Size Mishap: Churning Stars

I'm still catching up with posting last year's teacher quilts. At the beginning of the school year, it is Fire Monkey's job to ask all his teacher's their favorite color.  I then spend the school year making quilts (throw size) that are gifted in the last week or two of the school year.  This year, one of the teachers said her favorite color was brown.  This one was hard for me.  I don't mind brown, but I honestly don't think much about it.  It's fine in the background, as a supporting character, but I wasn't really sure what to do with brown as a feature.

 

Eventually, I decided to try a brown version of my Churning Stars quilts.  Ohio Star blocks are classic, and I liked the overall look.  It would also allow me to use a few shades of brown, which worked best for the somewhat limited browns in my Island Batik stash.  I made my blocks.  Had all the blocks made.  Went to lay it out.  "Hmmmm...this feels a lot bigger than the other one."  I did not check my original EQ8 design.  I assumed I had made the original with 12" blocks.  I had not; that quilt had 9" blocks. This meant the brown version would be 72" square.  There is some variation in the size of the teacher quilts, but I aim for about 60" square.  At first I was just going to go forward, but in the end, I decided the quilt would just be too big, so instead of the 5 x 5 layout I intended, this one is 4x4, so the pattern isn't quite as nice as I'd like, but it still looks ok. And I now have enough extra blocks to make a 3x3 quilt that will become a donation quilt whenever I get it put together.  

 

All fabrics are Island Batik.  The background is Bone, the unadorned stars are Copper, and there are several fabrics in the alternate star block.  All was cut with the Accuquilt. I'm glad to have it done, and truth be told, I hope none of next year's teachers name brown as their favorite color! 

 

 

Pineapple Snowballs

Welcome to my stop and the very last day of the Irish Chain blog hop, brought to you by Island Batik and AccuQuilt!  I hope you've been following along to see all the amazing projects created by the Island Batik Ambassadors using the newest fabric collections and Accuquilt's 10" Irish Chain block, one of their newest Block on Board dies.

When I first learned that we were getting the Irish Chain die and it created a 10" (finished) block, I thought about what other BOB dies I had from Accuquilt that also made 10" blocks, to see if I could create something fun with 2 dies. I own 2 other BOB dies that make 10" blocks: Pineapple and Rising Star.  I played around with both in EQ8 and decided that I really liked the look of the Pineapple block with the Irish Chain.  

My secret collection was Tinsel Treasures, a signature collection for Sarah Fabian of Quilt Basket, created by Jerry Khiev, creative director of Island Batik.  Tinsel Treasures is a gorgeous winter collection, with snowflakes, trees, deer, candy canes, and more, all in a variety of blue-on-white and white-on-blue prints.  While I love monochromatic quilts, I decided I wanted to add a touch of another color to go with the beautiful blues in Tinsel Treasures. My favorite color combination is blue and purple, so I added just a touch of Grape (pineapple centers) and Lavender (inner ring), both from Island Batik's always-available basics collection.  Solid black made all the fabrics pop.

I sewed my 18 Irish Chain blocks first, and I was so in the groove that I forgot to take pictures!  I chose the darkest blues to make the chains, and used 4 prints with larger wintery designs for the bigger squares so that the trees and deer would stand out.  The blocks came together really fast.

 

All of my Pineapple centers are the same, with Grape in the center, a beautiful light blue with pine needles next, and then a ring of Lavender.  Then I used a variety of the blue-on-white prints for the next rings, and a lighter blue for the outer ring.  I kept thinking of them as snowballs!  So I named this Pineapple Snowballs.  

My original plan was to just make a 5 x 7 block layout, for a finished quilt that was 50" x 70".  But once I had it together, it looked unfinished, so I used pieces B & D from the die to extend that chain into a border.  My finished quilt is roughly 54" x 74".  I quilted it with a medium blue Aurifil thread and used a Schmetz needle for all steps.  The batting is Hobbs 80/20.

 

on my design wall, before outer border

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

 

My friend Gail of Quilting Gail also has Tinsel Treasures and she made not one, but TWO beautiful quilts with this collection.  Be sure to visit her and see what she made!

 

 

Drunkard's Path Challenge

The April challenge for Island Batik Ambassadors features the classic Drunkard's Path block.  I admit, my heart sank a little when I got the list of challenges, because I hate sewing curves and avoid it at all costs. But alas, there was no avoiding it for this challenge!

Though I avoid curved piecing, there are some Accuquilt dies that feature curves and I admit, I've been curious to see if that would make the curved piecing better, so I bought an Accuquilt Drunkard's Path die.  They have a few sizes; I purchased the one that created 4" finished Drunkard's Path units.

 

 

I played around with different designs.  Ultimately, I chose a block that is laid out like a classic sawtooth star, but with the curved Drunkard's Path units instead of sharp points for the stars.  Because my centers needed to be big to accommodate the 4" units from the die, I chose to go square-in-a-square for those to create a little more visibly interest and a chance to incorporate more fabrics.

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

 

I had a 10" stack of the collection Breezy by Kate Colleran.  This is a collection from last year but I still see it online in several places, including: 

• Batiks Etc & Sew What Fabrics; Wytheville, VA
• Hancock's of Peducah; Peducah, KY 
• Creekside Quilts; Banks, OR
• My Favorite Quilt Store; Houston, TX 

 

I used all twenty fabrics from Breezy in this quilt and actually don't have much left from the 10" stack.  There are a few lighter fabrics in the collection and I maybe should have skipped them; the one I used for the drunkard's path curves disappears into the Mint background when you are not close up.  I decided to go with the motto "finished is better than perfect" and didn't rip it out because I didn't have enough of any one fabric from Breezy to fix it at the point I knew it was a problem.

 

The curved piecing wasn't terrible.  One my fellow ambassadors, Sarah Pitcher of Pitcher's Boutique, suggested gluing.  Accuquilt has little notches for the center to make it easy to line up, so I started by gluing at the notches and then slowing gluing out to each end.  I tested sewing with the smaller piece on top and the larger piece on top and found that I didn't notice a difference in one being easier or neater than the other, though I did like gluing a LOT more than pinning. I would glue up a bunch of units, let them dry, chain piece with a Schmetz needle, and smooth out the curve very carefully with my Olisio mini iron.  The blocks came out better than I expected! 

My top has 72 Drunkard's Path units.  I layered the top with Hobbs Bleached 80/20 batting and quilted in wavy lines on the diagonal with Aurifil thread in a light green.  The background is Mint and the binding is Grass, both from Island Batik's always-available Foundations collection. Truth be told, I'm glad to have the curved piecing challenge behind me, but I am glad to know that if I have to, I can make a passable block with curves.

Orange Blooms

For March's Island Batik Ambassador challenge, all the choices are up to us!  We can make whatever we want with Island Batik fabric.  I've been obsessed with flower quilts lately, and when I was at a new-to-me quilt shop about an hour away a few months ago, I picked up 2 flower quilt patterns.  One was Bloom by Kate Spain.  Here's my version!

I decided to stretch myself a little and focus on orange for these flowers.  Orange is not normally my color but I do love the brightness of these blooms.  I went through my scraps of Island Batik and pulled out all the orange and orange-adjacent fabrics I could find.  Many of these are stash-builder strips, which are 5" by WOF.  Once I had all the flower fabrics picked out and cut, I dug through my scraps and stash-builder strips again, this time looking for greens for the leaves and stems.

Whenever I'm following someone else's pattern, I figure out what pieces I can cut with my Accuquilt to save time.  Many parts of the flowers use HSTs, so I cut those with my Accuquilt.   

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik, Schmetz, Aurifil, Hobbs, Accuquilt, and Oliso.

I actually did all the piecing on this one a few months ago, but it's been sitting around waiting to be finished and photographed.  Now that spring is finally here, I was inspired to finish it!  

 

I quilted it with yellow Aurifil thread with my favorite organic wavy lines quilting.  Schmetz needles are the only needles I use, for piecing and for quilting. The batting is Hobbs Tuscany collection cotton wool blend.  (Because I pieced this in 2024, I did not yet have my Oliso mini iron, but I did use it to press my backing, not pictured.)

My Orange Blooms quilt measures 52" x 55".  And I am not even close to being over my current obsession with flower quilts!

 

 

Sampler Blues: A Stay at Home Round Robin Finish

Welcome to the kick-off to the finish parade for 2025's Stay at Home Round Robin!  We've been so pleased to see so many sew along!

Link up your finishes with Gail.  Finished tops or finished quilts are both accepted for the finish parade.  Finishes are your final entry into our prize drawing.  We've been keeping track of every SAHRR participant and each time you've linked up, you've gotten a number for that post.  Sometime in the first two weeks of April, the hosts will have a Zoom call and use a random number generator to award the prizes.  Once we've contacted the winners and gotten responses from them, we'll post winners on each of our blogs.

I was not sure if I was going to add an additional border of solid dark gray after completing my 6th round prompt.  I ultimately decided that there was enough gray around the quilt that it didn't need more.  I quilted with straight lines at 1 1/2" intervals using a light blue thread.  I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo, but I only have about half the binding completed.  You can see the clips on one side.  Time got a bit away from me, so it's not completely finished.  But it's close!

This was the first time I've done my SAHRR as a sampler quilt and I love it!  The uniform block size gave me parameters and establishing my setting before I started helped me to have a basic plan while still allowing for the freedom to go with the flow of each round.  All my fabrics are from Island Batik. I picked a selection of 12 blues and paired them with Cornsilk as the background for the blocks, then used the solid gray for the sashing cornerstones and setting triangles.  Most of it was cut with my Accuquilt.  

We all had such a good time that we've decided to do it again next year!  We typically start mid-January.  That gives you a TON of time to decide on a center for next year's Round Robin! 😀

Be sure to visit all of the hosts, and remember to link up with Gail for a chance at prizes.

 Gail @ Quilting Gail

Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing

Anja @ Anja Quilts

Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

Brenda @ Songbird Designs

 

This was my 5th year as a host and participant in the Stay at Home Round Robin.  Here is a look at all my SAHRR finishes.

2025 Sampler Blues

 2024 Purple Path

2023 Flamingo Fun

 

 

2022 (Unnamed)

 

2021: Ursa Major

 

 

 

Trees for Dad

December's Island Batik Ambassador challenge is completely up to us!  I've been planning my project for this challenge since I started it in June, but getting it done in time came down to the wire!  I visited my dad in early June for his birthday.  He's had some health problems over the past year and is mostly sleeping in his guest room, as the twin bed in that room is easier to get in and out of.  While I was there, he asked if I could make him a quilt for that twin bed.  I had already been thinking that I should do exactly that, so I said I was already planning to, and would hope to gift if for Christmas. At the time I didn't know it, but we're actually going to see him (and my brother and his wife & daughter) over the holidays!  So I'll get to gift it in person. 

My dad is a big hiker and loves trees; he taught me to identify trees by their leaves when I was really young.  Two years ago, I was given the Tree of Life die by Accuquilt.  I reconfigured the layout of the tree a little bit, but I cut it all with the die.  Each tree has 38 half-square triangles and there are 18 tree blocks, so that's 684 HSTs!  Luckily they were cut with the Accuquilt!  That also means there were no dog ears to trim.

 

When I decided to make the trees, I envisioned the trees going from light green to dark.  I used fabrics from Island Batik's always-available basics line, mostly from Glorious Greens. The greens in the trees, from top to bottom, are: Honeydew, Pistachio, Lemongrass, Ivy, Frog, Grass, and Pinecone.  The background is Beige.  Of the greens from the trees, I chose Grass for the binding. 

Items used in this project were provided to me by Island Batik, Schmetz, Aurifil, and Accuquilt.

 

I did all the piecing with Schmetz needles and Aurifil thread color #2000 Light Sand.  I really dislike quilting large quilts and I wasn't sure I could do the quilt justice, so I decided to take this to a longarmer.  That's only something I've done a few times before, and I didn't really have a longarmer in mind.  I did a google search for longarmers in my area and chose Stitch Lab Quilting.  It turns out Sara is in my quilt guild (this guild still doesn't meet in person) and lives only about 20 minutes from me!  We chose a Beech Leaves panto that looks absolutely stunning!!!!  I will take Sara future quilts for sure!

 

I knew I was cutting it close to Christmas.  I got the quilt back on Saturday (12-21) and finished binding it about an hour before I sat down to write this post!  I'll take it in my carry-on for the plane so it won't get lost, and I'm so excited to gift it to my dad!

This marks the last Island Batik Challenge of 2024 and concludes my 6th year as an Island Batik Ambassador!  I am grateful to Island Batik for the opportunity to work with their beautiful fabrics!

Churning Stars featuring Butterfly Haven

Welcome to my stop on the Butterfly Haven blog hop tour!  I was so thrilled when Jennifer Thomas of Curlicue Creations asked me to make one of my designs in her beautiful signature fabric line!  Butterfly Haven is a mix of dark greens, purples, and mauve-y pink with patterns of butterflies and leaves. 

I decided to use a new design that plays with classic Ohio Star blocks. I call it Churning Stars because I like the movement.

I used 8 fabrics from Butterfly Haven in this quilt.  There are three beautiful purples, the darkest pink in the line, two lighter fabrics with butterflies and leaves, and both a darker and lighter green.  I think my favorite in the line is this medium green with butterflies.

I combined the Butterfly Haven fabrics with three fabrics from Island Batik's always-available Basics collection: the background is Almond, there is Pearl in the pink Ohio Star blocks and Celery in the purple/green Ohio Star blocks.

I'm so pleased with how this turned out, and I was thrilled to work with these lovely fabrics.  Jennifer has a giveaway on her Introduction Post for a fat quarter bundle of the entire Butterfly Haven collection.  You can also see all the patterns she designed for the collection. If you are not the lucky winner of her giveaway, here are some of the shops that are carrying Butterfly Haven:

Creekside Quilts ~ OR

Fabric and Quilting Delights ~ HI

Fabric Square ~ OH

JellyRollFabric.net ~ IN

Roosters Mercantile ~ UT

Mike & Mollys ~ CO

Villa Rosa Designs ~ CA

 

 

Be sure to visit all the designers who are showing off this fabric line:

December 2nd    Jennifer Thomas        Curlicue Creations

December 3ed    Brittany Fisher           Bobbin with Brittany

December 4th    Lisa Pickering             Lisa's Quilting Passion

December 5th    Emily Leachman        The Darling Dogwood  🠄 You Are Here

December 6th    Jennifer Strauser         Dizzy Quilter

December 7th    Gail Sheppard             Quilting Gail  

 

Flower Pot blog hop: Garden Breeze

Welcome to my stop on the Flower Pot blog hop!  Flower Pot is a beautiful new fabric collection by Island Batik that is a signature collection for my friend in Quilt Land, Jennifer of Inquiring Quilter.  I loved these bright, pretty florals the moment I saw them and was so thrilled that Jennifer asked me to make something with these gorgeous fabrics.  With a name like Flower Pot and the beautiful flower motifs in the fabric, I knew I wanted to make quilty flowers.  I decided on my pattern Garden Breeze, so named because of the combination of flower and pinwheel blocks. 

I decided to use all 6 of the primarily pink fabrics in Flower pot for the flowers, and 2 of the fabrics that read mostly yellow for the flower centers.  There is a beautiful green/teal with very occasional bits of purple in it for the pinwheels.  And I selected a fabulous multi-colored fabric from the line for the binding.  I chose the Basic Flour from the Neutrals collection as the background, partially because I like the gentle swirls in it and partly because of the play on words of Flour/Flower. 😀 ⚘  Overall, there are 10 fabrics from Flower Pot in the quilt, plus Flour. 

I am so thrilled with how Garden Breeze looks in Flower Pot fabrics!  I had this in various stages on my design wall for about a month.  My design wall is in the hallway and you can see it from the couch, so I loved seeing it out of the corner of my eye when watching TV with my family. 

 

 

 

I quilted with organic wavy lines, my favorite quilting motif.  I hope it looks like a gentle Garden Breeze!  Ha!  Buttercup was quite interested in the quilting and insisted she be allowed to inspect the proceedings.   

 

 

This quilt is Buttercup Approved

 

I thought about adding an additional pinwheel block to each corner of the sashing, but I didn't like it when I laid it out.  So then I had 4 extra pinwheel blocks. The student art club at the community college where I work is doing an community quilt project this month, so I turned those pinwheels and a few other Flower Pot fabrics into a 12" block for that quilt! 

To celebrate Flower Pot, Jennifer has put together a full schedule of quilty goodness!  She is having a giveaway of a fat quarter bundle of these gorgeous fabrics.  You can enter to win here.  She is also hosting a Quilt Along of her pattern Charlotte that starts on October 10th, and there are additional prizes for people sewing along.  AND Charlotte has a companion quilt pattern; while you make Charlotte there are bonus HSTs that can be used to make Lydia.  See the Charlotte & Lydia patterns here and register for the Quilt Along.

Here is the schedule of fabulous designers showing off Flower Pot fabrics with their beautiful designs and creations:

Flower Pot Blog Hop

September 23rd – Jennifer @ Inquiring Quilter (Enter to win FQ Pack!)
September 24th – Andi @ True Blue Quilts
September 25th – Jennifer @ Inquiring Quilter (Return & find out another way to win)
September 26th – Lisa @ Lisa’s Quilting Passion
September 27th – Tiffany @ Needles In A Hayes Stack See Tiffany’s quilt at Jennifer’s Facebook or Instagram
September 28th – Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
September 29th – Emily @ The Darling Dogwood  🠜 You Are Here!
September 30th – Denise @ Quiltery
October 1st – Jane @ Stitch By Stitch Custom Quilting
October 2nd – Sue @ Larkspur Lane Designs
October 3rd – Laura @ Slice of Pi
October 4th – Brianna @ Sew Cute and Quirky
October 5th – Leah @ Quilted Delights
October 6th – Jennifer @ Inquiring Quilter — (Winner Announced!)

There is also an Instagram Loop October 7th through October 9th with more prizes!  I hope enjoy all the Flower Pot goodness!