The Elementz Blog Hop Starts Today!

The Isand Batik Elementz blog hop starts today!

Elementz is a gorgeous, bright new fabric line by Tamarinis. Each day, different designers will be sharing projects made with her fun fabric.

HOP SCHEDULE

Visit each of these bloggers throughout the hop to see more Elementz projects and enter to win lots and LOTS of giveaways!

Monday, February 26
Island Batik
Aurifil
Tamarinis
Sew Many Creations

Tuesday, February 27
Cabin in the Woods Quilters
Swan Amity Studio

Wednesday, February 28
Quiltoni
Seams Like a Dream

Thursday, March 1
Poorhouse Quilt Designs
Fat Quarter Gypsy
Kauffman Designs

Friday, March 2
Cranberry Pie Designs
Stephanie Jacobson (me!!!)

Saturday, March 3
Den syende himmel
Funky Friends Factory
Lizard Creek Quilting

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Enter to win an Elementz Fat Eighth bundle! There are many ways to enter – see the Rafflecopter widget below for details. Island Batik will ALSO be giving away additional Elementz bundles on Instagram, so be sure you’re following Island Batik there to participate!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#starstruckQAL

The #plusblockQAL is nearing it's end. It's been a lot of fun. Even though I'm not going to finish my quilt any time soon, it's been really inspiring and rewarding seeing all the beautiful plus blocks and completed quilts. A fellow IG quilty friend messaged me a few days ago to see if I was planning another quilt along. She really enjoyed the process and wanted to continue using her scraps to make quilt blocks. The plus blocks were such a great block to make.  They were great for mindless, relaxing sewing. The blocks and quilts went together pretty quickly. Seriously...some participants made more than one quilt! Plus there's the whole #inspiredquiltproject thing where a bunch of really awesome, super generous quilters sent me plus blocks for the #GirlsIncOmahaQuilts. So...after a bunch of really great QAL suggestions, our next QAL starting mid-March will be STARS for the #starstruckQAL!

I will be making these awesome star blocks from a tutorial by Cluck, Cluck Sew. Wonky stars were also a popular suggestion (I LOVE wonky stars) so you can make those if you'd prefer. Wombat Quilts has a great, scrappy wonky star quilt block tutorial. But this #starstruckQAL is so laid back, that ALL star quilts are welcome! If you have a star quilt UFO or a star quilt on your quilting bucket list, now is the time to finish/make it! I hope you'll join in the fun. I'm really excited to start seeing stars very soon!

Island Batik {MiniLove}

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik.

I'm back with my second Island Batik Ambassador February project...a mini quilt! I have made and own a LOT of mini quilts as I participated in quite a few swaps over on Istagram. (In fact, I now have far more mini quilts than I can display.) Mini quilts are a great way of trying out a new technique or using some beloved fabric without commiting to an entire quilt, and I enjoy decorating my sewing my space with them.

I love scrappy, bright colors so I knew right away I wanted to use these gorgeous Elementz fabrics for my mini. (Normally I would post a pic of the beautifully-packaged Stack, but in my excitement I had already ripped into it and started cutting.) This collection is designed by Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis. You should definitely follow her on Istagram.

One thing I love about being an Island Batik Ambassador is the ability to freely create. Sure, there are some guidelines and a few requirements, but it's a wonderful feeling to just cut and sew and create something beautiful.

I'm a huge fan of text and inspiring words, so I knew I wanted some kind of word or phrase on my mini quilt. I decided on the word "maker" and used PicMonkey to create an applique template of my word.

I need to do a little research and see if there's a way to reverse the text in PicMonkey. It would make the applique-making process a LOT easier...but it worked!

For the quilting, I decided on some some simple straight line, crosshatch quilting.

Just a little scrappy binding, and it is complete! To make the main part of the mini, I cut strips of fabric, sewed them together, cut them up again, and sewed them back together again. I didn't have an overall plan as far as size, and it ended up 11 inches square. It will look so bright and happy on my sewing room wall.

It's always nice when the back is as pretty as the front...crooked label and all! One of my favorite mini quilt tricks is sewing triangles (made from a square folded in half on the diagonal) into the upper corners. You can then use a dowel (or a bamboo skewer in this case) to make a hanger for your mini quilt. This makes it easy to hang it nice and straight on your wall.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my MiniLove project! I can't wait to get started on my March project of trying a new technique.

Happy Galentine's Day...My First Island Batik Project

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik.

I'm so excited to share my FIRST Island Batik Ambassador project of 2018! 

Sometimes you see something and decide right away you must make it. That's what happned when I saw these beautiful, rainbow mini modern hearts made by Jessie Ziegler of Threaded Quilting. 

I immediately bought her Mini Modern Heart paper piecing pattern then prompty set it aside because I have a million other projects in the works. When I read through the Island Batik Galentine's Day project info, I knew this modern heart was the perfect pattern for the project.

Without further ado, here's my Galentine's Day mug rug...

I used the pretty hot pink and red fabrics I received in my Galentine's Day bundle, and the background is an amazing neutral called Rice. (They sent me 3 yards, but I think I'm going to need more!) I used my walking foot to quilt some wavy lines. The "too sweet" is a stamp leftover from my scrapbooking days. (That's why it's so hard to get rid of anything...who knows when you may need it again?!) The finished size is approximately 6.5" x 8.5"...perfect for a cup of coffee. (Or a glass of wine.)

I know I say this about a lot of my projects, but I love how it turned out. I'm not sure what it is about this Island Batik Ambassador program, but I feel free to design and experiment with these projects. Usually that kind of freedom can be stressful for me, but so far it's just been a lot of fun. I have my project list for the year, and the wheels in my head are constantly turning with potential project ideas. I'm already working on our next project...a mini quilt which I'll have posted by the end of February. Thanks for stopping by!