Irish Chain blog hop

Today starts a brand new blog hop showcasing the newest fabric collections from Island Batik/Lumin Fabrics.  (Lumin Fabrics is the new parent company for Island Batik.) Each ambassador was sent a half yard bundle of one of the new collections that will be hitting the stores this month, as well as an Irish Chain Block on Board (BOB) die from AccuQuilt.  Be prepared for lots of Irish Chain inspiration!

 

I was sent the beautiful collection 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. 

 

Unfortunately, you will have to wait for the very last day of the blog hop (May 22nd) to see my quilt!  Don't be too sad, though, there will be lots of beautiful Irish Chain inspiration between now and then.  Here is the full schedule:

May 5:

• Mania Hatzioannidi, Mania for Quilts
• Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations

May 6:

• Kimberly Flannagan, Kimberly’s Quilts
• Solomae Stoycoff, Cuddle Cat Quiltworks

May 7:

• Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs
• Sarah Pitcher, Pitcher’s Boutique LLC

May 8:

• Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights
• Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

May 12:

• Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion
• Suzy Webster, Websterquilt

May 13:

• Connie Kresin Campbell, Freemotion by the River

May 14:

• Denise Looney, Quiltery
• Brittany Fisher, Bobbin with Brittany

May 15:

• Susan Michaels, Dragonfly Fiber Art
• Kim Jamieson-Hirst, Chatterbox Quilts

May 19:

• Renee Atkinson, Pink Tulip Quilting
• Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs

May 20:

• Tina Dillard, Quilting Affection Designs
• Carol Stanek, Stitch With Color

May 21:

• Susan Deshensky, Lady Blue Quilt Studio

May 22:

• Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail
• Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood

The blog is a great time for giveaways!  Island Batik has a new giveaway every Friday on their blog.  Visit every week and enter for your chance to win beautiful Island Batik fabric!  Additionally, many of the Ambassadors will do their own giveaways, so be sure to visit everyone.  I hope you enjoy all the possibilities with the Irish Chain block!

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.

Stay at Home Round Robin prize winners

The 2025 Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR) has ended.  We are so pleased and grateful that so many sewed along this year!

Five of your six hosts met on a zoom call to draw the winners. Our 6th member was away on a trip but Wendy's cat Wilbur did occasionally stand in! 

 

For the 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. On our zoom call, we used a random number generator to select winners for each prize.  All winners have been notified and responded with shipping addresses.  Here is the full list of winners identified by initials:

• Oliso Iron: CL
• Island Batik fat quarter bundle: KH
• Island Batik fat quarter bundle: DB
• Island Batik fat quarter bundle: CK
• Aurifil Thread: NH
• Fat Quarter shop gift card: RB
• Pattern from Devoted Quilter: F
• Pattern from Devoted Quilter: SS
• Pattern from A Quiltery: JB
• Pattern from A Quiltery: J
• Pattern from Sew Fresh Quilts: CH

Thanks to our fabulous sponsors!  And thanks to everyone who sewed along!  We WILL be back in 2026 with another Stay at Home Round Robin!!

 

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

 

 

 

Marble Mystery

I've been doing the Marble Mystery Quilt Along with Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs.  I love the pace of Cheryl's mysteries and have really enjoyed sewing along, especially after having sat out the last several years.  I only posted my progress once, but I am excited to now have a finish!

All the fabrics are Island Batik.  The background is solid white, and there are three shades of orange: Peach, Marmalade, and Dandelions in Pumpkin.  I bought the yellow fabric from my local quilt shop; it's from the Vintage Charm collection.  

I'm not sure it photographs well, especially on the sunny days I've had recently, but I'm really happy with it.  I had it at work to take pictures and a coworker who saw it said it looked "like sunshine in quilt form."  I love that!

Cheryl always has such great patterns, both for her mysteries and her other patterns.  One of the neatest things about the mysteries is the sheer number of people who sew along, which means a huge number of color and fabric combinations!  Cheryl will host a finish parade of all the Marble Mystery quilts that have been sent to her next Monday.  Be sure to visit her blog on Monday, March 10th to see them all!

 

Round #6 - Kites

Welcome to the final week of the Stay at Home Round Robin!  This week it is my turn to give the prompt.  I chose the kite unit.  When we were all discussing our rounds, I noted that Kathleen started the rounds with her first initial as inspiration and I am closing with the same letter.  On that note, if you decide that the kite unit is not for you or if you just want a different choice, you can choose something inspired by your first initial or Kathleen's first initial. 😊

 

The Kite unit has a heavy point at one end and a skinny point at the opposite end.  I cur mine with my Accuquilt; the cube companion set of Angles has a kite shape, and you use the triangles that form a half rectangle as the side pieces.  There are lots of other ways to cut the kite shape; Deb Tucker of Studio 180 Design calls her tool that cuts this unit the Corner Beam.  These kite units are frequently combined in sets of 4 with the heavy points all facing in and the skinny parts out.  It is up to you if you want to use your kite units solo or in bigger blocks with multiple units.

Since I am making 12" blocks for my sampler-style quilt, I create my own blocks using kite units.  I had a lot of fun with these blocks!  And I'm really pleased with the ones I came up with.

 

For my first block, I used 2 sets of 2 kites.  I put the first set inside a larger star and had a second set of kite units radiating out like spotlights.

 

The second block is my favorite.  I added stacked flying geese.  I'd like to play with this block some more at some point. 

Here is the rendering of all my blocks together.

 

And, since this is the last round, I can show the real blocks in the finished quilt top!  All fabrics are from Island Batik. I chose an assortment of 12 different blue fabrics plus the neutral Cornsilk for the blocks.  The setting triangles and sashing squares are Dark Gray solid. 

 

Now it is your turn to add your final round to your quilts. The link will be open for one week.  Remember that you get an entry into our prize drawing for every week you have linked up.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

I hope you have enjoyed the Stay At Home Round Robin 2025!  You now have a month to complete your top.  On March 24th, a month from today, we'll be back with a parade of finishes!  Gail will have the final link up.  You do not need to have a finished quilt; a finished top is enough.  

Here is the 2025 Stay at Home Round Robin schedule:

• January 13th: Center: Gail @ Quilting Gail
• January 20th: 1^st Round: King's Crown block or inspired by your first initial  Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
• January 27th: 2^nd Round: Half Square Triangles   Anja @ Anja Quilts
• February 3rd: 3rd Round: Stars Gail @ Quilting Gail
• February 10th: 4^th Round: Slice & Insert  Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
• February 17th:5^th Round: Partial Log Cabins Brenda @ Songbird Designs
• February 24th: 6th Round: Kites or inspired by your first initial or the letter "k"
  Emily @ The Darling Dogwood 🠜 You Are Here
• March 24th: Finish Parade: Gail @ Quilting Gail