What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

If I could be doing anything quilty, it would be improv piecing.  It is like taking a journey. "Come hither ye fabric scraps; together we will travel and see where we end up." 

Here is the Island Batik Challenge for March. It reads 

"March brings a free month for you to determine your own project of any size, using any theme and any technique!! This is an opportunity for you to express your creativity without guidelines. Have fun!"

And I did have fun. See how the bits and pieces grew.

Starting Point

And then there were two

Growing

Coming Together ...

I have a new finish to share. Meet Paroma.  Although the quilt was completed in August 2022
(hence the lush green backdrop), I had to sit tight till now. 

Paroma. 56" by 68"

Paroma is a Fat quarter friendly quilt published in Quilt Patterns - Fun Fat Quarter Quilts for Spring (anniescatalog.com)  With 22 FQ projects for just under $10, this is a steal.

In process

20 FQs make 20 stars and yield enough fabric to make a scrappy happy border.  Paroma finished at 56" by 68" and it just sparkles ...

The Hindi/Urdu word Nihal means happy and satisfied in every way.  Imagine a traveler coming from hot and dusty desert, with a parched throat.  They would become "Nihal" after they had a drink of cool and refreshing water. Happy and satisfied in every way!

Meet Nihal. 

Location Courtesy - Kids Play Structure in Mari's Backyard

To make Nihal, I used a pack of 10" squares - Cheers, designed by Carl and Linda Sullivan of Colourwerx. Cheers is from the Island Batik Spring 2022 Collection.  I also used Island Batik Solid light grey fabric for accent and binding. 

Nihal is published ...

I firmly believe that anyone who has a voice can sing. Whether their singing is pleasant to hear or not is another story altogether.  Similarly, I can make a quilt with any group of colors. Will that grouping be aesthetically appealing? That depends on the design.

December Challenge!

Four times a year when the challenge is combined with a blog hop, we the Island Batik ambassadors are required to use one of the new fabric collections, assigned to us. Further we are directed to use as many fabrics (from the collection) as possible.

I was assigned the Chickadee Fabric Collection ...

She wanted to be surprised, but when we chatted today on Messenger, she said she could stand it any longer, especially since she knew I finished it, so I had to hold up her quilt so she could see it. Now I can show it to everyone.

She sent me dozens of pictures of what she liked, many with water and various shades of blue. This delightful young woman is a teacher who lives in a coastal city. She loves helping people who struggle, but is also aware of her need to find a quiet place now and then. She ...

Hello friends! If you had a hard time finding TGIFF with me this week, I apologize. My web serving was affected by the hurricane in Florida and I had to temporarily host through Instagram (which is a little unorthodox for TGIFF). It's Friday morning my time and the web service is back up so I'm sharing my project here now. I hope you'll link up your finishes below for TGIFF.

I *finally* finished a quilt this week that has been in the works for quite a while. It was quilted by @threadedquilting back in January 2020 and ...

1. Topsy Turvy is now available as a stand alone pattern in my Etsy Store.

Topsy Turvy in Honeycomb Fabrics

I first made Topsy Turvy using the scraps left over from the Island Batik "Make it Modern" Blog Hop and Challenge.  Many refinements later, making it suitable for 2.5" precut strips, writing and rewriting and then correcting the pattern, Topsy Turvy is now available as a standalone pattern.   

Here are a few more pictures.

Basting and Ironing

Now I'm working on a pile of leftover floral prints, oldies but enough to make a bunch of HST with contrasting values. Not sure what will come of it, maybe just an empty ...

I am thrilled to announce the generous sponsors for the Positivity 2022 Quilt Along to make Mercyful Quilts. There is a lot of information here, so you may want to bookmark this page.

If you are new to the Positivity QAL or have not heard of Mercyful Quilts, you may have some questions. Well, I have answers :-)

It was about one year ago, when I first doodled the idea that became Synergy. I first made Synergy in Rainbow Fabrics on a Light Gray background, provided by Island Batiks.

The second version was in Tantalizing Teals on a Yellow background. 

Since then, I have been playing in EQ8, with different Island Batik collections.

In Lace & Grace (Fall 2021 Collection)

In Playful Purples (Island Batik Foundations)

In Interurban (Fall 2021)

But I am so looking forward to the different versions that are cooking in the following studios of North America.

1. Mari of Academic Quilter - Thursday, April 21, 2022 ...

 The Island Batik challenge for January 2022 reads as follows: 

Island Batik has developed ten colorways of gradations with 20 steps in each. There are so many quilt projects that make use of gradations in color and value. Your challenge is to create a project that demonstrates this step by step change in color value!

I love this challenge. I absolutely do. I love creating quilts with gradations, where color (or value) gradually changes from one to the other. I made a Gradations quilt in Konark, even though it wasn't a requirement. Cross Currents was based on the same ...

My life has become as busy as a new mom with a baby. I do get some “free” time, but I use it to try to keep up with housework, animal chores, and yard work. I can’t go far, or if I do I must use the indoor cameras to know when my husband is awake. He is nearing the final stage of Alzheimer’s Disease.

I’d had a few days of so much frustration that I had a short temper. I didn’t like myself much. One morning I woke earlier than normal and used the extra ...

I have news!!!

My pattern Synergy is in the Make Modern Magazine, Issue 44.

Synergy in Make Modern #44

Meet Synergy. Measuring 56" by 70", Synergy is made entirely with Island Batik Solids, provided to me free of charge by Island Batik. It is good to be an ambassador :-)

Orange Foliage, Rainbow Quilt

My favorite :-)

Breeze was a Brat

More Fall Foliage

Oh my beauty!

The quilt was completed in November 2021. The  pictures were taken on November 14, 2021. All instructions and pictures were sent on November 20, 2021. And then I had to sit tight till NOW.  

Sitting ...

I'm super excited about my lated finished lap quilt. I love the palette and look forward to cuddling up on the couch with it.

Three years ago I started Amy Ellis's Waterfall Quilt. I really loved the wash of color over the quilt. She had made two monochromatic versions in blue and green. At the time I started, solids were quite minimal in my stash.

The majority of my stash is blenders, fabrics that read as a single color, so I focused on those prints. I started with my favorite palette: navy, turquoise, and lime green, and added ...

I found more time to work on the quilt. I had listed the dimensions I wanted for each patch and started cutting the stabilizer. I added 1/2 in to each dimension so that I had a 1/4 inch seam allowance on all sides. As I had each one cut, I noted the dimensions on a slip of paper and pinned it to the pieces. I had the width noted first so I would know how to orient the stabilizer before fusing.

I came to the shirt that said American Classic, and decided I didn’t want it included ...

Welcome to Day One of the Island Batik's November 2021 Blog Hop - Storm at Sea.

The November Challenge for Island Batik required that we make a Storm at Sea quilt, lap size or larger, using the Summer 2021 Fabric bundle. I received the collection Bellingham Bay - designed by Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design.

Bellingham Bay

Those of you who know me know that these are not my favorite colors. I find them dark and depressing.  Guess this was an added dimension to the challenge.  

I turned to EQ8 to mock-up the color combinations to come up with a ...

I know the concept isn’t new, but I haven’t tried it yet. I’ve been preparing for this for a lot of years – I remember asking my son’s mother-in-law on his wedding day, while we were at the hair salon, what type of stabilizer I would need to buy. My son has been married 5 years now.

I weeded out some shirts from my husband’s side of the closet and bought him a slew of new ones. He enjoyed helping me to decide which can go into the quilt. This will be his lap quilt and ...

I can't remember when I purchased the Mod Quads pattern by Designs by jb. I think I was on Pinterest looking for ideas for scrappy quilt designs (I'm still desperate to bring my scrap bins under control) when I found it. I googled the pattern name and designer and was surprised to find no website for Designs by jb. Instead, I found an online shop that sold it so I purchased the pattern from them.

The picture I had seen on Pinterest looked nothing like the cover photo on the pattern. It was made up in black and ...

A bag of half square triangles came in a hand-me-down package.

They turned in to this.

YAY!

Just a lap size quilt, 42″ x 56″, but it will be a nice donation quilt.