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| Rainbow Colors |
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| Basting |
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| Light and Dark |
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| Dashing Doors |
Dashing Doors is my response to the Island Batik's Log Cabin Challenge and Blog Hop that begins today. My pun on Door Dash got a huge eye roll from Paul :-)
I received a half-yard bundle of Breezy Collection. Purples, Greens, Coral and Pink make this a lovely collection.
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| Breezy Bundle |
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| Light to Dark! |
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| Island Batik Solids |
As the daylight hours decrease and the darkness envelops the northern hemisphere, Hindus all over the world celebrate Diwali - the festival of lights. You may have seen the newish British Prime Minister and his family celebrate Diwali at 10 Downing Street.
I have talked about my Diwali Memories and I made my first Diwali Quilt last year.
This year when Island Batik gave us the choice to make a quilt project "celebrating" our favorite holiday, I knew instantly that I will be making a Diwali Quilt, using a fabric collection called Celebrate!!! Could there be a more appropriate fabric line ...
read moreMeet Nilsa. She is my newest finish and a pattern is available now.
At 60" by 83", Nilsa can be a Mercyful Quilt. The pattern can also be used to make a Quilt of Valor.
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| Nilsa, 60" by 83" |
I used the Island Batik collection - Blushing Garden to make Nilsa.
Have you seen Blushing Garden? It is a beautiful collection with my favorite colors - red, pink and gold. Even a bit of teal to brighten things up. They are beautiful and sunny!
The September Island Batik Challenge and Blog Hop is called Pieced to Perfection. We were required to make a paper-pieced project at least lap sized, using as many different fabrics as possible from our assigned collection.
I received Chromatic. It is an original collection designed by Deb Tucker of Studio 180 Designs.
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| Chromatic Bundle |
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| Chromatic Fabrics |
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| Bromeliad Garden |
I chose "The Palm" block from EQ8 Block Library (under Old favorites).
The on-point layout uses 24 blocks. I used 21 (out of the 22) fabrics from the Chromatic collection. I used three fabrics ...
read moreMarrying someone from halfway across the globe has its perks. There is always something new to learn. Recently Paul introduced me to the Addams Family. I fell in love with Wednesday and she is the inspiration for my May project!
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| Wednesday Mock-Up in EQ8 |
It was a heavy lift. The net was bursting with a huge catch.
It took a lot of effort to haul it out of the river.
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| Ooh it is heavy... |
The fish wriggled and pulled against the net and Paul struggled.
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| Paul struggled |
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| And finally managed! |
Such a proud angler Paul is!!! Now, you may think that catching all these fish on the banks of Potomac is a load of bull. But honestly, it is a fishy story :-D
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| The one that got away... |
Well, here is the true back ...
read moreDesigning for the May/June 2023 Issue of Quiltmaker Magazine, I chose the fabric line Celebrate. Designed by Kathy Engle, this fabric line will be available in stores in May 2023.
Imagine my surprise when the magazine was published in March 2023. It is Island Batik's guidance to release patterns as close to the fabric availability as possible. If the fabric is not available (at the time of pattern release or shortly thereafter), then it feels like a tease or even a torture, especially when the fabric is this gorgeous!!!
For this reason, I have been slow/reluctant to ...
read moreMardi Gras Magic was published in McCall’s Quilting March/April 2023.
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| Mardi Gras Magic |
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| My favorite picture |
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| Island Batik Fabrics - Inspired by Nature |
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| Bright Yellows, Shimmering Greens |
If I could be doing anything quilty, it would be improv piecing. It is like taking a journey. "Come hither ye fabric scraps; together we will travel and see where we end up."
Here is the Island Batik Challenge for March. It reads
"March brings a free month for you to determine your own project of any size, using any theme and any technique!! This is an opportunity for you to express your creativity without guidelines. Have fun!"
And I did have fun. See how the bits and pieces grew.
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| Starting Point |
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| And then there were two |
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| Growing |
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| Coming Together ... |
I have a new finish to share. Meet Paroma. Although the quilt was completed in August 2022
(hence the lush green backdrop), I had to sit tight till now.
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| Paroma. 56" by 68" |
Paroma is a Fat quarter friendly quilt published in Quilt Patterns - Fun Fat Quarter Quilts for Spring (anniescatalog.com) With 22 FQ projects for just under $10, this is a steal.
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| In process |
The Hindi/Urdu word Nihal means happy and satisfied in every way. Imagine a traveler coming from hot and dusty desert, with a parched throat. They would become "Nihal" after they had a drink of cool and refreshing water. Happy and satisfied in every way!
Meet Nihal.
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| Location Courtesy - Kids Play Structure in Mari's Backyard |
To make Nihal, I used a pack of 10" squares - Cheers, designed by Carl and Linda Sullivan of Colourwerx. Cheers is from the Island Batik Spring 2022 Collection. I also used Island Batik Solid light grey fabric for accent and binding.
Nihal is published ...
read moreI firmly believe that anyone who has a voice can sing. Whether their singing is pleasant to hear or not is another story altogether. Similarly, I can make a quilt with any group of colors. Will that grouping be aesthetically appealing? That depends on the design.
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| December Challenge! |
Four times a year when the challenge is combined with a blog hop, we the Island Batik ambassadors are required to use one of the new fabric collections, assigned to us. Further we are directed to use as many fabrics (from the collection) as possible.
I was assigned the Chickadee Fabric Collection ...
read moreShe wanted to be surprised, but when we chatted today on Messenger, she said she could stand it any longer, especially since she knew I finished it, so I had to hold up her quilt so she could see it. Now I can show it to everyone.
She sent me dozens of pictures of what she liked, many with water and various shades of blue. This delightful young woman is a teacher who lives in a coastal city. She loves helping people who struggle, but is also aware of her need to find a quiet place now and then. She ...
read moreHello friends! If you had a hard time finding TGIFF with me this week, I apologize. My web serving was affected by the hurricane in Florida and I had to temporarily host through Instagram (which is a little unorthodox for TGIFF). It's Friday morning my time and the web service is back up so I'm sharing my project here now. I hope you'll link up your finishes below for TGIFF.
I *finally* finished a quilt this week that has been in the works for quite a while. It was quilted by @threadedquilting back in January 2020 and ...
read more1. Topsy Turvy is now available as a stand alone pattern in my Etsy Store.
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| Topsy Turvy in Honeycomb Fabrics |
I first made Topsy Turvy using the scraps left over from the Island Batik "Make it Modern" Blog Hop and Challenge. Many refinements later, making it suitable for 2.5" precut strips, writing and rewriting and then correcting the pattern, Topsy Turvy is now available as a standalone pattern.
Here are a few more pictures.
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| Basting and Ironing |
Now I'm working on a pile of leftover floral prints, oldies but enough to make a bunch of HST with contrasting values. Not sure what will come of it, maybe just an empty ...
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