I won!

I had a lot of fun blog hopping the past couple of weeks. Two of the blog hops were for Island Batiks with their brand ambassadors: Tammy Silvers' new line "Coastal Mist", and then there was the New Beginnings Blog Hop. Then I went hopping with Fresh Snow Hop from Marian's Seams to Be Sew blog.

I was diligent in following these hops, because I have fallen in love with Island Batiks. And I must have been pretty lucky, because I won a few prizes!

From Maria Michaels Designs, I won a one-year subscription to Quilt Pattern Magazine online. That looks like a great resource and a fun, sharing community of quilters.

Next, Nancy Myers of "Patchwork Breeze" gave away this gorgeous 5-inch "stamp pack" of Sea Canyon by Island Batik. The colors are so beautiful, and I need to narrow down what I want to do with the pack! Island Batik really knows how to do purple, green, and blue right!

Oh yeah, I can't forget the reason that I won! Nancy wanted help naming her design for the New Beginnings challenge quilt that she created. I don't know if I'm great at names, but I do love puns and wordplay. I replied with a few of my ideas, and Nancy's husband read through all the replies/entries, and chose mine: "Dancing DNA". What a fun contest, and I feel honored to name her design!

And finally, I won this little bundle of 1/2-yards of autumn-colored Island Batiks. Look at those camouflaged deer on that pumpkin-orange background! And pine needles and swirls. This one was from Pam Geisel's blog "For Quilts Sake". She is so talented and creative, and it's a lot of fun following her blog. I love seeing what she's up to with each challenge as an Island Batik Ambassador.

And then, sometime in November or December, I won a giveaway from APQ (American Patchwork and Quilting): an archive of their magazines and patterns! How cool is that! It's going to be a great resource and a lot of fun to read all the digital back-issues.

I feel pretty special right now, and I'm so thankful for these wonderful prizes. They've been bright spots in a very snowy winter with my health problems. They make me want to try harder to get up and get through this pile of quilttoppers and quilt them, and also inspire me to practice designing. I would really like to be an ambassador for Island Batik and Bernina some day!

Block 2 of 4

Hi !!

Happy October!

Block #2 of 4 is finished!

This one actually has all the Seattle Seahawks colors together in one block!

I love it!

#SummerSolsticeQAL #HappyQuiltingMelissa

#IslandBatik

I'm trying to decide if I'm going to go all-out on this theme of Seattle Seahawks??!!

There's some awesome Seattle Seahawks cottons out there. I was wondering about a border of that, along with a Seahawks backing too?

(A snapshot of an Etsy shop called Pico Textiles)

Or batik borders with fussy-cut hawk's head from the licensed fabric for cornerstones of the border?

 Or a backing of extra-wide batik ?

Or not even worry about the Seahawks, because it's just a great color scheme with the purple thrown in, too?

Half-Square Triangles--Summer Solstice

Hi !

I powered through, and finished trimming all those lovely HST. I think there's 24 of each color, making 96 total. Whew. They are 3 1/2" and ready to build blocks.

Look at my pile of spaghetti-looking trimmings!

#SummerSolsticeQuiltAlong

#IslandBatik

With new units getting introduced every two weeks, I guess that means the (possibly) most daunting unit is getting introduced later this week: Drunkard's Path ! Thank goodness, I recently bought a sheet of template plastic!

And here's my new ironing board. Just a Walmart special, but not the super-cheapo. I'm going to try out the two-piece Y-legs this time, and see if it's any more stable and less wobbly than standard T-legs. There definitely seems to be several more rivets to attach parts together.

What am I off to do now? To bed, first! ;-)

Next projects?

There's two little mini-quilts to finish quilting. (And about 8 other quilts to quilt!)

Pattern is called " Moda Love", a free pattern from Moda Bake Shop. Here, I made these minis with mini-charms. The pattern also includes instructions for 5" charms and 10" layer cake squares.

And I'm getting a small collection of Row x Row Experience kits and patterns. There's quite a bit of appliqué with these kits, so that seems like a lot of work. (I'm glad I got a new ironing board!) despite the appliqué, I love the Home Sweet Home theme, and I'm getting excited to begin.

Flying Geese: Summer Solstice QAL

Hello!

Finally finished my flying geese for the Summer Solstice QAL over at HappyQuiltingMelissa.blogspot.com !

Isn't my flock of geese just gorgeous!?

I really love working with these Island Batiks. They have a wonderful soft, smooth feel, but cut so crisply and accurately.

I'm also working on the HSTs. Pressing and trimming them takes the most time. I really like how nicely the batiks play with the Kona Cotton Solid.

In other news, my husband and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary on Wednesday. We had a relaxing day at home, then left the boys with their uncle to babysit, to eat at our favorite Italian restaurant, La Dolce Vita, in Provo, Utah. It's also where we ate on our first date.

And, today, my ironing board died. I noticed yesterday, while pressing these HSTs, that it didn't want to move and didn't want to adjust up nor down. It seemed really wobbly.

Today, my husband looked over at me while I'm trimming, and sees the ironing board. I cleared the board off, and he lifted it up and lay it down to check it out. Just moving the board across the room, finished it off. All the rivets have popped on the support plates, holding the legs and lifting mechanism together. It won't stand; it can't stay together.

We are going shopping for a new one tomorrow, my husband declared ! Yes, I love him!

Joining in: Summer Solstice QAL

Hi!

Happy summer! Happy 100 degrees from Utah, USA. Truly, I'm melting in a puddle of sweat.

Are you Row x Row shop hopping and swapping like I am? Are you having fun? As if we all needed more projects to Ooh and Ahh over!

I also decided to join in Happy Quilting Melissa Corry's "Summer Solstice" Quilt Along. Seriously, I just love Melissa's designs and QALs. She is so organized, has done all the math, her charts are amazing, and her tutorials are thorough and easy to follow.

Ok, so I haven't done a lot of curved piecing, and certainly haven't done any Drunkard's Path since my very first quilt, but I'm confident this will be easy-peasy. You can't help but be confident with Melissa guiding you!

I'm going to be making the 2x2 layout in the 24" blocks (see above).

I found the awesome fabric I'll be using. Remember that Super Bowl 2014 giveaway that I won from Island Batik ?

http://www.islandbatik.com

The one that totally surprised me, because I had a newborn ? Yeah, in my sleep-deprived state, trolling Facebook and dreaming of quilting while I breastfed, I guessed that the Seattle Seahawks would win the Super Bowl with a certain score, and I won the bundle of Seahawks-inspired batiks! 1/2 yd lime Green, and 1 yd each of Sugar cream, Blue Burst, and grey swirls.

I am using this bundle for my Solstice QAL. Only 2 problems: 1--I needed more cream for background, and it's out-of-print. 2-I needed another print.

I pulled a deep purple piece from the Sweethearts Bundle of Island Batiks that I won for Valentines Day 2014 (geez, apparently, having a newborn is good luck for giveaways). My story is that my quilt will be a Seattle sports dream quilt: pro-football Seahawks and University of Washington Purple Huskies. Ha ha!

I finally found a Kona solid that I was happy with, matching the creamy Sugar batik--Kona Ivory. 

I decided to use the Sugar for DP (Drunkards Path) and FG (Flying Geese), and some of the Squares.

And here are all my piles, cut, marked, and ready to sew! I'm a little behind, but I can catch up!

Yummy, yummy! So far, my experience with Island Batiks is great. The fabrics cut like butter but with a crisp finish, and there is very little raveling along the cut edges. They're soft, but feel sturdy. I'm in love with batiks already, and I haven't even started sewing yet!

Look to my sidebar, and you can see the linky to the Summer Solstice QAL at happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com. It's totally free with no pattern to purchase! Come join in!