Happy Friends, I just came through a sewing marathon. I am exhausted, but am glad that I got another thing checked off my list! I am obsessive about making lists, and “me versus list” sums up my life most days.
Monday, March 14 – Island Batik Intro – be sure to stop by for the giveaway of a free fabric bundle! You will also see what outfit I wore to church yesterday when you visit Island Batik’s blog today. Totally unplanned… I chuckled when I saw the picture!
Tuesday, March 15 – The Fit Quilter – Adele is using the Desert Rose collection to make her version of Crossings! You have got to pop on over to see her quilt – simply gorgeous! Adele is a quilt designer herself — check out her work, and the patterns she has for sale!
Wednesday, March 16 – Pamela Quilts — Pamela gives a batik-y twist to my Flight of Colors pillows. Pam is also a Craftsy Designer, as well as Etsy Shop owner. Do take a moment to check out her offerings!!! And there’s a giveaway of a copy of my book!



Island Batik & Creative New Quilts Blog Hop Day 3
Happy Wednesday, Dear Friends! It’s pillow time for Day 3!!!!
Monday, March 14 – Island Batik Intro – be sure to stop by for the giveaway of a free fabric bundle! You will also see what outfit I wore to church yesterday when you visit Island Batik’s blog today. Totally unplanned… I chuckled when I saw the picture!
Tuesday, March 15 – The Fit Quilter – Adele is using the Desert Rose collection to make her version of Crossings! You have got to pop on over to see her quilt – simply gorgeous! Adele is a quilt designer herself — check out her work, and the patterns she has for sale!
TODAY!!! Wednesday, March 16 – Pamela Quilts — Pamela gives a batik-y twist to my Flight of Colors pillows. Pam is also a Craftsy Designer, as well as Etsy Shop owner. Do take a moment to check out her offerings!!! And there’s a giveaway of a copy of my book!
Here are the original Flight of Colors pillows made for my Creative New Quilts & Projects from precuts or stash book.
It is a stash-busting quick project if you are one who keeps the leftover triangles after you trim off your blocks when doing the flip-and-sew method. I have amassed hundreds of these triangles myself. And actually, the three pillows you see are made with triangle scraps from my Crossings Quilt! Click here if you missed the blog hop post on my Crossings quilt.
So, I am curious to know if you hoard keep these trimmed of triangles, like I do…. I always keep the triangle pairs as they are cut (right sides facing each other). That way, I can just pick them up to sew/chain-piece.
For a few chuckles today…. here is a paper Miss Baby wrote for her class a couple of weeks ago. [For the new followers, Miss Baby is the joy of my life. She is currently 7 years old and in first grade.] In case you can’t read from the photo below, “If I were a Pioneer, I would live in a log cabin. If I were a Pioneer, my husband would have an axe. If I were a Pioneer, I would live in the woods. If I were a Pioneer, I would have a garden at the back of the house. If I were a Pioneer, my husband would have an oxen.”
So… I did ask her about why the “oxen” specifically. Her reasoning, “In case we have to move, and we would need oxen to pull the covered wagon.” Oh — right!!!
Stay tuned for the sequel of the Pioneer series — I will share as soon as I find that sequel paper! It’s amazing to me just how many papers Miss Baby brings home from school. Thank you for stopping by – have a great day! AND don’t forget to check out Pamela’s blog to see her batik pillow!
Creative New Quilts & Projects Project Highlight #1: Counting My Blessings
Hello Friends, we are in Thanksgiving mode at my end. We have a certain little girl who is super-excited about Thanksgiving! And I thought it would be apt for me to share with you my banner quilt project Counting My Blessings.
Counting My Blessings is a precuts/stash friendly project in that the pieced background of the banner is made of 2 1/2″ precut batiks strips. So, you have any of the leftover jellyroll strips laying around…. just sayin’! The applique(machine fusible) of the pagoda birdhouse is done with charm squares, and so are the yoyo’s.
The yoyos were first made, and then blind-stitched onto the banner after the quilt was quilted.
This entire banner is constructed and quilted with Aurifil Mako 50 Cotton threads. The quilting is done with subtle contrasting effect by using threads that give just a smidgen-y hint of contrast to compliment the background fabrics. I used light pink, light blue, lavender threads to quilt the different portions of the banner.
And of course, my idea of subtle contrasting quilting effect has recently been packaged in Subtle Strings thread box by Aurifil.
I used a combination of silk and wool batting from Hobbs‘ Tuscany collection — you can see that my feathers really have the “poof” factor going on from that batting combination!
Complete pattern instructions including full sized templates are found in my book Creative New Quilts & Projects from Precuts or Stash. This banner project also comes with an autumn version. Leaf template is also in the book.
I hope you have a great Thanksgiving week, Dear Friends! Please know that when I count my blessings, you are definitely one of them!!! I shall catch up with you later!