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This months challenge was to use a specific coordinated group of threads from Aurifil. I love orange! I took the challenge pretty literally. I went to the Google and pulled up a few images of Sumatra tigers in the wild. With these images, I got a sense of what I could do! I have loads of Greens, and I can machine embroider the tigers! I cut a bunch of leaf shapes out of various greens. I fused them to a background green. I did not stitch the leaves down I chose a green threa

This is one of my FAVORITE challenges. I love ByAnnie patterns. We were challenged to make a bag. I made 2. A place for Everything and Take a stand. We got to choose our fabric for the bag: here are my choices. The fabric line is Midnight Dazzle by Kathy Engle. I quilted the main fabric to the lining with Soft and Stable in the center of the quilt sandwich. It makes for a really nice bag that holds up well. I did design the quilting pattern, something simple but fun. It

The Island Batik challenge for February is to create a donation quilt. Scroll down for a chance to win some fabric this week! I started designing with this fabric collection: Garden Gems fabrics. I love the brightness of each one of these colors. I added some solid black Island batik to set them off. Electric quilt is the perfect tool to draw up, plan and color the quilt design. I pulled out the reds yellows and greens as well as a multi color for the center row. Some easy c

I decided to have a little fun with this challenge. I chose to be a bit untraditional and make these with really bright basic fabrics from Island Batik. I started with these solids and added these basic textures. I put all of them in the wash together. One thing I love about Island Batik is the fabulous color fastness of the fabrics. No running of colors at all! To make the "plate" and "cup" circles, I traced perfect circles on some fusible web. I rough cut them out and fus

I have been lucky enough to be chosen to be an Island Batik Ambassador for 2021. This is THE BEST DAY EVER. The day the Island Batik Ambassadors get their boxes of fabric for the next 6 months of projects. Island Batiks are Awesome. And here is the rundown of what I GET to work with: Accuquilt Maple Leaf Die. A set of 2 1/2" strips and a couple of coordinating fabrics in Melody. Some 10" squares and coordinates of Farm Fresh. Stash Builder rolls. I love these. They are

Island Batik challenge is finished! This month is a Medallion. Generally a medallion quilt is a central block or motif surrounded by several or many borders. I loved the fabrics I used last month for the Inspired by nature challenge, so I continued using them for this months challenge. Here is a modern look at a medallion style quilt. This one is 56" by 59" and will be used as a wall-hanging. The fabric line is from Tamarinis and is called Just my Type. It is available in

Scroll to the bottom to sign up for a chance to win some great fabrics. This month for Island Batik, we were instructed to use a specific collection and create a quilt inspired by nature. I lucked out TOTALLY with the most fabulous collection of all. This is Just My Type by Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis. This line is in stores now (or on their way) Be sure to ask your local store. I drew my inspiration from the view from my home and studio: The birch trees inspired me, alon

This month with Island Batik: We were challenged to create a thread painting project using Aurifil thread. The colors of the Urbanization collection matched the threads provided by Aurifil. Check your local stores for this fabulous collection! Improv piecing was my choice for the background. Once the quilt top was finished, I planned the threadwork. The background fabric was my inspiration for the embroidery designs. I searched and found a Gingko design at Embroidery Librar

This month we were challenged with something special. A BAG and a Raffle, info is at the bottom of this post. I made the Got Your Back 2.0 By Annie Backpack. The Fabric Is: Urbanization - designed by Kathy Engle for Kari Nichols of Mountainpeek Creations. It is shipping to your local stores now. Here is the pattern: I chose the pattern from the MANY patterns at By Annie. Annie actually picked out all the fabrics and hardware for my bag. I could not have chosen better. I lo

This month my Island batik Ambassador challenge included a fab tool from Deb Tucker: The Tucker Trimmer. It is not a tool I had used yet, so I was excited to try something new. I also crossed off a bucket list quilt, a carpenters star. There is a great collection that I received in my July box from Island Batik: The Bloomers collection by Kathy Engle is fun and kind of bohemian in feel. I paired it with some super solid white batik. EQ8 was used to design the quilt to be

This is a pretty cool idea from Island Batik and Accuquilt. Accuquilt sent all of us Island Batik Ambassadors brand new Go! me and gave us a fab suggestion to make a quilt using the Go and gift BOTH the Go!Me and the quilt to a quilting friend that was new to Accuquilt. I have made a quilt for someone who does SO much for everyone else. She does not ask for credit for all she does. So for you, Nikki, I made a runner that started from a Card Trick block and spirals out. Th

There is nothing better than getting a box from Island Batik! There are some FANTASTIC groups here. I can share some but 2 are wrapped for later this fall. At the end of this post is my Video of the unboxing event! Here are the goodies! The first yummy collection is the Floralicious strips and some orange and purple coordinates. The pre-cuts should be in your stores now. How pretty is this? There is also a grouping that I will probably use for my August project. This one is

I am home, not traveling and teaching, and probably won't start traveling until at at least fall. I am finding my path staying local, creating with some beautiful Island Batiks. For this months Island batik challenge, we had no direction and no stipulations. Sometime that is harder than you think. This is my first year as an ambassador, so I was not sure what to expect from the others. I just went with my heart and grabbed this precut strip pack. This is a stunning pa

Glacier View Fabrics, designed by Kathy Engle. And a Giveaway! At the bottom of this post.... The theme this month is Home Dec, and a given set of fabrics. My group of fabrics is Glacier View, by Kathy Engle. It looks like a northwest inspired blue set of yummy batiks. I was a bit stumped at first, the fabric is not purple or brights, my choice of the moment. As I opened up the grouping, I became thrilled at how beautiful the set of fabrics is. Click on the picture