Round Robin #1 Signature Blocks

Welcome back to the Stay at Home Round Robin!  This week it is Wendy's turn to tell us what to add, and she picked signature blocks.  Be sure to link up with her this week at Pieceful Thoughts.

Here is what I used as my starting center block, as shown last week:

I chose to make a border using signature blocks.  I cut out the blocks using my AccuQuilt 8" Cube (signature blocks are in one of the companion sets) and made a total of 24 signature blocks. The fabrics are all Island Batik, the two in the signature blocks are a dark purple blender and the neutral Almond.

I sewed my blocks together in kind of a zig zag, alternating the direction of the block.

Here they are surrounding my center. Because of the zig zag pattern, I opted not to use signature blocks in the corners.  I'll leave the corners for the next round.  So after the 1st round, here is what my quilt looks like:

Don't forget to check out all of the hosts to see what they did with signature blocks!  If you are sewing along, Wendy has the link up this week.  Remember that you get an entry into the prize drawing from our sponsors every week you link up.

• January 15th: SAHRR starts!  Link your center block with Gail of @ Quilting Gail
• January 22nd: 1^st Round: Signature Blocks * Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts
• January 29th: 2^nd Round:   Anja @ Anja Quilts
• February 5th: 3^rd Round:  Emily @ The Darling Dogwood (That's me!)
  
• February 12th: 4^th Round:  Brenda @ Songbird Designs
• February 19th: : 5^th Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail 
• February 26th: 6^th Round:  Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
• March 18th: Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

Stay at Home Round Robin 2024: The beginning

Welcome to Stay at Home Round Robin 2024!  Today is when the six hosts, including me, reveal our center blocks.  I decided on a scrappy monochromatic color pallet this year.  I'm using a variety of Island Batik purples with the neutral Almond.  The fabrics in the center are leftover from English Lavender and Limerick, both collections from last year.  The chain blocks feature a really dark purple blender from the Foundations collection.  (I know it's reading as black in the photo, but it's dark purple.) Without further ado, here is my center:

It measures 24" square at this point.  That's much larger than I've used in the past.  I did a lot more planning ahead that I have for previous SAHRRs.  This will be a gift for one of Fire Monkey's teachers whose favorite color is purple, so I had a finished size in mind.  Most of my teacher quilts finish in the neighborhood of 60" x 60", so that's what I am aiming for.

Want to sew along?  Decide on a center block.  Want to use what you already have?  Go ahead!  An orphan block would make a great center, and then you're already done!  Link up with Quilting Gail.  For every week you link up, you will get an entry into the prize drawing in March.  We have great sponsors this year!  Full list at the bottom of the post.

Each week, one of the six hosts will pick a prompt for the next round.  Don't like medallion style quilts?  Do a row by row or sampler style--this is your quilt!  Here's the schedule for the rounds:

• January 15th: SAHRR starts!  Link your center block with Gail of @ Quilting Gail
• January 22nd: 1^st Round:   Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
• January 29th: 2^nd Round:   Anja @ Anja Quilts
• February 5th: 3^rd Round:  Emily @ The Darling Dogwood (That's me!)
  
• February 12th: 4^th Round:  Brenda @ Songbird Designs
• February 19th: : 5^th Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail 
• February 26th: 6^th Round:  Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
• March 18th: Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

Looking for some inspiration?  Here are my SAHRR quilts from the past three years:

2023 Flamingo Fun

 

 

2022 (Unnamed)

 

2021: Ursa Major

I hope you will consider sewing along!  As promised, here is the list of prizes from our sponsors:

• Island Batik: 3 fat quarter bundles
• Hobbs batting: Wool Batt
• Quiltery: For the Love of Geese: A pattern of winner’s choice
• Aurifil Thread:
• Prairie Spirit Alpacas 12″ x 18″ Alpaca /Wool pressing mat
• Oliso:  Pro Plus Auto Lift Iron
• Fat Quarter Shop $25 gift certificate and 2 charm packs of winner’s choice
• Zipper Valley: $20 gift certificate

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  Yes, I know we're already a full week in, but I got a slow start this year.

If you are looking for a new project as we start a new year, consider joining in with the Stay At Home Round Robin, also known as SAHRR.  This quilt along is the brain child of Gail of Quilting Gail.  She goes into a lot of detail on her introduction post.  Essentially, it's like a round robin quilt that a guild might do, but instead of handing over your fabrics to someone else, you decide what to do with your quilt.  And you stay home while doing it, no wasting sewing time traveling anywhere!

Just like in a guild's round robin, you create a center for your quilt.  Then each week, one of the hosts is responsible for picking out some sort of theme or element for the next round.  You interpret that prompt however you like and add something to your quilt.  Most are medallion style, but that's not a requirement.  I did a row by row last year.  No quilt police, we promise!

Here is the schedule:
 

• January 15th: SAHRR starts!  Link your center block with Gail of @ Quilting Gail
• January 22nd: 1^st Round:   Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
• January 29th: 2^nd Round:   Anja @ Anja Quilts
• February 5th: 3^rd Round:  Emily @ The Darling Dogwood (That's me!)
  
• February 12th: 4^th Round:  Brenda @ Songbird Designs
• February 19th: : 5^th Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail 
• February 26th: 6^th Round:  Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
• March 18th: Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

Did I mention we have Sponsors?!?

We reached out to several companies and many of them agreed to sponsor the SAHRR 2024!!! You will get one entry into the prize drawing for every round that you link up. Each linky party is open for a week.  Keep up well for the first 3 weeks but then get behind?  No problem!  You'll still get entries for the weeks you do link up.  We will keep track of all of the participants that link to our Linky parties each week. We will make a list and use a random number generator to choose the winners for each prize. So, if you link up to 3 Linky You parties, you will have 3 opportunities to win! If you don’t have a blog or Instagram account, contact me or one of the other co-hosts and we will post your SAHRR on our blog. This way you still have an opportunity to win!

I hope you will consider sewing along!  For inspiration, here is the list of prizes from our sponsors:

• Island Batik: 3 fat quarter bundles
• Hobbs batting: Wool Batt
• Quiltery: For the Love of Geese: A pattern of winner’s choice
• Aurifil Thread:
• Prairie Spirit Alpacas 12″ x 18″ Alpaca /Wool pressing mat
• Oliso:  Pro Plus Auto Lift Iron
• Fat Quarter Shop $25 gift certificate and 2 charm packs of winner’s choice
• Zipper Valley: $20 gift certificate
• and MORE!!!!

Shoo Fly Snowflake

It's time for the last Island Batik ambassador challenge of the year.  How is it the end of the year already?!?  We were challenged to make something to celebrate a holiday of our choice.  I don't do a lot of holiday decorating so I was looking for something holiday appropriate that would also not be out of place all year.  I really like the quilt that AccuQuilt used as their summer sew-along: Shoo Fly Spin.  It was designed to be cut with their Cube, and they give cutting instructions for a variety of sizes.  I chose to use the 6" cube, which gave me a finished quilt of 50" x 68".

When I follow someone else's pattern, I rarely use colors exactly as they are shown in the sample.  But this time, I liked theirs so much I didn't change anything!  My borders are different, but that was the only change I made.  I used fabrics from Island Batik's always available Foundations collection: solid white, solid gray, and a red blender.  The binding is solid dark gray.  

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

The quilt uses two blocks: a traditional shoo fly and a block Accuquilt created using their cube shapes.  I think the 2nd block looks like a snowflake.  Husband didn't think the colors looked holiday enough for a holiday challenge.  When we were out at a local holiday lights celebration, I pointed out some decorations that looked like peppermints, and he conceded that maybe the blocks looked a little like peppermints. I chose to name it Shoo Fly Snowflake for my interpretation, but whatever gets you to a holiday look works for me!  I like that I could put it out before Christmas and leave it out through Valentine's day.

 

I used Aurifil thread in all piecing and quilting. For piecing I used up various light-colored bobbin ends, and I quilted with white thread.  I remembered to start with a fresh Schmetz needle at the start of the project.  The batting is Hobbs 80/20, though admittedly I created a Franken-Batt with various pieces of leftover Hobbs batting.  (I like fusible batting tape to create a larger batting from leftover pieces.)

My family took a vacation in early December.  On the drive from Charlotte to Florida, I sewed all the binding.  I took advantage of the decorated hotel lobby for photos.  

This brings my 5th years as an Island Batik ambassador to a close.  I can't believe I've been working with Island Batik for 5 years!  I so appreciate the opportunity to work with their beautiful fabrics!  Thanks for another great year, Island Batik!

Out and About

Welcome to another Island Batik blog hop, featuring collections that will be making their way to quilt shops near you in the next few weeks & months.  This is a project I look forward to every year: making one of the bags designed by Annie Unrein of By Annie.  I started making her patterns in 2020 when they were first one of the Island Batik Ambassador challenges, and I found that while I struggle with most 3D projects and bag patterns, something about Annie's designs just click for me!

For this challenge, I was given the Limerick collection by Kathy Engle for Raija of Quilter's Treasure Chest.  Limerick is a dazzling collection of purples, teals, and greens.  The pattern I picked out called for 4 fabrics, and we had to choose months ago.  Imagine my surprise when, in addition to the fabric specifically for the bag, I was sent a full half yard bundle of the whole collection!  Because of this, I actually used more than the original 4 fabrics in my bag.  There are 7 fabrics from Limerick, plus the always-available basic Navy in my bag.

Which bag to choose is always the hardest part for me--even harder than picking the fabric!  I had my eye on one of the new patterns Annie released last year, but ended up changing my mind.  My family has a big trip to Universal Orlando planned next month to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and I thought a small backpack would be prefect for that trip.  Annie has several backpacks, and I was most interested in Out and About.  It has a pleasing shape, isn't too big, and has lots of pockets and compartments.  

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

 

inside of the compartment on the front

I was sent a kit that had everything I would need to make Out and About, including Soft and Stable, the foam that makes Annie's bags stand up so well and look professional, mesh for some of the pockets, fold-over elastic, and the hardware for the backpack straps.  And, of course, the beautiful Island Batik fabrics I chose for my bag!

 

inside of main bag

Annie's bags have a lot of steps and take me a fair amount of time.  They aren't difficult so much as time-consuming.  I also highly recommend watching her accompanying add-on videos that go over the difficult steps in a bag.  I find these videos super helpful!

Watching the add-on video for the next-to-last step

This bag has a front compartment.  They way Annie designed it, there is a border on the top of that compartment, just under the zipper.  Since I picked Out and About, I have been thinking about a way to jazz up that pocket, either just the border or the whole front pocket.  I thought about an embroidery design but couldn't find anything I liked, and was also worried about finishing in time.  Ultimately, I got out the daisy die and my accuquilt and cut daisy petals out of my main fabric to make an appliqued flower for the front.  I absolutely love how that turned out!  I used another fabric from Limerick for the daisy center.  

this bag is cat approved

I use a Schmetz top-stitch needle whenever I make one of Annie's bags, and this was no exception.  I had no trouble going through all the layers of this bag--it really helps to go slow!!  I used three different colors of Aurifil thread, and switched thread fairly frequently depending on the fabrics.  The main purple dotted fabric went with Aurifil #2545 Medium Purple, Aurufil #2784 Dark Navy blended beautifully with Island Batik's Navy, and Aurifil #2720 Light Delft Blue worked well with the lighter dotted fabric I chose as the lining.  

I am beyond pleased with my purple Out and About backpack and can't wait to use it on my trip!!!  Two other ambassadors made By Annie bags using fabrics from the Limerick collection today, be sure to visit them:  Maryellen of Mary Mack Made Mine and Leah of Quilted Delights

North Carolina Star

For October's Island Batik challenge, ambassadors were each sent the North Carolina Star die from AccuQuilt.  The North Carolina Star is a vintage block that was published in the Chicago Tribune in December of 1933.  AccuQuilt recently released a Block on Board (abbreviated BOB) die for the North Carolina Star that eliminated the y-seams in the original.  We were challenged to use the North Carolina Star die or any of its pieces, and were encouraged, though not required, to use fall fabric to celebrate this time of year.

I was really excited for this challenge!  Living in North Carolina, it felt like a gift to honor my state.  The die makes a 12" finished block and has 56 pieces.  Yes, 56!  That's a lot, but that many pieces also means that there are a lot of ways to change the look of this block.  I know that I will eventually play with a lot of different colorations of this block! I didn't want to lay out the blocks directly next o each other because I was worried that would be too busy, so I started thinking about blocks I could alternate with the North Carolina Star rather than using sashing.  Most of the other BOB dies I have are for 8" blocks; I don't have any other 12" BOB dies.  Or so I thought.  I realized that the Hunter's Star die makes a 6" unit, but that unit is actually a quarter of the star, so finished full block would be 12".  Perfect!  I headed straight for EQ8 to play with designs that combined North Carolina Star with Hunter's Star.  I came up with a design that I loved using both North Carolina Star and Hunter's Star.

original design in EQ8

In my most recent Ambassador box, I was sent a 10" stack of Buds and Blooms, a signature collection designed by Island Batik's main fabric designer Kathy Engle for Swan Amity Studios.  Buds and Blooms is a beautiful collection of yellows, oranges, purples, with just a touch of pink and burgundy.  While purple might not be a dominate color in changing leaves, the rest of the collection does remind me of a beautiful view of trees full of fall color.  I added the basic Jade as an accent and used solid black as the background to really set off the beautiful colors in Buds and Blooms.

Because I was working with a 10" stack, I was limited in how much of each fabric I had.  As a result, my quilt is colored a little differently than the original design in EQ8.  I ended up with two different fabric combination in my North Carolina Star blocks.

My finished quilt is 60" x 60".  I used Hobbs 80/20 batting and decided that a large spiral quilting would look good.  I chose to quilt with purple thread, Aurifil #2545 Medium Purple.  All piecing and quilting was done with Schmetz needles.  

marking the center circle for the spiral quilting

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

I have really enjoyed seeing all the ways my fellow Island Batik ambassadors have used the North Carolina Star die!  I want to try a lot of the different variations that I've seen, so I know I'll be making more quilts using this block and this die.

 

Bowl Me Over

Back in April or May, I joined a Slow Along with Randi of Randi's Roost to make By Annie's Bowl Me Over.  Bowl Me Over is a fairly large purse.  The Slow Along ended around the 4th of July but I finished in early September and just never got to posting.  I want to start using it as my daily purse and felt like I needed to post it first!

Note: Slow Along is not a typo.  Randi calls her sew alongs Slow Alongs because she runs them at a very relaxed pace, which is great for bags with as many steps as Annie's bags have!

 

All fabrics are Island Batik, and I think there are 6 different fabrics.  The main fabric is one I bought because I love it so much, it's from an older collection called Floral Wonders by Jerry Khiev and I bought it at Sew What & Batiks Etc in Wytheville, VA last summer.  The rest of the fabrics are leftover from various collections I've been sent by Island Batik over the years.  

Buttercup does like to come check on my progress every once in a while!

The inside, all clipped together.

I'm excited to see how I like this as my daily purse!