Aurelia's Granddaughter

March's Island Batik Ambassador challenge is It's All Up To You.  Meaning Ambassador's choice.  March is usually when I'm trying to finish up the teacher quilts, so the timing is great for me!  (I make quilts for Fire Monkey's teachers every year, to be gifted the last week of school.) While I love all of the teacher quilts, this is my favorite of this year's batch.

Now that you've seen it, let me back up and give you some details. 

This year, Fire Monkey is in TD (Talent Development) enrichment classes twice a week.  I asked Fire Monkey to find out the favorite color of the teacher, Ms. L.  It's pink.  I had a strip pack of Precious Pinks in my January ambassador box, so I knew I'd use that.  Island Batik recently put together Gradations, each containing 20 of their basics in a a color graduation.  I've had Precious Pinks before and it's probably my favorite of the gradation collections, even though purple is my favorite color.

 

Items used in this project were give to me by Island Batik, Aurifil, Hobbs, Schmetz, and Oliso.

At some point in January, a new issue of Make Modern Magazine came out.  My friend and fellow Island Batik Ambassador Preeti had a pattern in this issue.  She calls it Aurelia and it's beautiful.  I loved it!  Preeti's version has a gradient of two colors, blues and purples, paired with white and black solid.  (Her fabrics come from the Porcelain Blue and Morris Mist collections.) I wondered if I could make a single color version.  That was not as challenging as specifically working within the strip set I had.  Mine was going to be a little bit scrappy.

Aurelia by Preeti Harris

I got out my strips and put together 2 different strip sets for the blocks.  One set used Hot Lips, Camellia, and Blush, while the other set used French Rose, Ballerina, and Carnation.  Instead of the black in Preeti's version, I used Sangria as the darkest pink, and the neutral Coconut for the background.  There are six different fabrics in the "flower" blocks: Petunia, Bubblegum, Tea Rose, Geranium, Raspberry, and Grenadine.

I ended up laying mine out a little differently than Preeti's version.  Hers is in narrower columns and uses blocks and reverse blocks.  With the monochromatic version, I liked the look of wider columns and chose not to make reverse blocks.  Fire Monkey got final decision and agreed on the layout change with the pink fabrics.

This came together really quickly and I absolutely love it!  Preeti named her pattern Aurelia.  I know there is a relative in my grandmother's family tree named Aurelia, but I do not remember who or the relationship, and neither does my brother.  I think Aurelia might have been my grandmother's grandmother.  So I'm naming this Aurelia's Granddaughter, therefore essentially naming it after my grandmother, or so I hope!

 

I quilted in Preeti style, meaning a grid of wavy line stitch.  I used Aurifil thread 2425 Bright Pink.  The batting is Hobbs 80/20 and the piecing and quilting were both done with Schmetz needles.  I pressed with my new yellow Oliso iron.   

Aurelia is in issue 56 of Make Modern Magazine.  You can also find it in Preeti's etsy shop.  AND!  Preeti is generously giving away a copy to one of my readers; leave a comment by April 4th and I will choose a winner randomly.  My version is 60" square but the original pattern is 60" x 84".  I absolutely love this quilt! I hope Ms. L loves it too! Thanks, Preeti, for such a fun and fast pattern!

Villa Rosa Designs blog hop - Twinkle

Welcome to my stop on the Fast & More Fun Blog Hop, brought to you by Villa Rosa Designs.  There are a whopping 28 bloggers participating!  I was so thrilled to be asked to join in the fun!  I've been a fan of Villa Rosa Designs for years and have made several of their patterns.  You've likely seen their pattern cards in quilt shops, they are post-card sized with beautiful photos of the whole quilt on one side and the instructions on the other side.

For this year's hop, Villa Rosa Designs (VRD) has put together a bundle of five patterns.  There is one for fat quarters, one for 10" squares/layer cake squares, one that uses a panel, and two that use charm squares. You can buy the set here, or just might WIN a set!  VRD is giving away a set of pattern cards at EACH of the participating blogs! Visit them all for more chances to win!  More on prizes below.

Villa Rosa Designs was started by Pat Fryer.  In the beginning, Pat was the only designer and she named all her patterns after rose varieties.  Now VRD has several designers and you can find their names & logos at the bottom of the front of the card.  If it's one of Pat's designs, it will have the rose the pattern is named after in the upper right corner.  This is why these pattern cards are sometimes called Rose Cards. 

I chose to make Twinkle, designed by Tricia Lynn Maloney/Orphan Quilt Designs.  Twinkle uses 5" charm squares and makes a quilt that finishes at 60" x 60".  I made it exactly as written, though I cut my HSTs with my accuquilt instead of the 2-at-a-time-and-then-trim method.  I thought about using more of the accent squares in the border, but decided to go as written for the first quilt. I cut enough squares to make a second Twinkle, and might add more accent squares in that version.

 

I don't have many charm squares, but Island Batik's stash builder strips are 5" x WOF, so I used a lot of those to make my own 5" squares.  I decided to limit my color palette to all shades of blue, green, and in-between.  So in addition to blues and greens, there are lots of teals and aquas.  I vastly under-estimated how many different fabrics in my chosen color way I would find in my Island Batik scrap bin, so I cut way more than I needed.  I limited the actual quilt to only 2 HSTs made from any one fabric.  I have enough cut out to make at least one more Twinkle.  I hoped to have at least started my second in time for this hop, but alas, time was not on my side.

All fabrics are Island Batik: scraps for the stars, solid white for the background, and a black mottled blender for the accent squares in the sashing and the binding.  I wanted a blue that was almost black for the accent, but I didn't have enough, but this black feels almost blue, so it works.

I quilted it using the wavy line stitch on the grid made by the squares--a look I stole from Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts.  It is easy to do and gives great texture.  I used a light-but-almost-medium blue thread for the quilting, so it shows up a bit and I think complements the overall colors I used.

Twinkle sewed up pretty quickly, especially for being as big as it is. (60" square)  I'm really happy with it, and since I already have more blues and greens cut, a second and maybe even a third won't be far behind.  I'd also love to do one with a darker background and lighter charm square fabrics.  

PRIZES

I mentioned above that Villa Rosa is giving away a set of the 5 featured pattern cards to a reader of EACH blog.  In addition, each blogger will choose 3 readers to go into the drawing for the sponsor prizes.  To enter here, leave me a comment. You can leave me a comment about anything, but if you need a prompt, tell me your favorite flower, in honor of Pat's love of roses.  I will use a random number generator to choose my winners.  Be sure that I can contact you if you win!  Make sure your comment is not anonymous!

For even more chances to win, visit all the bloggers and see what they made from the featured Villa Rosa patterns!

Thursday, March 14
Bog Hop Kick-Off  https://villarosaquilts.com/

Friday, March 15
1. Kathleen McCormick — https://kathleenmcmusing.com/
2. Cheree H — http://livelylatte.blogspot.com/
3. Roseanne Nelson — https://www.homesewnbyus.com
4. Wendy Tuma — https://www.piecefulthoughts.com/
5. C&T (Valerie) — https://www.ctpub.com/blog/

Saturday March 16
1. Bernie Kringel — https://needleandfoot.com/
2. Sandra Walker — https://www.mmmquilts.com/
3. Linda — https://www.texasquiltgal.com/
4. Debbie Huber – http://time4stitchn.blogspot.com/
5. SIY (Branyn/Jennifer) – https://blog.siysewityourself.com/

Sunday, March 17
1. Carolyn — https://quarterinchcapers.blogspot.com/
2. Emily (Norton House) — https://www.nortonhousequilting.com/blogs/news
3. Gail Sheppard — https://quiltinggail.com/
4. Susan Slaton — http://wazoonewsbits.blogspot.com/

Monday, March 18
1. Nann Hilyard — https://withstringsattached.blogspot.com/
2. Jaftex (Jennifer) — https://scottfortunoff.com/
3. Jan Altomare — https://www.cocoaquilts.com/
4. Tricia – http://quiltwithaview.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, March 19
1. Joy – https://shout4joy-shouting.blogspot.com/
2. Emily Leachman — http://thedarlingdogwood.blogspot.com/ YOU ARE HERE!!
3. Vicki S — www.knitbug2.blogspot.com
4. Rose Mikulski — https://somethingrosemade14.blogspot.com/
5. QOVF (Lexie) — https://www.qovf.org/

Wednesday, March 20:
1. Nancy — https://www.graceandpeacequilting.com/
2. Jocelyn — https://happycottagequilter.blogspot.com
3. Tracie — https://joyfullytracie.com
4. Daryl — Patchouli Moon Studio
5. Electric Quilt (Diane) — https://doyoueq.com/blog/

Thursday, March 21:
Blog Hop Recap  villarosaquilts.com

The grand prizes are:

1. Kaffe Fasset Precut Collection
2. $100 digital Gift Certificate to Hancock’s of Paducah
3. A BIG BOX of mystery quilty goodies
4. An Electric Quilt 8 download — the winner for this prize will be selected on the EQ blog, so you will need to register there for this prize

AND there are tons of smaller prizes, like books, patterns, fabrics, notions, and more from our fabulous sponsors. 

https://hoffmancaliforniafabrics.net

https://modafabrics.com

https://www.ttfabrics.com

http://jaftex.com

https://electricquilt.com

https://www.northcott.com/home.aspx

http://benartex.com

https://www.hancocks-paducah.com

https://foxchapelpublishing.com

https://www.ctpub.com

https://www.pbtex.com

I hope you have a great time admiring all the beautiful projects made with the featured Villa Rosa Designs pattern cards.  Be sure to check out their websites see and all their designs.  And check out the past quilts I've made from Villa Rosa Designs:  Blueberry Hill, Galaxy version 1, Galaxy version 2,  Cherish version 1, and Cherish version 2.  Thanks for visiting!

Purple Path: A Stay at Home Round Robin finish

Welcome to the finale of 2024's Stay At Home Round Robin!   I planned my quilt out in advance this year, using EQ8.  I used a variety of purple Island Batik scraps, with Almond as the background.  The dark purple is an Island Batik blender.  (It might look black but it's very dark purple.)  I cut it out with my Accuquilt and the 8" cube & cube companion dies.

I finished the binding on my quilt just a few days ago.  I left the quilt on the couch, and Husband found it and used it for a nap.  Always nice to see quilts being used!  And this was mere hours after it was finished.  (He ducked under it when he realized I was taking photos.)

Special thanks to Gail for coming up with such a great idea, and for inviting me to play along.  Also many thanks to the other hosts: Wendy, Anja, Kathleen, and Brenda.  Be sure to visit each of them to see their finished quilts!

I was so glad to see so many people sewing along with the Stay at Home Round Robin!  Link up with Gail at Quilting Gail for a final entry for the prizes from our generous sponsors.  We will do the prize drawings at the end of the month and will post the winners on the blogs of all of the hosts. This was my fourth Stay at Home Round Robin and I hope it's not my last!  This one might be my favorite.

 2024 Purple Path

2023 Flamingo Fun

 

 

2022 (Unnamed)

 

2021: Ursa Major