Bowtie Wreath Block Tutorial {Countdown to Christmas with Moda Bake Shop}

Just popping in today to share that I have a block tutorial posted on Moda Bake Shop for a Bowtie Wreath block as a part of their Countdown to Christmas quilt along!

If you haven't been following along, the Countdown to Christmas consists of a new 6" block tutorial with a Christmas theme every day! The tutorials started on December 1st and run until Christmas and are free! Here are some of the blocks thus far (taken from the MBS Instagram account!):

With four little bowtie blocks and a little bit of machine applique, the Bowtie Wreath is a quick and easy add to this fun block collection!

Click on over to MBS to see the full tutorial! Sharing at Let's Bee Social and Needle and Thread Thursday!

On Ringo Lake {Clue #3}

Another Monday, another update on my On Ringo Lake units!

For clue #3, our clue instructed us to make right-facing and left-facing stitch and flip units. These sort of look like parallelograms to me, but someone else called them "dyslexic geese"! When paired together, they could (might?) make chevron units, but we aren't supposed to sew them together -- or at least not yet!

For these units, I had to add in some aqua fabrics that I hadn't used in my flying geese units. I ended up using 14 different aqua fabrics and at least 25 different black fabrics! A lot of my black squares came from my all squares scrap box! It shortened my cutting time significantly to have things already in the right size ready to go!

As of now, I have no confidence in my guesses about how these units will end up coming together, but I did lay out some of my units together to see how the colors are looking!

I really have made a huge dent in my scraps with this project -- especially the aqua and the black! Here are all of my units all bagged up and ready!

Now to wait until Friday for the next clue! Sharing at Oh Scrap and Quiltville's Mystery Monday!

Blue in Bloom {Finished Green Version}

Hip hip hooray! The first of my two throw-sized Blue in Bloom quilts is finished!

These quilts were the two things that I worked on when I went on retreat in August. I finished both the tops before Labor Day but since then I've had a lot of deadlines and quilting these has gotten pushed back further than I originally would have liked.

All of the fabric in this green version came from my stash other than the green dot-stripe print, which I bought 5 yards of in the summer so that I could use it in both the top and the backing. A few of the fabrics are coordinates but I can't really tell you their origin story.

For the quilting, I did a large meander with six-petaled flowers. I've used this quilting motif for a number of quilts recently, but this time I used a much larger meander and flowers and the quilting on this went so fast! The green binding is also from my stash -- it's the same as the purple print in the quilt, just green!

Now to head back into the sewing room to start the quilting on its blue twin!

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Blue in Bloom, throw size
Size: 55" x 75"
Fabrics: mainly from stash, Kona Oyster for background
Quilting: meanders with daisies

Sharing at Finish It Up Friday!

Penguin-ing {December IBA Project and Giveaway}

It's December and that means it's time to share my December Island Batik Ambassador project! This month our theme is table runners and table toppers.

For my project, I decided to use our HBD Seasonal Table Runners pattern, volume 4. This set includes directions for a basic table runner with two border options, as well as applique patterns for winter penguins, spring bug-a-boos, and fall fruits.

I'm going to use the penguin pattern for my runner and you're welcome to join me! I'll be using fabric from the Autumn's Grace collection by Island Batik (with a few others added in) that I received in my summer Ambassador box!

I'll be doing the checkerboard border using the fat quarters, my background is the white tonal print, and I'll be using scraps for the penguin appliques. The tan print will be my backing and my binding. Prepping my applique pieces went super fast!

I decided to make a shorter table runner than in the pattern -- my center will finish 36 inches instead of 48 inches long -- I decided to do two sets of three penguins instead of three sets. With a little ironing, my center is complete!

I used black thread to do all of the blanket stitching on the applique pieces except for the beaks.

For the pieced border, I strip pieced the 2.5 inch squares from 4 different colors of fabric. 

Voila! My table runner top is done!

While I'm working on finishing up the quilting on this runner, leave a comment (or two!) to win a bundle of the Island Batik fabrics I used in this project as well as the Seasonal Placemats pattern!

Two options to enter -- you can do one or both!:
1. Leave a comment telling me your favorite Christmas/holiday cookies to make! I love making just about anything and am looking for new recipes!
2. Hop over to our Honey, Bunny, and Doll Etsy shop and leave me a comment with which of the Seasonal Placemats are your favorite! I think that next I'll be making myself the summer watermelon runner from Set #3!

Update: Giveaway is now closed and winner will be announced soon!

I'll leave the comments open until next Thursday, December 14th and announce the winner in the finished runner post!

Sharing at Needle and Thread Thursday!

On Ringo Lake {Clue #2}

I'm 2-for-2 so far -- I have been able to get both of my block sets for On Ringo Lake done quite quickly! Since clues have been coming out on Friday, I've been able to break up the different parts of the unit construction over the course of the weekend. This time around, we are making flying geese!

Given that I don't pre-cut my scraps, I found it easier to do the math on my own and make fast flying geese instead of the methods Bonnie suggests. Friday night I was able to get all of the squares cut -- I had to decide on my final fabric and went with aqua! 

I did all of the sewing done in various bursts on Saturday and finished up the pressing and trimming on Sunday.

I ended up using seven different aqua fabrics and about ten different black fabrics for my geese! The two brighter aqua prints with pink/orange/yellow were left from my Wishes quilt. The black text print is from two jelly roll strips of Architextures.

Linking up with everyone else at Quiltville, Linky Tuesday, and Oh Scrap! Now back to work on all of the other things I need to be working on!

PS. I have an Island Batik giveaway going on until December 12th! Click here to go to the entry post!