This is Patti’s. I love the scrappiness and the dark background!
Here’s Dawn’s. She used 2 fabrics and the background. Doesn’t it look great?
Susan has the top together. It was a sunny day, so she was able to get a picture with true colours! And yes, you can see her shadow! She’s used ‘plane’ fabric! Very cute!
Jill has pulled fabric for her quilt … with those blues and greens against the grey – it’ll be lovely!
Isabelle says she still needs to add the border – and that will happen after Christmas.
Lynn K has the blocks laid out for one row. She says that she loves the scraps, but has very few left! That is amazing! And the background it totally scrappy – awesome!
Heather also did a scrappy background. And why not? Here it is with the rows ready to put together!
Irene ‘s inspector (Miss Hamish) obviously likes the blues in this quilt!!!
And here’s mine. The one with the dark background was the inspiration and the one with the light background was the one that I made while writing the pattern! Both are made with Island Batik fabrics, Hobbs batting on the inside and Aurifil thread for the quilting.
I taught the “Winter Branches” Table runner at Essem and I worked on my own table runner, but didn’t get it finished in class. But, it’s finished now! I used an Island Batik fabric from the Napa Valley collection along with Custard. There is Hobbs 80/20 on the inside and I quilted the straight lines with a walking foot and Aurifil #2311 (Muslin).
A UFO Finish
I finally finished this wallet! The outside is Cork and the inside is Island Batik fabric from the Napa Valley collection. The pattern is “The Necessary Clutch” by Emmaline Bags. For the twist clasp, the pattern said to follow manufacture’s directions. HUH!!! There were none!!! A friend of mine, Irene, told me to look at Spenser Ogg’s tutorial, How to Apply a Twist Lock. Spenser is brilliant. Her tutorial is great! This wallet would have been thrown in the trash if I hadn’t been able to do the twist lock. Thanks, Irene!!!
Now I can finally use this wallet! The cork on my current Necessary Clutch is falling apart. I’ve sprayed the new wallet’s cork with leather conditioner, so hopefully it will last longer than the first one. But really, 5 years isn’t too bad!
This is the wallet I made in 2018 … almost 5 years ago! And how it looks today. You can see how the cork is wearing at the edges and some of it is peeling off.
The Mystery Quilt is done!!!
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’ve shared it with YOU as well!
The Parade is on Tuesday, Dec. 13, so be sure to come and see the wonderful quilts!
Here are 8 clues.
Oct 18: Clue #1: Fabric Requirements and Cutting HERE
Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!
Lots of stitching in the past week!
January – November: 288 / 333
Dec: 11 / 11
Total: 299 / 344
Percentage = 86%
Stash Report
Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!
When I made the Lone Star quilt with Island Batik’s Baby Bloomers collection (see HERE) … I had left-overs. The tutorial suggested using them for a border, top and bottom, but I didn’t want to do that on my lone star. And, since I’m on a mission to use up left-overs asap, I HAD to do something!
So, I paired up the left-overs, sewed them into squares, put them on-point with Lime Green (Island Batik solid basic) and voila! A baby quilt is born!
It was sandwiched with Hobbs 80/20 and quilted with Aurifil 2520 (violet).
The binding is Small Check-Multi Pink (part of the Baby Bloomers collection).
Here is the quilt – all quilted and bound! I LOVE how bright and cheery it is!
There were still some scraps left-over … so I made these 4 pencil cases, following a tutorial byAnnie. The “A Pencil Case for Lola” pattern is free HERE and the Youtube tutorial is HERE. If you’ve never made a byAnnie bag, this is a fantastic way to start!
On one of the pencil cases, I used Soft and Stable, on 3 of them I used Hobbs 80/20 batting. Each of them is fine, but the one with Soft and Stable holds it’s shape better.
Lone Star Blog Hop
Have you been following the Lone Star Blog Hop? There have been some wonderful quilts!!! Tons of eye candy!!! Visit Island Batik’s blog to see a re-cap of Week 1! Plus an opportunity to win fabric!
Coming in 2023!
For the past several years, I’ve hosted PHD in ???? (year). The idea is to decrease the number of UFOs that you have and to NOT increase the number! This is accomplished by finishing ALL of your new starts. There are a few exceptions, but I’ll be posting about it in the near future!
Several blogging friends and I will be hosting the Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR). Typically, groups of quilters do round robins where the quilt is passed on to other quilters to add the next round. With the SAHRR YOU are in control of the fabrics that are used and how big the quilt is. We’ll be starting this in mid-January! It’s a lot of fun, with quilters joining from around the world. There will be a post with more details in the coming weeks.
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’ve shared it with YOU as well!
Here is my finished quilt! This week’s clue will explain the quilting to you. I used scraps of Island Batik fabrics for this quilt – along with “Linen” for the background. Hobbs 80/20 batting and Aurifil thread were also used.
In July, I received an awesome Surprise package in my Island Batik, box and this is what I got: 20 half yard cuts of fabric from the Baby Bloomers collection, a signature collection for Karen Overton. Also included was 2 yard of Dots-Pink Carnation and 2 yards of Cow Moon Clouds – purple.
The only Lone Star I’ve made was a Judy Niemeyer pattern and I didn’t really want to purchase one of her patterns. I knew that there must be other options!
So, what to do??? EQ8 to the rescue … I downloaded the Baby Bloomers fabric collection and started to play! I’m not sure when, but I must have followed a tutorial at one point, because I found a folder called “Lone Star Practice.” Bingo! I found exactly what I wanted to make. I substituted the original fabric with the Baby Bloomers fabric and came up with this:
When I searched the Internet for “How to make a Lone Star Quilt,” I came across a few tutorials by Donna at Jordan Fabrics. WONDERFUL!!! Here’s the tutorial I mostly followed: One Jelly Roll, Lone Star. However, in order to make the quilt I wanted to make, I needed to make some adjustments. Mainly with the purple going up each point of the star.
I needed to make a strip set of my fabrics, I used my 2 1/2” Accuquilt die and made perfect strips very quickly!
I laid out the strips and pinned them onto my design wall.
I sewed the strips together (picture above) and cut according to the directions. And forgot to take a picture of the cut pieces!
Then, I made sure to mark Every. Single. Intersection. to ensure almost perfect points … (hmmm, that didn’t always work according to plan!)
Yes, I used “Dude” from Silly Moon Rulers and a pencil to mark the intersections. Then I used the forked pins to hold the intersections in place. I’m usually not a pinner – but it was a MUST in this case!
When I put the light pink from the collection up on the design wall with the star pieces I had assembled, my immediate thought was “what in the world were you thinking?” It did NOT look good. It looked washed out. I started digging through my stash! Many different fabrics were auditioned. I found this slightly darker and brighter pink tied up with one of my Island Batik precuts and BINGO, it was perfect for the quilt. It is called “Floral Carnation” and is from the Blenders collection (available at all times).
I quilted it with Aurifil Thread, #2515 (Light Orchid) on the top and Aurifil #2423 (Baby Pink) in the bobbin. When auditioning the threads, I felt that the Baby Pink was too light for the top but the Light Orchid was perfect. However, I didn’t know if I had enough Light Orchid to use for both the top and bobbin. I used Aurifil #4225 (Eggplant) to attach the binding.
Quilting Close-ups
The Finished Lone Star
Be sure to visit Maryellen at MaryMackMadeMine! She had the same fabric collection. I haven’t seen her quilt, but I just KNOW that it will be a totally different Lone Star!
Hashtags for industry (only if you are actually using the products): #hobbsbatting #accuquilt #accuquiltgo #schmetzneedles #doyoueq #janome #bernina #juki #dritz #olfacreates #junetailor #brothersews #cloverusa #oliso #studio180design #omnigrid
I’m on a bit of a mission to use up left-over bits and pieces from quilts I’ve made. You know – the extra blocks that I made “just in case” or because I miscounted.
The items below are the things made from the fabric left-over from the “Citified” quilt that I made: The little zippy pouch and a placemat. The placemat will go to the guild for “Meals on Wheels” Christmas.
There might be one or 2 (2.5″) squares left that have gone into the Island Batik scrap bucket.
Last week’s class
I taught the “Winter Branches” Table runner at Essem last week. I think it was a great class! Everyone had their table runner top completed and some had even started quilting by the end of the class!!
Anne finished her’s and sent me a picture later that evening!!!
Here’s mine: In progress: I used Island Batik “Custard” for the background and “Grapes-Beaujolais” from the Napa Valley collection.
Stitching Stuff
Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!
Lots of stitching in the past week!
January – November: 288 / 333
Dec: 4 / 4
Total: 292 / 337
Percentage = 86%
Stash Report
Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!
No shopping … the placemat to the right used 1/2 yard of fabric.
It’s always hard for me to choose my favourite finish of the month. However, this month it is definitely the quilt I made with Island Batik’s Citified 2.5″ strip pack. And I had a fantastic time quilting it! It was so much fun!! Check out Meadow Mist Designs for more “Favourite Finishes”.
DrEAMI
DrEAMI stands for Drop Everything And Make It. Well, this has been a S L O W DrEAMI … I can only hand sew for short periods of time, but I have made these 2 baskets! They are made with the Winter Sky Island Batik fabric. Aren’t they cute? The pattern is “Goodness Bowl” by Jean Paccagnan. These are the small and medium baskets.
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’m going to be sharing it with YOU as well!
There will be 8 clues. This quilt will finish at 43″ x 53″ … unless you decide to make it bigger or smaller.
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’m going to be sharing it with YOU as well!
This quilt will finish at 43″ x 53″
There are 8 clues. They will all come out on Tuesdays, starting October 18.
Oct 18: Clue #1: Fabric Requirements and Cutting HERE
I will be teaching this table runner at Essem on Wednesday. I believe there is still room for one more. You can register for it HERE. This table runner will take you into the freeing world of slightly abstract and each table runner will be unique.
Stitching Stuff
Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!
Lots of stitching in the past week!
January – October: 258 / 303
Nov: 27 /27
Total: 285 / 331
Percentage = 86%
Stash Report
Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!
The backing for this quilt used 4 yards of fabric. You can see details of this quilt HERE.
Fabric: Island Batik Citified collection, FMQ with Aurifil thread, Hobbs 80/20 batting in the middle!
But I did go shopping. I stopped in at Castle’s Sewing Centre and just HAD to buy some of their Island Batik fabrics! I bought 1 meter of each! Aren’t they just beautiful???????
Melodic Mystery Quilt: November clue is done … but I still haven’t fixed my previous mistakes. It’s not too late for you to start … the clues are at Meadow Mist Designs.
I received a 2.5″ strip pack from Island Batik awhile back … It’s such a beautiful collection … and I debated long and hard about what to make with it! It’s so pretty with the purples, oranges, golds, neutrals and blues!
I decided to go with a simple partial log cabin. The hardest part was deciding where each block should go!
Here are some close-ups of the graffiti quilting! I really enjoy quilting whatever I feel like! It’s so much fun! And, to be totally honest, it’s perfect when the quilt front is busy! And, it’s fast! I used Aurifil thread for the quilting and Hobbs 80/20 is in the middle!
This week’s class
This week, at Essem, I taught how to use an Easy Angle Ruler to make this quilt: (same block, different layouts.)
The ladies made a great start on their quilts! The quilts are going to be so different and each will be stunning!
A New Start #1
Have you ever made a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt? I’ve made several in the past! But for the last few years, I haven’t made one. However, that is going to change this year! I’m going to make the Chilhowie mystery quilt! The first clue came out today and you can access it HERE.
I just might have enough Island Batik scraps to make this quilt! Are you going to join me in making this?
This quilt finishes at 78″ x 78″. If you don’t want to make one that big, just make half of the units that Bonnie suggests.
A New Start #2
Helen Godden, an excellent quilter and teacher is offering a FREE Christmas sew-a-long. If you want to improve your free motion quilting and only spend a few minutes each day – this is a project for YOU! You can access the pattern HERE. Then, starting Dec. 1, watch a daily youtube video on how to quilt it!
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’m going to be sharing it with YOU as well!
There will be 8 clues. This quilt will finish at 43″ x 53″ … unless you decide to make it bigger or smaller.
Patterns by Jen has hosted a Spicy BOM this year. November’s Spice is Cloves. The block on the left is November’s block – with alterations … The photo on the right is all of the blocks so far this year. You can get November’s block FREE – for the rest of the month … HERE. I’ve used scraps of Island Batik fabrics to make these blocks … that’s why some of the pieces are pieced together!
The Mystery Quilt has started!
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’m going to be sharing it with YOU as well!
This quilt will finish at 43″ x 53″
There are 8 clues. They will all come out on Tuesdays, starting October 18.
Oct 18: Clue #1: Fabric Requirements and Cutting HERE
I will be teaching several classes at Essem in November. You can register for them HERE. This week it will be learning to use an Easy Angle Ruler for perfect Half-Square Triangles and making a scrappy quilt.
Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!
Lots of stitching in the past week!
January – October: 258 / 303
Nov: 20 /20
Total: 278 / 324
Percentage = 85%
Stash Report
Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!
I finished the little zipper pouches for the Music Blog Hop. They used 1.5 yards of fabric. The travel post quilt used 1.5 yards as well.
But I did go shopping. A fabric store that is closing had wide back fabric for $10/m. I couldn’t resist! I bought 21 meters! That’s gonna hurt my numbers – but at that price, I just HAD to!
Melodic Mystery Quilt: November clue is done … but I still haven’t fixed my previous mistakes. It’s not too late if you want to start this mystery … the clues are at Meadow Mist Designs.
This week I taught “Travel Posts” to 2 lovely talented quilters! Travel Posts is in the book Color Block Quilt Making by Elizabeth Chappell. It’s a great book and if you’re looking for quick and easy patterns – this book is for you! Essem may have this book in stock.
This is the quilt I made for the class sample. Simina helped pick out the fabrics: the coloured portions are grunge.
Anyhow, the class participants came very prepared and had their fabric all cut and labelled and were ready to roll! They finished the tops in class! Aren’t they great?
Here’s the 2nd one I did using Island Batik fabrics from the “Mystery Collection” and Island Batik solid grey.
Carla, from Creatin’ in the Sticks, has organized this great blog hop! Do you love music? I certainly do! I’ve played the piano for years and the oboe and bassoon in high school. Although, I must admit that I haven’t played much in the last few years.
However, I have sewn and I have a few pieces (yes, just a few … not even a dozen) of fabric with music on it!
I decided to use some scraps of 2 similar fabrics and make some zipper pouches. I also used scraps of Hobbs 80/20 batting! The larger pouches are 9-10″ x 11″ and the smaller ones are roughly 4″ x 5.” When I was finished with these, I found that I only had a 2″ x 4″ scrap of fabric left! It was a great feeling to have used up all of this fabric!
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’m going to be sharing it with YOU as well!
There will be 8 clues. This quilt will finish at 43″ x 53″ … unless you decide to make it bigger or smaller.
Oh ya!!! I started ANOTHER new project. When my cousin, Connie and I were shopping at the Cloth Shop, we saw these super nifty bowls. I fell in love!!! However, they did not have the pattern in stock. But a couple of weeks later, I was at Chitterchatter fabrics and they had the pattern. Of course I had to buy it! There are 7 different sizes included in the pattern. The pattern is “Goodness Bowl” by Jean Paccagnan. There is even a great youtube video to go with the pattern! And BONUS: Jean Paccagnan is a local designer!!!
I know it’s English Paper Piecing, but if I only sew for about 10 minutes a day, I’ll eventually get it done!
I decided to use some beautiful blue scraps of Island Batik fabric.
The first thing I did for this stocking challenge was to find a stocking pattern. I printed it out and I didn’t like I. My husband adjusted it, making the toes larger and I liked it way better!
For my first stocking, I cut out 2 pieces of Hobbs Batting 80/20 and drew lines on it to guide me as I did the striped quilt as you go. I used 2″ strips of each fabric. Prairie Spirit Alpacas/Wool pressing mat made everything lie perfectly flat!
I needed to be careful to ensure that I covered the batting with the fabrics … Jack the ripper came out to play here …
The stockings needed to be trimmed. I used the 1/4” mark on my ruler and worked around my template. (Yes, I used the page from a large calendar for my pattern!)
The 2nd stocking was a crazy patch that I attempted to do as a quilt as you go – but I had drawn too many intersecting lines to make it work … so it became an improvised crazy patch stocking.
I used “Pinecone – Dark Teal” and the red is #121913380 from Season Splendor (Fall/Winter 2019 collection) for the stockings and “Coconut” for the snowflakes. The snowflakes were cut with Accuquilt dies that I borrowed from our guild’s die collection.
Appliqueing the snowflake and marking the stocking for the crazy quilting.
Aurifil Thread # 2021 (Natural White) was used for the applique process. #2692 (Black) was used for quilting, assembly and the hanging tabs.
I wanted a little flange on the cuff – so the red was cut at 1 1/4” and the green at 3.” This made it possible to fold it 3/4” of the green to the inside so that the lining didn’t show. I used Island Batik solid white fabric for the lining.
Here’s the first 2 stockings hanging on my design wall.
I think the stockings look a little more Christmasy pinned to the wood pile! The third stocking is for our grand-dog, Daphne! The larger stockings are 21″ long and Daphne’s is 17″ long.
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’m going to be sharing it with YOU as well!
There will be 8 clues. This quilt will finish at 43″ x 53″ … unless you decide to make it bigger or smaller.
My ironing board cover was a disaster! So many dark marks … I was going to change it before I took it to the retreat a few weeks ago … I’m glad I didn’t, because it gained an iron imprint!
So, I took 2 layers of Hobbs 80/20 batting and some fabric from my stash and made a new cover! It’s so nice and clean, I almost hate to use it!
This is a super simple mystery quilt! It is my own design. I designed it for the Boundary Bay Quilt Guild, but I’m going to be sharing it with YOU as well!
There will be 8 clues. This quilt will finish at 43″ x 53″ … unless you decide to make it bigger or smaller.
Quilting Gail 