6″ x 12″ and 1/3 yard of the purple (at the top). In order to win, you have to answer the following questions:
- Have you made any home decor projects in the past year? If yes, what was it?
- What would you make with these fabrics?
The give away is only open to Canadian residents, excluding Quebec.
My Fabric Blogging Partner
Make sure you visit Maryellen’s blog to see what she has made with this same fabric collection! Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack’s Blog
Thank you
to Island Batik, Accuquilt, Aurifil Hobbs batting and Schmetz Needles for supplying the fabric and supplies needed to complete my projects!
One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!
Happy Quilting!
Gail
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Stay At Home Round Robin … Part 6
Here is the blue Round Robin with the stars added. I used the AccuQuilt 8″ Qube dies #2 and #5 to cut them out. It took me less than an hour … and that was with bits and pieces and scraps of the fabrics. Hopefully in the coming week(s?), I will get this sandwhiched and the binding on.
Here is the purple round robin. I had a limited amount of space left for the stars, so I had to make them smaller (4.5″ square). I wasn’t able to use the Accuquilt for them (only because I don’t have the appropriate size dies). It took me over 3 hours to cut these out. What a difference from using the Accuquilt! I was already “sold” on using the Accuquilt for curved pieces and the Block on Board, but this really illustrated to me how time saving it is for regular squares and triangles!
On the purple quilt, I just quilted Stitch in the Ditch along the seams of the stars. I contemplated outlining the stars, but since I wanted to only use the walking foot to quilt this quilt, I didn’t want to be turning the quilt a zillion times. It would have been a breeze if I did free motion, but I was determined to just use the walking foot!
I didn’t have time to bind the purple quilt. Hopefully, that will happen this week and I can show you the final quilt(s) next week!
Fun Facts about the quilts:
All fabrics were given to me by Island Batik. As an ambassador, I was also given Aurifil thread, Hobbs batting, the AccuQuilt dies and Schmetz needles from each of the industry sponsers. Thank you!
For both quilts, I used Aurifil thread for piecing.
For the purple quilt: I used #2515 for quilting and, I used Hobbs batting 80/20 (scraps joined together).
The Accuquilt Cube 8″ dies were used, when appropriate.
Blue is approximately 48″ square. Purple is approximately 42″ square.
Part 7
Is actually quilting and binding your quilt. We don’t want to have any more UFOs – right? If you did a quilt-as-you-go (like the purple one), it should be a matter of trimming the quilt and applying the binding.
Linky Party:
Here is a Linky Party for you to show off your work! You have a few options for posting … you can post a link to your blog, a link to your Instagram or a link to a Pinterest page.
I was Featured!
#1: Wednesday Wait Loss featured the Round Robin quilts from last week. See HERE.
#2 For the love of geese also featured a Round Robin Quilt
One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!
Happy Quilting!
Gail
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Linking to:
- Midweek Makers @ QuiltFabrication
- Wednesday Wait Loss @ Inquiring Quilter
- Happy Needle and Thread @ My Quilt Infatuation
- Put your Foot Down @ For the Love of Geese
- Andrée / Free Motion Mavericks @ Quilting & Learning – What a combo!
- Muv / Free Motion Mavericks @ Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing
- TGIFF @ Kathleen McMusing
- Off the Wall Friday @ Creations – Quilts, Art, Whatever
- Sherry @ Powered by Quilting
- Can I get a Whoop Whoop? @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict
- Finished or Not Friday @ Alycia Quilts
- Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty
- Peacock Party @ Wendy’s Quilts and More
Stay At Home Round Robin: Part 4
Here are the purple and the blue Round Robin Quilts with the arrows added. I’m happy that I have enough Island Batik fabric to complete these 2 quilts. I used the Accuquilt Go to make the flying geese (Dies 4 & 5 from the 8″ Cube set).
I had a few “hiccups” as I was making the arrow borders. See the video for details!
Linky Party:
Here is a Linky Party for you to show off your work! You have a few options for posting … you can post a link to your blog, a link to your Instagram or a link to a Pinterest page.
Even if you’re not participating in the Stay at Home Round Robin – go visit the linking blogs to see what they are doing. Do you see the one that put it on point? That’s part of the freedom of a Round Robin – I LOVE it!
Next Round: Part 5
The next round for the Round Robin is squares. It can be anything … wonky squares, square in a square, 4 or 9 patches – the choice is yours.
A Friday Finish
This week on the Facebook guild page the challenge was to make a “heart” quilt … any size … People in the Vancouver area are putting hearts in their windows to honour the front line workers during the pandemic. I decided to make a quilt that would be large enough to hang in the window so that it could be clearly seen from the street. I used this pattern: Color My Heart Mini Quilt from the Fat Quarter Shop. It’s a nice easy pattern. However, typical of me, I adjusted the pattern and used 6½” blocks to make it bigger. It turned out bigger than I wanted and that meant I had to piece the backing. Oh well, it’s done now!
Yes, I used more of my Dr. Suess fabrics … I still have some left, but not a lot! It was fun to quilt it with hearts of all shapes and sizes!
One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!
Happy Quilting!
Gail
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Linking to:
- Midweek Makers @ QuiltFabrication
- Wednesday Wait Loss @ Inquiring Quilter
- Happy Needle and Thread @ My Quilt Infatuation
- Put your Foot Down @ For the Love of Geese
- Andrée / Free Motion Mavericks @ Quilting & Learning – What a combo!
- Muv / Free Motion Mavericks @ Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing
- TGIFF @ Lisa in Port Hope
- Off the Wall Friday @ Creations – Quilts, Art, Whatever
- Finished or Not Friday @ Alycia Quilts
- Sherry @ Powered by Quilting
- Can I get a Whoop Whoop? @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict
- Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty
- Peacock Party @ Wendy’s Quilts and More
Creative Borders and Binding
April’s Island Batik Challenge
Last month, for the Island Batik challenge, I HAD to use the “Glorified 9 Patch” Accuquilt Go! die. And, I made the quilt on the right. You can read more about it on THIS POST. I enjoyed making the blocks SEW much! I knew I wanted to use the die again to make another quilt that was totally different! I think I achieved that goal!
As I was making the March quilt, I thought about April’s challenge to do a Creative Border or Binding. The idea to use the “big curve” portion of the die came to life when I thought it would make for a creative, curved border.
It was a little unsettling to have those pieces on the outside of the quilt with nothing to piece and match up to the notches. (Well, duh, that was the idea, right?)
I used Hobbs Heirloom Permium Cotton Batting that was a dream to free motion quilt with. I also used Schmetz Microtex 80/12 which goes through the batik and batting with ease.
I started out quilting the quilt with Aurifil #1148: a pretty teal that I received from Island Batik last year. It was perfect for outlining the colourful blocks and completing the circles. (You can see a little of it at the corner on the picture below.) Then I started to do the freemotion quilting to fill in the circles. Oh MY … talk about a disaster … then I decided to try pebbles … still disastrous … then I decided I HAD to take all of the free motion quilting out. That took a bit of time! Actually – a lot of time! A couple of evenings at least!
Once all free motion teal was removed, I switched to Aurifil #2309, an off white. It was perfect! You can see the quilting, but not all the mistakes! I know, I know … if you look closely, you can still see the mistakes …
I made the bias binding according to one website, but I won’t tell you which one because the measurements were so very misleading. I ended up with enough bias binding to use on 3, yes 3 quilts. In the end, I guess that’s better than not having enough binding, right?
I LOVE the vibrant colours of the Island Batik fabrics in this quilt! Since we’re social isolating, all the pictures were taken in my front yard. Spring is just starting to show it’s pretty hopeful self! The hyacinths smell heavenly and the tree with the pink blossoms is alive with the buzzing of bees!
Disclaimer: The products featured in this Blog post were given to me by Island Batik, and their co-sponsers Aurifil, Hobbs Batting, Schmetz Needles & AccuQuilt!
One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!
Happy Quilting!
Gail
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Stay-at-Home Round Robin: Part 3
If you want to see the Intro click HERE , Part 1 click HERE, and Part 2 click HERE.
This week: Pinwheels
I used the Accuquilt Go! cutter to cut the half-square triangles to make the pinwheels. On the purple quilt, I made 12 and for the blue one, I made 16. I used Island Batik fabrics for both quilts. The blue I used a strip from a “Stash Builders” bundle, a basics and some yardage from “Faded Blue Jeans.” The purple used a variety of fabrics.
Video of Pinwheels
In this video, I discuss what I did to “make it fit” and the extra quilting that I did.
SEW … next week we’re adding arrows to the quilt.
How are you doing with your Round Robin?
Linky Party
Here is a Linky Party for you to show off your work! You have a few options for posting … you can post a link to your blog, a link to your Instagram or a link to a Pinterest page.
A Friday Finish
Last week on Facebook, I challenged guild members to make a donation quilt and post it on Facebook on April 3. Of course, I HAD to make one as well. I rummaged through my “kid” fabric and found several Dr. Suess blocks left over from another quilt. I made 8 more blocks and ended up with this quilt. It was hard, but it was done before April 2 was in the history books.
Have you been following?
Scrap Everyting Blog Hop
Here is a list of everyone who is participating in the Blog Hop!
- April 1 Patti @ Lemon Tree Snippets
- April 2 Gail @ Quilting Gail This is ME! I posted yesterday!
- April 3 Bea Lea @ Beaquilter
- April 3 Cynthia @ Cynthia’s Creating Ark
- April 4 Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
- April 4 Jeanne @ Quilting Jeanne
- April 5 Kathy @ Kathy’s Kwilts and More and Patti @ Lemon Tree Snippets
One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!
Happy Quilting!
Gail
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Linking to:
- Midweek Makers @ QuiltFabrication
- Wednesday Wait Loss @ Inquiring Quilter
- Happy Needle and Thread @ My Quilt Infatuation
- Put your Foot Down @ For the Love of Geese
- Andrée / Free Motion Mavericks @ Quilting & Learning – What a combo!
- Muv / Free Motion Mavericks @ Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing
- TGIFF @ Devoted Quilter
- Sherry @ Powered by Quilting
- Can I get a Whoop Whoop? @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict
- Off the Wall Friday @ Creations – Quilts, Art, Whatever
- Finished or Not Friday @ Alycia Quilts
- Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty
- Peacock Party @ Wendy’s Quilts and More
Did you see it?
All the posts on Facebook for International Quilt Day!! It was a lot of fun!
I think I’m the only one in the neighbourhood that had quilts out … but that’s OK …
I just grabbed a few small quilts that were handy and made in the last year … no digging through the camper to find more … and yes, I have more, LOTS more!
It was a BEAUTIFUL spring day! Sunny (although not very warm) … you can see purple hyacinths blooming and the magnolia tree on the left is just starting to bloom!
I have a finish!!
Yes, my “Circles” quilt is finished. The quilting is finished, the binding is finished AND the label is on!
This quilt was started at a guild workshop on curves. The circles were all cut with a large and a small Accuquilt die. (The guild owns them). The instructor was fabulous and the die-cut pieces made for almost perfect piecing. I say almost, because nothing I do is perfect!
And here’s a close-up of the quilting: A biggish swirl with smaller swirls on the outside of the biggish swirl …
And, it seams like flange binding is all I do these days! But, I do like the look.
Design Wall
Piecing:
Summer Solstice: The next step is completed
Frolic: didn’t work on it this week …
Florabunda:
Only one block completed this week
Stay at Home Round Robin: I started 2 … you can read about them HERE. You can still join in, if you want … there will be a linky party on Friday for you to post pictures.
Elvira: This as a “Quarantine Quilt Along” with GE Quilt Designs. The temptation to spend the day quilting with others was too much … SEW, I dug into my stash of Reproduction fabrics and cut the amounts I needed. For some reason, the bins are still just as full!!!
Quilting:
April’s Island Batik is being quilted … sorry no pictures until April!
TO DO
I’m linking up to Roseanne & Sue’s “TO DO” Tuesday. Their blog is “Home Sewn by Us.”
Last week’s list:
- (Maybe) Finish quilting “Circles“ √ done
- Summer Solstice: Complete next step √ done
- Round Robin: Make block √ done
- Make “Making us Laugh” — almost there
- Sandwich April Island Batik √ done
- Get bordrers on Frolic! Not done
This week’s list:
- Round Robin: add the next borders
- (Maybe) finish quilting April Island Batik
- Make Elvira into a flimsy
- Summer Solstice: Complete next step
- Frolic: get the borders on!!!!
Stash Report
Circles used up 14.25 yards … and since I didn’t leave the house and didn’t shop on-line, there were no fabric purchases.
- Fabric Used this week 14.25 yards
- Fabric Used this year: 66.5 yards
- Fabric Bought this week: 0 yards
- Fabric Added this year: 9.5
- Net Fabric used 57.75
- –
- Husband’s Purchases 0
Stitchin’ Time
I’m aiming for at least 15 minutes / day.
- 15 minute days: January – Feb 59 / 60
- 15 min days/ March = 22/22
- Total days in 2020: 81/82
- Percentage = 98%
For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces
Quilt Qwazy Queens Blog Hop
It stated on Wednesday … and here are the participants for this week. These are FUN!!! I will be sharing mine on Tuesday!
Qwazy Monday, March 23
- One Quilting Circle
- Quilt Schmilt
- Devoted Quilter
- Tuning My Heart Quilts
- Home Sewn by Us
- Farm Quilter
Qwazy Tuesday, March 24
One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!
Happy Quilting!
Gail
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Linking to:
- Sunday Stash @ quiltpaintcreate
- Oh Scrap @ Quilting is More Fun than Housework
- Monday Making @ Love, Laugh, Quilt
- Main Crush Monday @ Cooking Up Quilts
- What I Made Monday @ Pretty Piney Quilts
- Design Wall Monday @ Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
- To-Do Tuesday @ Home Sewn By Us
- Colour Inspiration Tuesday @ Clever Chameleon Quilting
Stay-at-Home Round Robin: Part 1
Part 1
If you need an explanation of a Round Robin quilt see HERE.
Each Friday, I will post a short video of what my Round Robins are looking like. Also, I will give you the guidelines for the next round. There will also be a weekly Linky Party where participants can post their Round Robin progress.
Fabric:
#1: I am using a variety of purple / mauve Island Batik scraps, ½ yard cuts, along with Island Batik solid white. You can use whatever fabric with whatever colour, that you want. I do not know how much fabric I will use … if I run out of what I’ve set aside for this quilt, I may start adding in another colour or 2 … I know it will all work in the end. Please remember that this is YOUR quilt and you get to make a lot of the decisions!
#2: I will be using a variety of blue Island Batik fabrics. A lot of them came from the “Freedom” stack that I received last year for a Quilt of Valour. I’m Canadian and made a red and white Quilt of Valour, so most of the blue stack was left over. Over the Rainbow is a fabulous on-line store that delivers world wide. They will be recieving Freedom stacks soon (if they don’t have them already). They also have lots of other Island Batik fabrics!
Here is what I’ve pulled for my blue Round Robin. In the centre is my 8 ½” square of Island Batik grey solid that will be my centre block. I may embroider or applique it at a later date.
Centre Quilt Block:
First, you need to make a centre block. It can be any size you want it to be. My centre block for the purple is an 8 ½” (unfinished) Sawtooth Star. Just make sure that the centre is either a square or rectangle. Please note that if you make a block that is not an 8 ½” square, I will not provide you with measurements. You’ll have to figure it out on your own. (Which is what happens with most Round Robins …)
I used my AccuQuilt Go! to cut out the pieces … using the 8″ GO Cube dies. It was pretty quick to cut the pieces and then sew them together. If you wish to make the same block and you don’t have the AccuQuilt Go! dies and AllPeopleQuilt.com has the pattern for an 8″ Sawtooth Star.
I’m also doing 2 Stay-at-Home Round Robins. One (the purple one) is going to be a tQuilt as you Go. The 2nd (blue) will be a flimsy and has the potential to be a bigger quilt. As you can see in the picture of blue fabric above, the centre block is an 8 ½” square of grey.
Quilt as You Go:
With this being a small quilt, I took left-over Hobbs 80/20 batting and zig-zagged the pieces together to make the batting big enough. A flannel backing that is 42″ x 42″ was prepared. The batting was cut to the same size and they were spray-basted together using 505 spray. I then folded the backing/batting in half and gave it a good press. I folded it in half the opposite direction and pressed again. Using a large stitch, I stitched down these 2 lines. This gave me some registration marks so it will be easier to align the quilt as I add borders.
The Video of Part 1
As you watch this video, you will see me being me … I stumble over things, but eventually, I get it right! (I think). As well, I said I wouldn’t give you the clue of what the next round was to be until next week, when I show you what I did. After the filming, when I was thinking of that: I thought about what I know of Round Robins that friends have participated in. They are given directions, but they are not exact and they need to figure out what they are going to do for each round. SEW ,,, after the video, I will give you the clue for the first round.
The First Round
Are you ready?
The first round, which will circle around all 4 sides of you centre block is “Piano Keys.” You can do piano keys any way you want … Google it if you need to find out what they are. You can make them bigger or smaller or do a variation of piano keys.
I will tell you that mine will probably be scrappy on both quilts. And the border will measure at 2 ½” unfinished, and will finish at 2″ once all the seam allowances are in place. Because of the nature of piano keys … mine may have a solid block in each of the corners … I’m not sure, I haven’t made them yet!
Now … onto other things:
Quilt Qwazy Queens Blog Hop
It stated on Wednesday … and here are the participants for this week. These are FUN!!! I will be sharing mine next week!
Wednesday March 18
Thursday March 19
Friday March 20
One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!
Happy Quilting!
Gail
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Linking to:
- Midweek Makers @ QuiltFabrication
- Wednesday Wait Loss @ Inquiring Quilter
- Happy Needle and Thread @ My Quilt Infatuation
- Andrée / Free Motion Mavericks @ Quilting & Learning – What a combo!
- Put your Foot Down @ For the Love of Geese
- TGIFF @ Anja Quilts
- Can I get a Whoop Whoop? @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict
- Finished or Not Friday @ Alycia Quilts
- Sherry @ Powered by Quilting
- Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty
- Off the Wall Friday @ Creations – Quilts, Art, Whatever
- Peacock Party @ Wendy’s Quilts and More
One Die Wonder
This month’s Island Batik challenge is to use the Accuquilt die we were given in January. Continue reading
A “Not Finished” Friday
Nothing finished
No finishes this week! I’ve been working A LOT on my March Island Batik challenge and I can’t show you yet! I can tell you that I’m using the “Glorified 9 patch” Accuquilt die that I was given. All the pieces for the block are on the die. I have them all cut and most of them are on the design wall. Some blocks are sewn.
When I need a break from the excusiating SLOW curved piecing, I am quilting the “52 blocks in 52 weeks” quilt. If you look closely, you can see that I’m doing graffiti quilting. A little bit of this and a little bit of that! A swirl, pebbles, a heart, a teardrop, a flower and whatever comes to mind. It’s fun and makes it so that I’m not bored. I’m hoping that it will be finished soon!
Continue reading
Progress
First: Week 3 Island Batik Blog HOP!!!
If you want to see a recap of Week 1, click HERE. Week 2, click HERE. If you haven’t seen the fabulous Log Cabin quilts, it will be well worth your time to visit the 2 Island Batik blog posts … beautiful eye candy!!! Here’s who’s in line for this week! I can’t wait to see what they create! Continue reading
January Unboxing Video
Here is my January 2020 Unboxing Video with all of the goodies I recieved this month!
What do you do when you hate …??
I Hate sewing curves.
I Hate sewing circles.
Last year, I got a Block on Board die from Accuquilt … Cleopatra’s Fan … it had curves. I perservered, and made several blocks. I was not happy. I liked the block in the end, but I was not happy sewing it!
This year, I received another Block on Board die … it has CURVES. (Can you hear the loud groan??? !!!)
The guild was offering a one day workshop on sewing circles. SIGH!!! I figured that I better take the workshop. Here’s a sample of what happened at the workshop. Lots of curved piecing.
