Solar Flare

School supplies are already in stores and I didn't finish showing off last year's teacher quilts!  Because we moved around the holidays and it took me a while to get my sewing machine set up, I lost a lot of sewing time during the first half of this year/second half of the school year.  I found myself under the wire to finish.  Mr. H, the band director, said his favorite color was blue.  I was looking for something stunning but simple and decided on the pattern Solar Flare by Villa Rosa Designs.  

 

I used a 10" square pack of Brilliant Blues by Island Batik plus their solid white. The "focus fabric" for the main pinwheel and the outer border is Cheerio in Navy, also by Island Batik.  It's the only fabric with a design on it to set it apart. I cut everything with my Accuquilt. This was a quilt where I'm really glad I have a design wall.  I laid it all out and really tried to integrate all the different values of blue so no one section felt weight too light or too dark.

 

 

I quilted it with a medium blue Aurifil thread and used wavy line stitching--I call it Preeti quilting, as my friend Preeti frequently uses that stitch to great effect. 

I wash all the teacher quilts before gifting and was sorry to see that this one did bleed.  (I had the same problem with my Magnificent Mystery quilt but didn't notice the bleeding until after my post.)  I did some research and found reports of many quilters swearing by the methods from this VickiWelshMakes post.  There are also some good tips here from SuzyQuilts.  I bought Dawn dishsoap and used my tub, as outlined in Vicki's method.  My son was kind of fascinated by the process, and he did help me agitate the quilt at one point, singing "Rock-a-bye qui-ilt, In the bath tub."  I found it hilarious but managed not to laugh because I knew it would mean he'd stop.  I'm happy to say that the magic process did work, and I managed to get the bleeding out of both quilts.  I do find that blues are the most likely color to run these days, more so than reds.

I am thrilled with how this turned out and it was very quick to make.  This is a pattern I will come back to!

 

 

Rainbow Spice

Welcome to my stop on the Sunflower Spice blog hop!  Sunflower Spice is a signature collection for Jennifer of Curlicue Creations by Island Batik/Lumin Fabrics.  The bright colors in this collection are so fun, and perfect for bright summer days!  I really wanted to emphasize the rainbow in the collection, so my design is color order.

 

I used thirteen fabrics from Sunflower Spice and will use a fourteenth for the binding.  I had a rough spring and wasn't able to get this quilted, but I have a really lovely fabric with red ginko leaves for the binding.  I really love the motifs in this collection: sunflowers, oak leaves, acorns, and ginko leaves.  The background fabric is a neutral called Flour.

 

I cut everything with my Accuquilt.  I love sawtooth stars and combined them with square-in-a-square units as accents.  I think of them like jewels among the stars!

 

I named it Rianbow Spice.  Rainbow Spice is currently 58" x 70". I might still add a skinny border of background before I quilt it.

 

 

Want to win some Sunflower Spice of your own?  Jennifer has a giveaway on her blog, and be sure to visit all the stops on this blog hop to see what everyone made with these beautiful fabrics. 

June 1:  Curlicue Creations 

June 2:  Freemotion by the River

June 3:  Lisa's Quilting Passion

June 5:  Textile Time Travels

June 6:  Lady Blue Quilt Studio

June 7:  Sew Preeti Quilts

June 8:  Quilted Delights

June 9:  Sew Cute and Quirky

June 10:  The Darling Dogwood ⮜You Are Here!

 

 

 

Bears & Stars

The last day of school is tomorrow!  I got all the teacher quilts done in time (the last one went to school today!) but I'm behind in posting.  This one is for the PE teacher Mr. W, who said his favorite color is light blue.  

 

I've been particularly drawn to bear paw blocks lately and have been playing around with designs using those blocks.  This is my favorite of the designs I came up with.  I always love sawtooth stars and think they go with everything!  I really like this combination of bear paw blocks & sawtooth star blocks, so much that I named this Bears & Stars.  Not super original or creative, I know!

All fabrics are Island Batik, including the solid black background.  The colors aren't coming through gretat in the photos, but the bear paws are a light blue (Sky) and the stars are white with blue designs. The Irish Chain blocks are a blender called Blue with Wavy Dots.  I cut everything with my Accuquilt.  

 

I'm excited to use this design again, maybe in some bolder colors.   

Sunflower Spice blog hop!

 

There's a blog hop highlighting a beautiful rainbow collection that kicks off today!  Sunflower Spice is a signature collection for Jennifer of Curlicue Creations by Island Batik/Lumin Fabrics.  I love, love, love the bright colors in this collection!  To celebrate, Jennifer is hosting a blog hop featuring beautiful quilts made with these fabrics AND she's giving away a fat quarter bundle of Sunflower Spice!

 

I am very excited to be participating!  I have absolutely loved working with these fabrics.  The colors are so bright, and I love the motifs of sunflowers, oak leaves, and acorns.  Here's the schedule: 

June 1:  Curlicue Creations 

June 2:  Freemotion by the River

June 3:  Lisa's Quilting Passion

June 4:  Larkspur Lane Designs

June 5:  Textile Time Travels

June 6:  Lady Blue Quilt Studio

June 7:  Sew Preeti Quilts

June 8:  Quilted Delights

June 9:  Sew Cute and Quirky

June 10:  The Darling Dogwood

I don't get to show off what I've made until the very last day.  To tide you over, here's a sneak peak of my project:

 

 

Red Flare

May sure hustled it's way through my life!  I think I blinked and missed it!  I've been busy getting the teacher quilts ready for the end of the year.  This year's homeroom & English teacher, Ms. W, stated that red is her favorite color.  Red is frequently a struggle for me.  I think partly because I don't tend to have much of it and partly because it's hard to do scrappy. 

I decided on my pattern Flare, which I made previously for a blog hop for Berry Crush, a previous signature collection for Jennifer of Curlicue Creations.  (The blog hop for Jennifer's next signature collection starts tomorrow!) I have made all but the very first teacher quilt usig Island Batik fabrics, mostly because I have so much of it.  But as I said, I don't have a lot of red.  I did have a fair amount of leftover from a wide back from a previous year's red quilt, so I decided to use that as my red fabric and paired it with black, white, and gray Island Batik solid.  

 

Using the two types of fabric together was not a problem.  They are both cotton, the batik just has a little bit of a tighter weave.  Now that it's been washed, I can't feel a difference! 

 

I also want to show two quilts I've posted previously, but they weren't completely finished yet. The first is Emerge, which I made for The Inquiring Quilter's blog hop in January.  The fabrics are Starry Seas for Island Batik. I didn't quilt have the binding done on my day for the hop.  Now here it is, bound and washed!

 

The second is my version of the Magnificent Mystery, made during the QAL led by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs.  I was working against Cheryl's deadline for the finish parade and just squeaked by with a finished top.  It's now been quilted, bound, and washed.  All fabrics are Island Batik.  

 

 Despite my lack of posts in May, I was actually busy with finishes! 

  

 

Round Robin Winners

I am dreadfully behind in posting our Stay at Home Round Robin winners.  I believe the other hosts have shared already, but I wanted to make sure to post as well.  

 

We kept a spreadsheet of all participants and everyone got a number when they linked up for each round.  After the linky for the final quilt parade closed, the six hosts held a Zoom call. We used a random number generator to determine prize winners.  Here we are, together on the call.

 

And here are our prize winners:

Andree

Betty C

Carol A

Carolyn B

Cathy L

Daryl 

Dena E

Donna R

Janine 

Kat 

Laura R

Leanna

Linda

Lynn B

Nann

Pat

Sara

Sharon

Yvonne

Many, many thanks to our sponsors!  

Lumin Fabrics 

Hobbs Batting

Sew Fresh Quilts

Aurifil Thread

Oliso

Fat Quarter Shop

Devoted Quilter

Songbird Designs

Grace & Piece Co

Quilter’s Dream

Crafty Quilter
 

We've already talked about next year, so we hope you will all sew along with us again beginning in January 2027!

 

 

Magnificent Mystery

Cheryl at Meadow Mist designs does a mystery quilt along every year.  I love Cheryl's patterns and her mysteries always turn out great. This year it's the Magnificent Mystery.  I started mine late, but I still got the top done just in time for her finishing parade!  All of my fabrics are from Island Batik's Foundations.   

 

I made a few minor changes to Cheryl's pattern, the advantage of starting once the design is revealed!  😃  Cheryl also does an un-mystery for those who don't want to commit without knowing the design.  I cut out the partial blocks at the top and bottom, and chose something other than the background fabric for the center of the stars. I will use the same fabric from the chains as the binding, giving it a bit of a frame.  This is for a teacher whose favorite colors are blue and green.  

 

One of the best parts of these mysteries is seeing all the different color and fabric combinations that people use.  Hundreds of quilters participate!  There will be a finishing parade next week on Cheryl's blog.