April Island Batik Ambassador Challenge

Crazy Quilt with Aurifil

Our challenge for April was to make a crazy quilt with the Aurifil thread provided by Aurifil and any Island Batik fabric provided previously.

The Aurifil thread I was gifted was a three pack collection named Rubber Tree. One spool was a light medium tan and two of them were variegated, one light and one darker.

The Island Batik fabric collection that I was gifted that would show off this thread collection the best was River Walk. And I love this collection, so I had no problem using it again for April.

I had some additional Aurifil threads in my stash that worked well in combination with the Rubber Tree collection, so here is the line up I used to create my crazy quilt.

This pattern came to mind as I thought about making a crazy quilt because I had made it previously. It uses machine embroidery and is fun to make.

I love making decisions about which thread color to use next and sitting back and watching my machine embroider it out for me.

The Aurifil variegated threads seemed to change colors in just the right place. I enjoyed using them.

Here is my finished crazy quilt wall hanging. I really love how it turned out.

I used Hobbs 80/20 batting and a new Schmetz needle for this project and appreciate these sponsors for providing these materials for me to use for these challenges.

Check out these Quilt shops for the Island Batik River Walk collection;

A and A Sewing

Bird in Hand Fabric

Boutique 4 Quilters

Creekside Quilts, OR

Portage Quilt House

Quilting by the Hearth

Sew Creative, OR

Stitch, CO

Check out the other Island Batik Ambassador’s blogs to see what they did for their April Island Batik / Aurifil Crazy Quilt Challenge.

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs
Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting
Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts
Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts
Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts
Mania Hatziioannidi ~ M ania for quilts
Reed Johnson ~ Blue Bear Quilts
Victoria Johnson ~ Forever Quilting for You
Randi Jones ~ Randi’s Roost

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs
Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood
Denise Looney ~ Quiltery – For The Love Of Geese
Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine

Anorina Morris ~ sameliasmum.com
Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion
Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique
Claudia Porter ~ Create with Claudia
Lana Russel ~ Lana Quilts

Elita Sharpe ~ Busy Needle
Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail
Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels
Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations
Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

August 9, 2015August 6, 2015

Gift for China

My friends’ nephew went to China to teach English. While there he fell in love and got married. My friends visited China this summer to meet the new family members and wanted to take some gifts along for the newlyweds, Mom and Dad (in laws), and grandmothers. We decided placemats and table toppers would be easy to pack, so I used my PJ’s In the Hoop Holiday Hostess pattern and made these.

Reverse side of one of the Table Toppers

I love this pattern. It’s amazing how it all gets sewn together while in the hoop on your embroidery machine.

Here are the recipients in China:

Thanks, Kim and Eric, for giving me the opportunity to make these gifts for your new family members in China. I’m so happy you had a wonderful trip. It’s good to have you back home.

July 5, 2015September 19, 2015

TWIST ~ This Week In Studio Time

Comfort quilt finished! I was able to complete Megan’s gift and present it to her before her third chemo treatment. My heart is in every stitch. I gave a lot of thought as I was piecing and quilting for just the right thing to say on the label.

The bits and pieces that represent life’s ebb and flow, ups and downs, joys and sorrows are on the front.

I echo quilted the tumbler shape after I stitched in the ditch. I decided to name the quilt, Lemonade for Megan because we all know what we are supposed to do when life gives us scraps.

The label side was made of a wide single paisley printed fabric in case she preferred it over the scrappy side.

My wish is that it brings her much comfort.

May 12, 2015

TWIST

TWIST ~ This Week In Studio Time

I hope all mothers out there enjoyed the weekend as I did. I know some don’t care for the “Hallmark” Holidays, but I think they do make you pause and remember, which is their purpose.

My studio time last week was spent making these cute party favors on my embroidery machine.

I also began the HoopSisters Mystery Quilt. I am such a sucker for mystery quilts! Don’t know what it is, but it’s so hard to resist. I don’t know how many mystery quilt classes I’ve taken from Charlotte Angotti and I’ve loved every one of them! Anyway, I can only show you the fabric for this one as I’m sworn to double secret probation not to disclose until June 15 since it’s a mystery, so here’s my fabric selection.

Hoopsisters 2015 Mystery Quilt fabric selection

Meet you back here at the end of this week..

April 26, 2015April 17, 2015

Sewn Seeds

Isn’t this gorgeous? Once I laid eyes on it, I couldn’t get it out of my head!

The colors are vibrant and beautiful. I knew I had to make it. And in THOSE exact colors! Simply Stunning.

I had to wait a few months for the class to start at my LQS. I had never participated in anything like this before. While our instructor was giving us the lowdown, the practical side of me was coming to the realization that I would not be making this in those beautiful clear vibrant colors. After all, those are not the colors in my home. Where would I put it? How would I display it? What would the end use be? I wasn’t going to invest the time and just put it away in a closet or drawer somewhere. I decided I would make a bedspread for our King bed with this project, so that helped me decide on the earthy colors. Our homework the first month was to embroider 4 of one block and 16 of another. The king size requires the largest size square and each one has 4 hours of embroidery!! That’s 80 hours for the month and doesn’t include the time to remove the hoop from the machine and trim the applique. Hence, I’m a bit behind in my EmbroidaBlock of the Month! Here’s what I have so far.

Sewn Seeds Block 1, Month 1 — Sewn Seeds Blocks 1 and 2 for Month 1

I do love it, but need to take breaks from it to work on other things. Enjoying the process.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31