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Island Batik November Challenge requires us to make a Dresden Quilt using our assigned Summer 2024 collection.

Here is my response. I have named it "Like It Or Not" (LION). LION finished at 45" by 46".

Vintage Fans, 45" by 46"

I received Peach Blossom,  an original collection by Claudia Pfeil. 

Fabrics

There are so many options for Dresden Plate designs. I could use a skinny Dresden Ruler (12 degrees) to make 30 blades per circle or a double Dresden (36 degrees) to make 10 wide blades per circle. I chose the 18 degree ruler. 

I wanted to make a ...

This is Part B of a series of posts explaining how I make my version of Stars Upon Stars.  

B. Planning the colours

 1. External stars in the blocks. 

A key design feature of the original Stars Upon Stars quilt is that each block is unique.  I decided replicate that idea by using different fabrics and colours for the external stars of each block. I opted for tone on tone fabrics in most cases, and tried to use every colour within my limited colour range - blue, aqua, green, pink, orange and yellow.  If I repeated a colour I used a ...

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my Kokomo quilt.  As promised I'm going to explain more about how I made it - both for anyone thinking about making one themselves, and for my personal record, because after all, that's what blogs are for.

A. Fabric selection

Where do I even begin to describe my happiness with how this quilt has turned out?

I'm thrilled with it and I'm not going to let it out of my sight.  I've even considered sewing an Apple AirTag into it so if it goes missing I can track it down! I've spent so many hours making this quilt but I've enjoyed them all. 

I started this quilt back in January 2020.  I've spent four years working on it in the background.  I haven't once put it on social media or even shown my ...

As the daylight hours decrease and the darkness envelops the northern hemisphere, Hindus all over the world celebrate Diwali - the festival of lights. You may have seen the newish British Prime Minister and his family celebrate Diwali at 10 Downing Street.

I have talked about my Diwali Memories and I made my first Diwali Quilt last year. 

This year when Island Batik gave us the choice to make a quilt project "celebrating" our favorite holiday, I knew instantly that I will be making a Diwali Quilt, using a fabric collection called Celebrate!!! Could there be a more appropriate fabric line ...

We’ve stitched up a surprise for you all here at Fat Quarter Shop. We’re doing some redecorating and we have some spools that are looking to go out into the Threadiverse and find some new homes! Find out all the details of The Great Thread Giveaway in today’s blog post.

Fat Quarter Shop is excited to give 60 lucky winners some of our favorite 50wt Aurifil threads from the thread wall in our studio! You may have seen it in the background of videos on Fat Quarter Shop’s Youtube Channel!

Aurifil 50wt thread is the most ...

It may be Thanksgiving where you live, but I've just finished my Halloween quilt!  I've called it "Spooky Darlings" after the fabric range that I used.  

I only had a fat eighth bundle to play with so I made the biggest triangles that I could and combined them in alternating dark and light rows ...

Time to finish our wool stitch along project. I hope you had time to get your bases done with the apple appliques and buttons. Today we finish it off with a bit of embroidery and some seed beads. When we left off, we were here.

Get out your floss and beads, finding some green to match your leaves, along with red and gold seed beads. If you don’t have seed beads, you can do french knots with the appropriate color floss for a similar look.

Place the piece on a countertop. Center a Mason jar ring on the wool ...

This week I started hand quilting my Licorice Allsorts quilt.  

The guild I belong to, Capital Quilters in Wellington, New Zealand will be holding an exhibition in May 2024 and I ...

 I'm on my way back to New Zealand today but here's one more blog post prepared in advance.  this is my Shuttles quilt that I made to showcase some of my beautiful Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  You can read all about it here. 

And I hand quilted it with bright yellow Aurifil 12 wt.  

Now it’s time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog ...

Have you caught up with your Bountiful quilt? I have been a bit behind in posting my blocks so here is Release 4. It is the beautiful butterfly pattern, which I have to say was my favourite block. Release 5 has a video and instructions on how to finish the quilt top. You can find all the FREE instructions here and to make it easy for you FQS is offering the full kit for the quilt top and the backing. My quilt has been made using Beyond Bella by Annie Brady for Moda. The FQS has pre-cuts, yardage and patterns ...

Marrying someone from halfway across the globe has its perks.  There is always something new to learn. Recently Paul introduced me to the Addams Family.  I fell in love with Wednesday and she is the inspiration for my May project! 

Wednesday Mock-Up in EQ8

Download your FREE block pattern for May and join us for a worthy cause. These 24″ blocks are the second instalment of the Bountiful Charity quilt. Read about the wildfire and centre blocks at the Jolly Jabber blog. You can learn about the sew-a-long and where to download all the blocks as they are released on the Fatquarter Jolly Jabber blog and don’t forget to tag your beautiful blocks when posting to social media #BountifulQAL Donations to the Make a Wish foundation can be made here

When Janet in my Modern quilting group showed me a photo of her daughter’s house tiles and asked me to draft a pattern, I immediately said, “Yes”. This straightforward pattern uses a simple method to make the star points. The pattern contains templates and a no-waste solution for the leftover pieces. The pattern can be purchased here For my sample, I made a 9-block version using Bella Solids and Grunge and pieced and quilted the project with Aurifil 50wt cotton.

Download your FREE block pattern for April and join us for a worthy cause. These 24″ blocks are the second instalment of the Bountiful Charity quilt. Read about the wildfire and centre blocks at the Jolly Jabber blog. You can learn about the sew-a-long and where to download all the blocks as they are released on the Fatquarter Jolly Jabber blog and don’t forget to tag your beautiful blocks when posting to social media #BountifulQAL

 Day 13 of my Christmas Countdown and it's my Holiday Patchwork Forest quilt. 

This quilt still makes me smile because it started out as just a few test blocks from scraps in my stash.  I didn't have an overall colour plan before I started, but I really like how it's turned out.  

I did some basic machine quilting on it, but then accentuated the trees with hand quilting. Both Kaffe Fassett borders were from my stash, and the thin red strip border adds a finishing Christmas touch. 

It's another small lap type quilt that I can ...

With snow on the ground and the neighbourhood decorations going up, it's starting to feel like it's time we get serious with our gift lists.  If you are like me, you want to include something hand made... or hand-makeable.  These small stitcheries work up very quickly, by hand or machine. (Mine are all done on the sewing machine).

A simple poinsettia shape is outline stitched in 12 weight Aurifil thread. You trace the design onto your fabric and layer with batting and backing as you would a quilt.  

Set your regular sewing machine up as for free motion ...