Tracing Hands and Making Plans {Artsy Fartsy With Aurifil and Island Batik}

This month our Island Batik challenge theme is Artsy Fartsy! The ambassadors have been tasked with making a project that uses at least three different weights of Aurifil thread. We are supposed to channel our inner quilt artists to create something Artsy Fartsy!

As an Island Batik Ambassador, I am provided with samples of various lines of Island Batik fabrics and Aurifil thread to use and share with you!

My plan for this month is to make a fun mini quilt for my hallway that is art quilt-inspired. But also, it's a little on the cheesy side and I had to enlist my lovely husband for the project too.

While its hard to see in this picture (and slightly easier to see in the second picture) I traced the hand and forearm of myself and my husband. He only agreed to participate if he did not appear in any pictures, so action shots of me tracing his hand are unavailable.

Next up, I pulled out a great brown Island Batik blender to use for these appliques.

A little trimming (and smoothing) later, I have a lady hand and a man hand for my project.

I pulled a number of half yard cuts and larger pieces for my background.

What color do you think I decided on? Any guesses on what I'm making here?

Happy Monday!

Back Home {C2C 2019}

My big blocks have returned to me, and now I have the very tough decision of how to finish this quilt.

Here are all four of my blocks together:

Top row: Stephanie's block, Audrey's block

Bottom row: my block, Karen's block

As a reminder, my blocks are 18.5" unfinished. My original thought was that I would just add navy solid as the sashing and borders so that the quilt blocks would float.

Now I'm wondering about doing something a little more spiffy. I need to do some math and see how much fabric I have left. Adding 2.5" sashings would result in a 42" finished quilt. I could also do a simple sashing and some sort of pieced border, too.

What are your thoughts? Do you like big block quilts?

Audrey's Quilt {C2C 2019}

These blocks wrap up my commitment to the Coast to Coast traveling bee for 2019!

Audrey requested that we make blocks for a row quilt using white solid and Bonnie and Camille fabrics from the Happy-Go-Lucky line. She also asked that we pick blocks that remind us of our grandmothers.

Audrey made Granny Squares, Karen made Grandmother's fans, and Stephanie made Hungarian Posy blocks (a block she designed herself based on her grandmother's embroidery!)

For my blocks, I decided to go with -- baskets! The pattern I used was technically for an 8" block but I scaled it up to make 12" blocks.

Here's the first block that I used as my test block:

Since she requested enough blocks for a 72" row of blocks, I made six basket blocks.

This is (finally) on its way to Audrey and I will be showing off my blocks on Friday!

Sharing at Needle and Thread Thursday!

Brutal Honesty {July 2019}

June was just about as unproductive as May. Oof.

I did get three quilts back from the quilter, so those will be easier finishes this month since they just need binding.

Quilted and ready for binding:
1. Double Delight -- May UFO project - Need to trim and bind
2. Good Fortune Mystery Quilt -- Need to trim and bind
3. April Showers C2C Bee Quilt -- January UFO project -- Need to trim and bind

Completed tops:
4. Magnolia Mystery QAL -- No progress
5. Breezy Blooms C2C Bee -- No progress
6. Radiant Jewel Quilt -- April UFO project - No progress
7. Daisy Chain Quilt -- My twin sized version of our mystery quilt pattern is ready to be quilted and I have a backing for it.

8. FQS Pineapple Day Quilt -- I have the top finished and it is ready to quilt. I got a backing *and* a batting when I ordered all of the supplies for this quilt. (Including some very fun variegated thread!)

Tops partially finished:
9. Romantic Garden Quilt -- No progress
10. Monthly Wall Hangings -- March UFO project -- No progress
11. Pineapple Stash Bee Blocks -- February UFO project -- No progress

Just blocks and units:
12. Sew Kitschy Blocks -- No progress
13. Cubicle Quilts -- No progress
14. Happy Houses blocks -- No progress
15. Birthstone blocks -- June UFO project - No progress
16. Jingle Bell Square -- I made 5 blocks in June. I'm hoping to make a few more before I do another update post.

Quilt alongs and long term projects:
17. Monthly Island Batik Ambassador projects -- In June I made a Dresden Plate table topper for my patio table. In July, our theme is "Artsy Fartsy" and we are tasked with using multiple Aurifil thread weights to create an art-quilt inspired project.

18. Coast to Coast Bee 2019 -- I will have a post up about my blocks for Audrey this week -- I made basket blocks for her using the Happy-Go-Lucky fabric she provided for us. I have my quilt blocks back from my bee-mates too and I'll have a post about those blocks as well.

My UFO for June was my Birthstone blocks. I didn't touch this project. My UFO for July will be my Breezy Blooms row quilt.

July is gonna be a big miss on the quilting front since I am going on vacation for *10 days* without my sewing machine. I will hopefully have a few posts I can schedule while I am traipsing across the Midwest with my bunnies in the backseat.

Pineapple Day Quilt {Quilt Top}

It's quilt fashion show day for the Pineapple Day Quilt Along with the Fat Quarter Shop!

For my quilt, I did not use the official layout. Instead of sewing my 6" and 12" blocks into rows, I sewed my 6" blocks into pairs. I then interspersed my 6" pairs among my columns of 12" blocks and my quilt before borders was 48" wide by 60" long. I added the 4.5" borders as directed in the pattern, but my finished quilt is just slightly shorter than the pattern.

I absolutely loved working with these pineapple papers (especially the 6" size!) and am excited to use them again in the future for other scrappy projects.

Check out many of the finished quilts here!