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Aurelia was published in Make Modern Issue #56.

Blue Skies, Breezy Day

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.

Breezy Bundle

Light to Dark!

Let me introduce you to Olivia.

Olivia likes the outdoors!

This is such a beautiful collection with a wide range of values from light yellow, through medium red and orange all the way to deep purple. I love these warm colors. Look for Buds and Blooms Layer Cake in your local quilt store.

Here are some more pictures.

Breezy Day

Glowing Fabrics

Gorgeous Fabrics

To make Olivia, you need one layer cake, one focus fabric and ...

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.

Ooh it is heavy...

The fish wriggled and pulled against the net and Paul struggled. 

Paul struggled

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

The one that got away...

Well, here is the true back ...

Designing 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 ...

I 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.

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 ...

1. Topsy Turvy is now available as a stand alone pattern in my Etsy Store.

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.

Basting and Ironing

Throw size Spectrum Warp and Weft kits are available from Piece Fabric Co.

I'm sure most of you know the Warp and Weft quilt was my first pattern release, and while I love picking colours, being a newbie quilt designer, I probably didn't think through how hard it might be for other people to choose their own for this quilt. Consequently, I only ever saw versions of the original colourway, inspired by the cochineal dyes and weaving of Oaxaca. You can see my photo journal of making the original Kaffe Fassett, Rowan shot cotton one here.

I figured ...

It was about one year ago, when I first doodled the idea that became Synergy. I first made Synergy in Rainbow Fabrics on a Light Gray background, provided by Island Batiks.

The second version was in Tantalizing Teals on a Yellow background. 

Since then, I have been playing in EQ8, with different Island Batik collections.

In Lace & Grace (Fall 2021 Collection)

In Playful Purples (Island Batik Foundations)

In Interurban (Fall 2021)

But I am so looking forward to the different versions that are cooking in the following studios of North America.

1. Mari of Academic Quilter - Thursday, April 21, 2022 ...

 The Island Batik challenge for January 2022 reads as follows: 

Island Batik has developed ten colorways of gradations with 20 steps in each. There are so many quilt projects that make use of gradations in color and value. Your challenge is to create a project that demonstrates this step by step change in color value!

I love this challenge. I absolutely do. I love creating quilts with gradations, where color (or value) gradually changes from one to the other. I made a Gradations quilt in Konark, even though it wasn't a requirement. Cross Currents was based on the same ...

I have news!!!

My pattern Synergy is in the Make Modern Magazine, Issue 44.

Synergy in Make Modern #44

Meet Synergy. Measuring 56" by 70", Synergy is made entirely with Island Batik Solids, provided to me free of charge by Island Batik. It is good to be an ambassador :-)

Orange Foliage, Rainbow Quilt

My favorite :-)

Breeze was a Brat

More Fall Foliage

Oh my beauty!

The quilt was completed in November 2021. The  pictures were taken on November 14, 2021. All instructions and pictures were sent on November 20, 2021. And then I had to sit tight till NOW.  

Sitting ...

Welcome to Day One of the Island Batik's November 2021 Blog Hop - Storm at Sea.

The November Challenge for Island Batik required that we make a Storm at Sea quilt, lap size or larger, using the Summer 2021 Fabric bundle. I received the collection Bellingham Bay - designed by Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design.

Bellingham Bay

Those of you who know me know that these are not my favorite colors. I find them dark and depressing.  Guess this was an added dimension to the challenge.  

I turned to EQ8 to mock-up the color combinations to come up with a ...

When I found out that my best-friend-since-4th-grade’s daughter was getting married, there had to be a quilt.

And the daughter likes black and white.

And I had scraps.

The blocks came together very quickly: 2 2-1/2″ squares, 2 2-1/2 x 4-1/2″ strips, 1 2-1/2 x 6-1/2″ strip. Ta-dah! This quilt used 108 blocks and finishes at 54″ x 72″.

It will be mailed next week.

I call it Crackle Candy, but don’t really know why. Except that it has a sort of ring to it and the quilt is definitely made up of bits and pieces.

It is made from 6″ blocks made in a variety of ways. It seemed to fit the scraps I had, which were a variety of shapes and sizes.

The finish is 54″ square and makes a lovely lap quilt for my neighbor down the road. “My favorite colors!” she said. It is now on the back of her couch and ready for use during uncertain spring weather.

That ...

I am calling it Crackle Candy for now.

The top was made from a pile of miscellaneous scraps received in hand-me-down bags over several years. I was certain there was a quilt in there somewhere, but how to efficiently use so many different bits and pieces?

The answer was to incorporate a variety of block styles. There are six in all…can you find them?

HINT: One block only appears one time. I would change that if I did it again.

The blocks are finished and it is moving towards layout.

It is an experiment. I have yet to determine if it is a successful experiment.

One week before Christmas

The year was 2005. I was working as a junior planner in Fort Lauderdale. Broward County was conducting a public hearing on a proposed light rail line connecting the western part of the county to downtown Fort Lauderdale.

The beginning

Before Touch-up

After Touch-up (Head, Flower & Shoe completed)

Growing Trees

Roofs under Construction

Colorful Tiles!!!

Housing Project

I remember arriving at the venue about 4:00PM, setting up easels showing the area maps, flip boards and markers, and sign in sheets with several pens. The event began at 6:00PM with a formal presentation from the Florida Department of Transportation ...

Sparkle Jane (Daughter) wanted to try out a new technique–foundation string piecing.

She using the tan as a constant diagonal line in the blocks, adding random strips of controlled scrappy colors as she went along.

Narrow sashing between the blocks finished it off.

She enjoyed the technique, but didn’t love the colors.  But, it was worth finishing, and it is finished, and that (as we all know) is good.