On The Road Again {Scrappy Sewing Progress}

When I last posted about my new scrappy project, my block units looked like this:

And now I have blocks that look like this!

{block pics}

I currently have 22 star blocks and 22 chain blocks. I still have six sets of finished flying geese units for another six star blocks, and then I'll make another batch of six chain blocks. Since I last posted about this project, I did cut up some additional 2.5" squares for my four patches and the corners of the chain blocks to add some additional color variety. 

That would put me at 56 total blocks, able to be alternated in a 7x8 grid, for a quilt (pre-borders) that would be approximately 56" x 64", which would be a nice sized throw. But, I think if I can find another blue/aqua fabric or two to cut into more flying geese units, I'd like to see the quilt grow closer to twin sized, since I still have a lot of this fabric line left. I might skip the green fabrics all together just for the sake of contrast, but that's still to be determined.

What are you sewing this week?

Meet the Chefs! {Best of Moda Bake Shop Book Hop}

Today is my day to shout from the rooftops all about myself and my quilt that's featured in the Best of Moda Bake Shop book!

For the book, I made a new version of the Garden Plots quilt pattern that was originally published on Moda Bake Shop in 2018. (The pattern is now only available in the book.)

The new version of the quilt features Painted Meadow by Robin Pickens. I used the large scale prints in the line for the center of the blocks. Each block uses two jelly roll strips in similar colors and the block design gives the illusion of sashing without actually having sashing between the blocks! The pattern makes a very lovely throw, but you could easily adjust the number of blocks to make a larger or smaller quilt to your heart's desire! 

Here are some pictures of my original quilt!

A little about me too! Here are the "official questions" for our blog hop:

-Favorite Precut -- Jelly Roll

-Favorite Sewing Tool -- Creative Grids 12.5" x 3.5" ruler

-Favorite Quilt Block -- Any sort of star block

-Favorite Sewing Snack -- Kettlecorn

-If I’m not at my sewing machine, you can find me -- probably at my "real" job working in a research lab!

And now for a GIVEAWAY! I am giving away two copies of the book -- one copy here on my blog and one copy on Instagram. Click here to visit my Instagram post.

To enter to win, leave a comment telling me the following: What is your favorite project that you've ever made with a JELLY ROLL?

One comment per person, please. The giveaway will close on Thursday, August 6th at midnight and I will pick a winner on August 7th.

Christmas in July Wall Hanging {Finished Project}

My Christmas in July Island Batik project is finished!

I added a penguin applique to the lower right corner of the top of the wall hanging for a little bit of fun. This is actually the same penguin that is available in our Seasonal Placemats and Seasonal Wall Hanging patterns; I simply scaled up the design.

For the quilting, I used white thread to quilt loops and snowflakes. I added eyes for the penguin with a fabric pen. 

The binding is a navy mottled Island Batik basic that I had a half yard cut of in my stash. For the backing, I used a piece of the remaining snowflake print yardage from the line combined with a half-yard of a blue dot basic that coordinated well with this line. I used a piece of the snowflake print for the hanging sleeve.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway -- it will close tomorrow at midnight!

Quilt Stats:

Name: Winter Forest wall hanging

Pattern: Self designed

Fabrics: Winter Forest from Island Batik plus Island Batik Basics

Techniques: Accuquilt cutting, applique, free motion quilting

Quilting: meandering loops and snowflakes

Batting: Hobbs 80/20 batting

Size: 36 inches square

Started and finished: July 2020

Future: Gift!

Unboxed: My Second 2020 {Island Batik Ambassador} Box!

I'm so excited to show off the things that came in my second Island Batik Ambassador shipment for 2020!

First off -- batting from Hobbs bonded fibers! Let me tell you -- living in sort of the middle of no where, it is so nice to have a few battings on hand and not have to make a special trip out to buy one, which I used to have to do quite often! I'm excited to play with the fusible batting roll -- is a jelly roll rug in my future?

I have two "surprise" packages that are soon-to-be released lines that I can't show off just yet! Just believe me when I say they are gorgeous!

I also received some half-yard cuts of batik basics that coordinate with my "surprise" packages; you can get an idea of what the color schemes will be!

Next up is a gorgeous fat quarter bundle of Catching Dreams! Love those purples.

This time around we each received a Studio 180 ruler to try! I've never used one of these before and I am excited to try it out. This was bundled with a set of 2.5" strips and coordinating cuts of yardage from the Nouveau Soul line.

I also received a 10" square stacker of the Venetian Marble line with some coordinating yardage.

And I would be remiss if I skipped over the extra large cuts of solids and basics! I have started using the solids for some of my backings on my Island Batik projects and it's worked out great!

One of my favorite things that usually makes an appearance in our Ambassador boxes are the stash builder rolls! These two are all blues and all teals, respectively, and I think a lot of those blue fabrics will be turned into a baby quilt for one of our best friends! And Aurifil thread is always a good addition!

The final thing in our boxes, which I am so excited to show, is a full kit from By Annie's to make one of their bag patterns! A while back we got to chose one of their patterns and I chose the Open Wide pouch patterns. They picked fabrics for us and all of the coordinating notions! I'm very nervous to work on this project but I am in DESPERATE need of a new set of travel toiletry bags!

I am having a giveaway on my previous post (click here to see it) that closes on Tuesday, July 28th so make sure to enter!

Christmas in July {With Island Batik and Accuquilt} and GIVEAWAY!

This month's Island Batik theme is "Christmas in July" and Accuquilt is acting as Santa!

Every IB ambassador has a regular sized GO! cutter that we were given (I got mine last year) however, this summer we were each sent one of the brand new GO! Me starter sets to make a gift using the 3" finished dies AND to give the starter set to someone who doesn't have an Accuquilt!

The GO! Me system is really fun and compact -- much more portable than the standard sized GO! cutter with the same cutting performance. It's fast, accurate, easy, and safe -- perfect for a quilters old and new alike! This set includes two dies -- a 3" square and a 3" HST, so the dies work together. 

I'll go ahead and admit here that I had to do things a *little* out of order for this challenge with how busy things have been! I got my fabrics cut for my project, gave the GO! Me set to the recipient when I saw her in person earlier this month, and now I am working on getting my project sewn.

So first up -- my project. I am making a wall hanging using some of the remaining Winter Forest fabrics I had on hand. I cut a big pile of 3.5" unfinished squares using the GO! Me cutter.

The lovely recipient of the starter set was my wonderful Mom, whose birthday happened to be this month and because she's just all around wonderful. She said she was excited to use this for some scrap cutting!

And now that the crazy of the last month has died down, I was able to pick up this project again and get the top finished!

Using 144 of my 3.5" unfinished squares, I made a really, really big postage stamp block that will be turned into the base of a wall hanging! I also have some extra squares that might get turned into coordinating table toppers. This also happens to match just perfectly with the placemats I made back in May for our blog hop!

And to spread more of the Christmas in July spirit -- I am having a giveaway of the rest of my Winter Forest fabric! I have WOF strips that are at least 5" wide (some closer to 6") in all 20 fabrics from the line, packaged and ready to ship to the winner!

Entries are as follows, leave a comment for each entry:

1. Tell me what you'd make with the Winter Forest fabric.

2. Tell me which of the other Island Batik Ambassadors you follow -- if you follow me, that counts too!

The giveaway will only be open for a short amount of time -- next Tuesday, July 28th will be the last day to enter and I will announce the winner on the 29th.

Update: The giveaway is now closed and the winner is Kat!

What I've Been Sewing Lately {WIP Wednesday}

Despite the fact that I have been working from home for four months as of tomorrow, that has not translated at all into extra sewing time. It's mostly translated into sleeping more and loading and unloading the dishwasher more. And we may or may not have made it through the entire Marvel movie series in that time. 

The goals in my sewing room have been two-fold since the beginning of the year: finish up WIPs and clear out scraps. The finishing up WIPs part has been wholly unsuccessful. The clearing out scraps part has actually gone relatively well. I haven't made any lately, but early on in quarantine, I made oodles of my Rainbow Snippet blocks. 

I haven't really posted about it but I have actually been making masks. I've made four "batches" -- the first batch was for us, a few of my husband's coworkers, and some friends, the second was a batch for our church when they reopened for socially distanced services, and the third and fourth batches have been for my work. I've used the Sarah Maker tutorial with ties for all of them, but usually I make my ties slightly shorter.

This has been a great medium-to-large scrap buster. I've pulled the majority of my fabrics from my "larger cuts" scrap bin and just tried to maximize what I can get out of the scraps.

I also started a new scrappy project using some Island Batik fabrics and my Accuquilt cutter. I still had most of the scraps left from my Hip to Be Square quilts from the Little Sir, Little Miss line (other than the pink and purples I pulled out to make my Hattie's Choice quilt a few months ago) and combined that with the black solid Island Batik fabric I had on hand for the background. The inspiration for my quilt is this pattern that is featured in the Accuquilt book that came with my starter set last year:

I'm not sure if I will do the borders as the pattern shows, but for now, I cut all of my blue and teal scraps into pieces and parts for flying geese for the star points and the rest of the colors (other than the green, which I am reserving for now) into squares for the four patches. The other change is that the pattern is actually for the 6" Qube set and I have an 8" Qube set so I am not really going off yardage, I'm just starting with this general idea for a a two block quilt.

I have all but four of my flying geese sets complete (at least of what I have cut thus far):

I've also made quite a few four patches that will become the centers of my star blocks:

The four patches will also be part of the secondary block for this quilt, which I have seen called by many names, including a "Frayed Four Patch". To me it's kind of like a mini Irish Chain block or a really small Courthouse Steps block. Some of my small squares will be used for the corners of these blocks so I can't just mindlessly turn all of them into four patches! I also realized that I need to cut some black small squares for the corners of my star blocks, so that will be my next task.

Now that I am finally in a better mind for sewing, it figures that I am going back to work on site (part time) starting next week! I still need to decide on my project for this month's Island Batik assignment, but I have a few good ideas! I'll be using the same fabrics that I used for my May project (I think) to make a wall hanging (I think).

Chrysanthemum Quilt {Finished Quilt}

I am so excited today to show off my finished Chrysanthemum quilt!

This is my June Island Batik Ambassador project -- I used fabrics from the Primo line by Ebony Love for the piecing and solid white batik for the backing. I used stash builder strips cut in half for the binding.

For the quilting, I used a peach Aurifil 50 wt. thread in both the top and bobbin. I obviously used a crysanthemum motif for the free motion quilting!

I am pretty resolved that this year there won't be a QAL given that life has been crazy busy but that this pattern will likely be the QAL for 2021. It's just that much fun of a pattern!

I did just use the white solid batik as my backing this time around because it was basically the best choice I had on hand to back this quilt. I'm guessing if you've been like me the last few months, the name of the game in the sewing room is making due with whatever you have on hand without having to go shopping!

This will likely be a keeper quilt for me because I love it just that much!

Quilt Stats:

Name: Chrysanthemum throw quilt

Pattern: Chrysanthemum -- by me, will eventually be a real pattern

Fabrics: Primo by Ebony Love for Island Batik, white solid backing

Techniques: free motion quilting, HSTs, strip piecing

Quilting: Free motion chrysanthemum quilting

Batting: Hobbs 80/20 batting

Size: 75 inches square

Started: April 2020

Finished: July 2020

Future: TBD

Big big news -- I'm in a BOOK! {Best of Moda Bake Shop}

Today is a BIG BIG DAY! It is the release date of Best of Moda Bake Shop -- and I am one of the designers featured in the book!

The book has 15 (yes, 15!) different projects featuring the whole range of precut possibilities, including some seasonal quilts! Some of the patterns were featured in the past on the Moda Bake Shop website and some of the patterns are brand new for this book!

My Garden Plots pattern, which was originally featured on Moda Bake Shop in January 2018, is now a part of this book!

This version of the quilt was made with Robin Pickens' line, Painted Meadow. I used three large scale prints for the centers of each block and used a jelly roll for the rest of the piecing. This is actually a one block quilt!

The designers featured in the book are hosting a "get to know us" hop starting today and we will have a pillow parade hop featuring the blocks in our quilts starting on August 10th, so you have plenty of time to get a copy of the book for yourself!

Here's the introduction hop schedule and each Chef's Instagram link:

Wednesday, July 1: Lisa Calle (@vintagemodernquilts)

Friday, July 3: LeAnne Ballard (@everydaycelebrations)

Monday, July 6: Kristina Brinkerhoff (@centerstreetquilts)

Wednesday, July 8: Diane Brinton & Audrey Mann (@theclothparcel)

Friday, July 10: Jen Daly (@jendalyquilts)

Monday, July 13: Jessica Dayon (@jessicadayon) 

Wednesday, July 15: Lisa Jo Girodat (@neverlandstitches)

Friday, July 17: Julie Hirt (@juliehirt)

Monday, July 20: Sharla Krenzel (@thistlethicketstudio)

Wednesday, July 22: Lauren Terry (@brightsonwhite)

Friday, July 24: Jen Van Orman (@heritage.threads)

Monday, July 27: Susan Vaughan (@thefeltedpear)

Wednesday, July 29: Alison Vermilya (@littlebunnyalison) <--- That's me!

Friday, July 31: Christine Weld (@christine.weld)

Monday, August 3: Amanda Wilber (@piecedjustsew)

We hope that you follow along and join us! I'll be posting the pillow parade schedule at the end of July so stay tuned! I will also have an "official" blog post showing off my finished Garden Plots quilt as part of my posts on July 29th!