Winding Wheels -- Songbird blog hop

Welcome to my stop on the Songbird Blog Hop!  I was so excited when Jennifer of Curlicue Creations asked me if I would make something with her newest signature line with Island Batik/Lumin Fabrics!  

Songbird is a beautiful collection of pinks and purples with touches of cream and dark blue.  

I used a total of 9 different fabrics from Songbird, plus Almond and Bluebelle from Island Batik's always-available Foundations line. 

 

Winding Wheels

My block for this project is large--20" finished. The design uses 2 different colorations of my large block, with six of each color way.   

I love the fussy-cut bird in the center of the darker blocks!

I made the six lighter blocks first. My original plan was to have a sashing row that continue the chain from the corners, but when I completed the first 6 blocks, I had them up on my design wall touching each other.  I liked the pattern so much, I decided to drop the sashing.  I love it!  Sometimes the best design ideas are essentially accidents! 

 

Original layout, EQ8 rendering

I like to think of the main shape as a wheel.  I named this Winding Wheels.  Winding Wheels measures 64" x 84".  It's so big, it doesn't fit on my design wall!  Here's a photo before I added the outer border of the dark fabric with songbirds in it.

 

I was really in a hurry to get this done!  I had a major delay in getting started: my machine was skipping stitches so I took it in for service, and ended up being in the shop twice as long as I had planned.  I was able to do almost all of the cutting while Willa the Wonder Machine was in the shop, but I was still a bit under the wire after losing so much time. Everything was cut with my Accuquilt and the 8" cube plus 8" Angles companion set, except for the 4-patch corner units in each block, which I strip-pieced.

 

Songbird is arriving in quilt shops now.  Be sure to visit all the great designers who are showcasing the Songbird collection through August 19th!  And Jennifer has a giveaway for fat quarter bundle of the full collection on her page!

August 10:  Curlicue Creations 

August 11:  Freemotion by the River

August 12:  Lisa's Quilting Passion

August 13:  Songbird Designs

August 14:  Sew Cute and Quirky

August 15:  Textile Time Travels

August 16:  The Darling Dogwood  🠄 You Are Here!

August 17:  Quilted Delights

August 18:  Heard it through the Quilt Vine

August 19:  Pamela Quilts

 

Symphony of Seven Stars

Welcome to the final day of the Timeless Traditions blog hop, featuring the newest Island Batik collections by Lumin Fabrics.  I've had to wait ALL MONTH to show you what I made!  My collection is Under the Sea, designed by Jerry Khiev as a signature collection for Swan Amity Studios. We were given a list of 10 classic blocks and quilting units and challenged to use at least 5 in a quilt using our assigned collection.  Here is my quilt!

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

First, a point of clarification on how I interpreted the prompt.  If a unit, like a flying geese unit or half square triangle, appears in a block on the list (like quarter square triangles are part of an Ohio Star block), then I only counted the block.  But if a block not on the list used, say, a flying geese unit, I counted that unit. I used 7 of the 10.  Let me walk you through the 7 elements I included in my quilt.  

1. Ohio Star Block: there are 4 Ohio Star Blocks.

 

2. Variable Star Block: there is one Variable Star Block. 

 I then used variations of the Variable star to include:

3. Quarter Square Triangle 

 

and

4. Four Patch 

 

 and

5. Half Square Triangles.  There are two half square triangles in the center of this star.

 

 

6. Flying Geese: while all the variable star blocks include flying geese units, I specifically added some to my center star.  

 

The center star also includes multiple half square triangles.  

 

I didn't remember to photograph just the center star, but I do have the original design that I created in EQ8.  I did change which fabrics went where slightly from the EQ8 design to the actual sewing. 

 

That got me all my blocks in the center of the quilt and 6 of the different elements, enough that I could have stopped there.  But it didn't feel finished.  So I added 

7. Friendship Star Blocks.  There are a whopping 32 Friendship Star blocks.

I am calling it Symphony of Seven Stars, because there are 7 different star blocks and it uses 7 of the specified units for the challenge.  I pieced with a brand new Schmetz needle and Aurifil thread. Almost everything was cut with my Accuquilt Go--that's my favorite method for both flying geese and half square triangles, as there are no dog ears to cut off and no trimming is necessary.   

I used 17 of the 20 fabrics in Under the Sea for the Symphony of Seven Stars, and I have an 18th picked out for the binding.  That's right, this is only a top,  (Just the 2nd time in my 7 years as an ambassador that I don't have a completed project.)  My family is in the middle of a move (we close on the new house today!) and the second I finished attaching the outermost border, I packed up my sewing machine and started packing my sewing space.  Quilting and binding will need to wait until after our move. In addition to most of the Under the Sea fabrics, I used Moo Milk for the background a just a touch of Lavender for accents in around the center star; both are part of Island Batik's always-available Foundations collections.  

Kim of Chatterbox Quilts is also sewing with Under the Sea; be sure to hop on over and see what she came up with.  And if you missed any stops on the Timeless Traditions blog hop tour, be sure and check them all out.  This has been a particularly good challenge for Ambassadors' creativity!

 

Berry Flare

Welcome to my stop on the Berry Crush blog hop!  Berry Crush is a signature fabric collection for my friend Jennifer Thomas of Curlicue Creations, designed by Jerry Khiev of Island Batik/Lumin Fabrics.  

 

When Jennifer asked if I'd sew something with Berry Crush fabrics, I was thrilled!  I absolutely love the pinks and purples with just a hint of orange/tangerine in Berry Crush, and the motifs of flowers, vines, and berries are so lovely.

 

I used a block I designed earlier in the year for my Stay at Home Round Robin quilt, and used just that block.  I'm calling in Flare, because the block looks like an explosion to me.  So this is Berry Flare.  

 

I used sixteen different fabrics from Berry Crush in the blocks, plus a seventeenth Berry Crush fabric as the binding.  I wanted some slightly lighter fabrics to compliment the beautiful berry colors, so I added Lavender and a yellow blender in alternating blocks.  The background is Egg White.  All three are from Island Batik's always-available Foundations. 

 

I absolutely love these fabrics!!!! Berry Crush ships to quilt shops this month. 

Be sure to check out all the stops on the Berry Crush blog hop!  And Jennifer is doing a giveaway of a fat quarter bundle of Berry Crush!!  You will find the details on her post. 

Jennifer at Curlicue Creations

Laura at Slice of Pi Quilts 

Emily at The Darling Dogwood <--- You Are Here!

Lisa at Lisa's Quilting Passion

Cat at I Heard It Through The Quilt-Vine

Victoria at Forever Quilting For You

Sandra at Textile Time Travels

Leah at Quilted Delights