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Island Batik Ambassador- March Project- Italian Color Builder Challenge with Aurifil

Milan WH

I have completed my March project as an Island Batik Ambassador and I am so excited to share it with you. This month’s challenge was to to make a wall hanging using one of the Aurifil Color Builders.  

The Aurifil Color Builders are twelve curated mini-collections inspired by (and named after) Italy’s most vibrant and colorful destinations. Each collection contains three large spools of 50wt thread — a warm, a medium, and a dark — within the location’s primary color palette. From the lemon groves of Sicily to the pink sand beaches of Sardinia to the clear teal waters of Capri to the stark city grey of Milan… each collection is crafted to evoke images of Italian landscapes. The colors were selected not only for their aesthetic appeal, but for their practicality in every day use. Click on the links at the bottom to see the other collections used by the Island Batik Ambassadors in their projects. 

03 - Italian Color Builders
03 – Italian Color Builders

 

I received Milan as my collection from Aurifil. Just look at this awesome collection of light, medium and dark grays. The colors included are 2600, 2610 and 5004. The blue batiks I used from Island Batik are part of their Brilliant Blues collection and I also used white, black and gray.

MILAN-box
MILAN-box
MILAN-spools
MILAN-spools
Milan
Milan

The wall hanging I made is a reflection on the beautiful Italian city of Milan and its size is 20″ x 20.” My inspiration for the wall hangin was the beautiful Milan Cathedral (In Italian: Duomo di Milano, which literally means Cathedral of Milan. The church is the largest church in Italy (excluding the Vatican), and 3rd largest in the world. It is the most visited tourist attraction in Milan.

milan-cathedral
milan-cathedral

Here are some interesting facts about the Milan Cathedral:

1. It took nearly six centuries to complete. The construction of the church began in 1386, and was officially completed in 1965 when the last bronze door was installed, although most parts of the building had been completed in 1813.

2. The church is based on a Latin cross form that covers 11700 square meters and can accommodate about 35000 people.

3. The building features a variety of architectural styles, such as Gothic, Neo Classic, Baroque, and Decorative Gothic, which is the main style.

4. Milan Cathedral has 135 spires on its roof, more than any other church in the world, and each spire is topped off by a sculpture of a biblical figure. The exterior of the church is decorated with 2245 statues sculpted on the facades of the church.

Milan cathedral sculptures
Milan cathedral sculptures

5. One of the nails reputedly from the Crucifixion of Christ has been placed in the cathedral. The Holy Nail is retrieved and exposed to the public every year, during a celebration known as the Rite of the Nivola.

 

I wanted to create the wall hanging in the graphic style of a vintage travel poster, such as this example of Florence.

florence
florence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loaded the fabrics into my Electric Quilt Software and created this design.

Milan EQ
Milan EQ

I created the background sky and ground by stitching four of the Island Batik Brilliant Blues together and then appliquéd the white cathedral, with gray windows and black spires. Here is what it looked like with the appliqué pieces fused on and some of the decorative stitching in the windows and spires.

applique fused
applique fused

Then I decided to apply decorative stitches with my Bernina 770 to give the appliqué pieces some definition and texture. The light, medium and dark gray threads, from the Milan collection, worked perfectly with the white, gray and black from Island Batik. Here are some close ups of the decorative stitching.

closeup
closeup

 

Since the quilt is so graphic and boxy, I wanted to do some straight line quilting. I used a ruler foot for my Janome 6600 and a quilting ruler that I love from Four Paws Quilting called the Line Tamer. It has a slot down the middle that allows the ruler foot to ride in that groove and create a straight line with your quilting.

four paws ruler
four paws ruler

Here is the finished project.

Milan wall hanging
Milan wall hanging

I used the medium gray 50 wt. Aurifil thread on the front and on the back. Schmetz Needles sent the Ambassadors some of their needles and I used a 70/10 quilting needle. I used Hobbs Premium 80/20 Cotton/Poly Blend Batting. This batting is wonderful to quilt by hand or machine. It is made with a blend of  80% natural cotton and 20% fine polyester, is needle punched, and has a light resin bonding to provide exceptional strength and durability. Close quilting yields a flat, low-loft appearance, while more space between stitching lines yields a slightly higher loft.

Heirloom Premium cotton/poly blend
Heirloom Premium cotton/poly blend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The supplies I used to make this project were provided by:

Island Batik Brilliant Blues, white, gray and black.

Aurifil 50 wt Thread (Milan Color Builders box)

Hobbs Heirloom® Premium 80/20 Cotton/Poly Blend Batting

Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle

 

Thank you Island Batik, Aurifil Thread, Hobbs Batting,and Schmetz Needles.

Island Batik
Island Batik
Aurifil Thread
Aurifil Thread
Schmetz Needles
Schmetz Needles
Hobbs Batting
Hobbs Batting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have two Spring quilt patterns for sale starting today and through the month of April. They are Golden Gate Park Table Runner and Spring Friends Table Runner.

Cover
Cover
cover
cover

Blue Bear says hi from Milan!

Blue Bear
Blue Bear

Please let him know how much you love this wall hanging by writing to him in the comments. The comment box is at the top left of the blog post, below Reed’s picture.

The other amazing Island Batik Ambassadors are also posting their March Color Builder Challenge projects. Check out their projects by clicking on the links next to their names to be directed to their blog posts.

 

Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations
Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese

Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts
Andi Stanfield, True Blue Quilts

Megan Best, Bestquilter

Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine
Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs

Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood
Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights

Suzy Webster, Websterquilt
Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs

Brianna Roberts, Sew Cute and Quirky
Sandra Starley, Textile Time Travels

Michelle Roberts, Creative Blonde
Jane Hauprich, Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting

Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia

Anorina Morris, Samelia’s Mum
Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

Elizabeth DeCroos, Epida Studio
Gail Renna, Quilt Haven Threads

Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail
Jennifer Fulton, Inquiring Quilter

Mania Hatzioannidi, Mania for Quilts
Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion

#islandbatikambassador #islandbatik #iloveislandbatik   #hobbsbatting #aurifil #aurifilthread #schmetzneedles #doyoueq #bernina #janome 

 

 

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Island Batik Ambassador- February Project- Row by Row Quilt

Timberland Tumble Quilt

I have completed my February project as an Island Batik Ambassador and I am so excited to share it with you. This month is a blog hop and if you check out the Island Batik blog, you can enter each week to win a fat quarter bundle of some of the fabrics that the Ambassadors are using in their projects. I will show the other fabric collections later in this blog post and there will be a link to the giveaway from Island Batik.

Row by Wow Blog Hop
Row by Wow Blog Hop

 

The February project was to make a row by row quilt using an upcoming fabric line from Island Batik. I was so excited when the fabric I was given to use was Evergreen and Pine by Kathy Engle. Just look at this gorgeous collection of green and tan batik fabrics. The Evergreen & Pine Batiks may be found at your local quilt shop that carries Island Batik, such as Fabric Smart in St. Petersburg FL. You may find them online at www.fabric-smart.com or call them at 727-914-8850.

Evergreen & Pine
Evergreen & Pine

The quilt I made is called Timberland Tumble. It is a large lap quilt size 56″ x 77.” This is a striking quilt with a different block in each row. I think it is sometimes difficult to come up with fabrics and quilt patterns that would be appropriate to make for a man, but I feel this quilt accomplishes that and would be an awesome quilt to make for the men in your life. This quilt is easy to make as it is composed mainly of half square triangles, a few squares and maybe a quarter square triangle or two.

Timberland Tumble Quilt
Timberland Tumble Quilt
TT location
TT location

I will have a pattern coming out in March 2022 for this quilt after the testers are done testing the pattern.  The batik bundle I was provided was the Evergreen and Pine collection by Kathy Engle. Look at this glorious selection of green and tan batiks. These fabrics were so beautiful that it was really hard to cut them up.

Evergreen and Pine
Evergreen and Pine
E&P
E&P

Row by Row quilts are made with rows of quilt blocks, with each row distinct from the others. I decided to showcase the wide world of blocks that can easily be made from half square triangles. Although all of these blocks can be made from half square triangles, and a few squares and quarter square triangles, I did construct a few of the blocks using larger quarter square triangles and trapezoids as I wanted to showcase the fabric and have less seams to sew after cutting the pieces with my Accuquilt Go! Big Cutter. Here is a picture of using the Accuquilt cutter to cut out some of the shapes.

Accuquilt cutter
Accuquilt cutter

You can see that it makes beautiful cuts which are so easy to piece together. Also, I love the fact that there are no dog ears to trim and if you do a really accurate job of sewing your 1/4″ seam, there is nothing that needs to be trimmed. This really saves a lot of time and effort.

I downloaded the images of the fabric collection into my Electric Quilt software, which is the software I use to design quilts. This is what the quilt looked like in the software. I have included a couple of close ups of the blocks with the gorgeous Evergreen and Pine fabric in them.

TT EQ8
TT EQ8
row 10
row 10
row 5
row 5
row 6
row 6

I also like to often piece the backs of my quilts, which I did for this one. I used some of the fat quarters that I did not use in the quilt to add some interest to the back of the quilt. Here is picture of the back. If you are on TikTok, be sure to check out the video I have posted with me and the quilt. (Look for Blue Bear Quilts)

back of the quilt
back of the quilt

To quilt the quilt on my Bernina 770 QE, I did stitch in the ditch with the edgestitch #10D foot, which was easy to do as there was a square grid of the half square triangle shapes. I used black 50 wt. Aurifil thread on the front and a tan on the back. Schmetz Needles sent the Ambassadors some of their needles and I used a 70/10 quilting needle. I used Hobbs Premium Polyester Poly-down batting. I had never used this batting before and it was very easy to quilt on my Bernina. Hobbs Poly-Down Batting is made with very fine, white, denier polyester which enables the batting to provide a soft feel and lovely drape. It is prized by machine quilters for its wonderful loft which accentuates quilting details. It is also very light weight.

Polydown_batting
Polydown_batting

 

 

 

 

 

 

The supplies I used to make this project were provided by:

Island Batik Evergreen and Pine for the top and Pearl for the backing.

Aurifil 50 wt Thread (black and Tan)

Hobbs Premium Polyester Poly-down batting

Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle

Accuquilt Go! Big Cutter and 6″ Qube

 

Thank you Island Batik, Aurifil Thread, Hobbs Batting, Schmetz Needles and Accuquilt.

Island Batik
Island Batik
Aurifil Thread
Aurifil Thread
Schmetz Needles
Schmetz Needles
Hobbs Batting
Hobbs Batting
accuquilt
accuquilt

Blue Bear is sending you some love for Valentine’s Day. Please let him know how much you love the quilt by writing to him in the comments!

TT Quilt with heart
TT Quilt with heart

Be sure to check out the Island Batik Blog at https://islandbatik.com/row-by-row-blog-hop-week-one/ where you can enter to win a fat quarter bundle. Check it out! a Rafflecopter giveaway  Citified and Contempo are the two fabric lines that are being given away this week. Good luck!

week two prize
week two prize

The other amazing Island Batik Ambassadors are also posting their February Blog Hop quilts. For this week in the blog hop, on Tuesday, Suzy Webster and Connie Kauffman posted on the Contempo fabric line and on Thursday, Brianna Roberts and Sandra Starley will be posting on the Graphic line from Island Batik. Check out their projects by clicking on the links next to their names to be directed to their blog posts.

Be sure to check out the other amazing Row by Row quilts (I have seen some amazing quilts so far) and all the fabulous new Island Batik Collections!

January 31:

Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations
Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese

February 1:

Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts
Andi Stanfield, True Blue Quilts

February 2:

Megan Best, Bestquilter

February 3:

Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine
Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs

February 7:

Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood
Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights

February 8:

Suzy Webster, Websterquilt
Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs

February 9:

Reed Johnson, Blue Bear Quilts

February 10:

Brianna Roberts, Sew Cute and Quirky
Sandra Starley, Textile Time Travels

February 14:

Michelle Roberts, Creative Blonde
Jane Hauprich, Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting

February 15:

Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia

February 16:

Anorina Morris, Samelia’s Mum
Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

February 17:

Elizabeth DeCroos, Epida Studio
Gail Renna, Quilt Haven Threads

February 18:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 3 and Giveaway

February 21:

Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail
Jennifer Fulton, Inquiring Quilter

February 22:

Mania Hatzioannidi, Mania for Quilts
Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion

#islandbatikambassador #islandbatik #iloveislandbatik   #hobbsbatting #accuquilt #accuquiltgo #aurifil #aurifilthread #schmetzneedles #doyoueq #bernina 

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Island Batik Ambassador- January Project- Step by Step Quilt

South Seas Shuffle Quilt

I am so excited to be an Island Batik Ambassador for 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each month, I will be sharing a different project using upcoming fabric lines from Island Batik.

Unboxing video
Unboxing video

 

If you would like to see my unboxing video, where I show all of the fabric and batting Island Batik and Hobbs sent to me, here is a link to my YouTube video: https://youtu.be/Q-MN2HbI6dg. Be sure to subscribe and click the bell so the you will be notified when I post more videos.

For the month of January, the challenge was to create a step by step quilt using the Island Batik basic line of Gradations.

01 - Step by Step Challenge
01 – Step by Step Challenge

 

The quilt I made is called South Seas Shuffle. It is a large lap quilt size 56″ x 62.”

South Seas Shuffle Quilt.
South Seas Shuffle Quilt.
South Seas Shuffle Quilt
South Seas Shuffle Quilt

 

This is a modern quilt using the traditional flying geese block. It’s modern in that the geese are going in many directions, there are large white negative spaces and there are partial seam blocks in the construction of the quilt. I will have a pattern coming out in February 2022 for this quilt after the testers are done testing the pattern. I also will have a YouTube video for how to sew the partial seam block unit in this quilt. The batik bundle I was provided was Brilliant Blues. Look at this glorious selection of blue batiks. Island Batik developed ten different colorways of gradations with 20 steps in each. There are so many quilt projects that make use of gradations in color and value. Yardage for the Gradation Batiks may be found at your local quilt shop that carries Island Batik, such as Fabric Smart in St. Petersburg FL. You may find them online at www.fabric-smart.com or call them at 727-914-8850.

BB Bundle
BB Bundle
Brilliant Blues
Brilliant Blues

 

The idea behind the step by step challenge was to incorporate the gradation of light, medium and dark colors into a quilt. Sometimes it is difficult to determine if a color should be placed into the light, medium, or dark category. In order to do that, it helps to place them next to each other. If it is still too difficult to determine, a little trick is to take a picture of them and then use the filters in your phone’s camera app to turn the picture into a B&W monochromatic picture. Then it is easier to see the differences in values. Squinting at the photos and fabrics helps as well. In the photos below, it looks like the 1st and 3rd batiks might be about the same value, but in the B&W photo, you can see the the 3rd batik is clearly lighter that the 1st. So in the color photo, the 1st batik is the dark, the 2nd and 3rd are the mediums and the 4th batik is the light value. The value of a fabric can change when you place different lights and darks next to it.

Color values
Color values
black and white image
black and white image

 

I downloaded the images of the fabric collection into my Electric Quilt software, which is the software I use to design quilts. This is what the quilt looked like in the software.

South Seas Shuffle Quilt in EQ8
South Seas Shuffle Quilt in EQ8

 

I used the measurements of the Accuquilt Flying Geese die to create the size of the blocks. Then the EQ8 software told me how much yardage I needed of each fabric and gave me the rotary cutting diagrams for the non-Accuquilt pieces.

Each one of the flying geese blocks has a blue batik with a light, medium and dark value. This creates the gradation in colors. I cut the blue batik quarter square triangles, which are in the flying geese blocks, using the Accuquilt cutter and die. Since the Accuquilt cutter and die cuts off the dog ears, it is easy to line up the pieces for sewing and there is no trimming that needs to be done after the pieces are sewn together.

 

When the quilt top was all sewn together, I took it outside to let the sun shine through the quilt as I knew these brilliant blue batiks would sing in the sunshine and wow did they.

SSS see through
SSS see through

 

Looking at this photo on my iPhone, I discovered something new called Lookup -Artwork. When I clicked on that, it showed me different artist’s works that were similar in feel to my quilt. I was amazed by what they came up with, so I though I would share those other artist’s works with you.

Other's Artwork
Other’s Artwork
Other's Artwork
Other’s Artwork
Other's Artwork
Other’s Artwork
Other's Artwork
Other’s Artwork
Other's Artwork
Other’s Artwork

 

 

 

To quilt the quilt on my Bernina 770 QE, I did stitch in the ditch with the edgestitch #10D foot.

Stitch in the ditch quilting
Stitch in the ditch quilting

 

I did some quilting in the negative white spaces to mimic the flying geese that were in the other blocks. I used the Creative Grids “Chevy” ruler, designed by Angela Walters, to do this quilting.

Negative space quilting
Negative space quilting

 

I also wanted to do some echo quilting, which means quilting next to the seam lines, within the blue flying geese. So, I switched to a blue Aurifil thread and then used the Line Tamer ruler by Fourpawsquilting.com to get straight lines with my echo quilting.

Four Paws ruler
Four Paws ruler
Echo quilting
Echo quilting

 

I used a new Schmetz 70/10 quilting needle. Using new needle on a new quilting project just makes your life so much easier.

 

I used Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 Bleached batting as the quilt top had a lot of white in it and I did not want the batting to show through the fabrics. This batting was very easy to quilt on my Bernina. It is fairly thin and gives your quilt a beautiful drape and also lays fairly flat. It is also light weight and breathable so it makes a good batting for a summer quilt or if used in a warmer climate.  It’s loft is 1/8″; it’s shrinkage is 3-5% and the maximum stitch distance when quilting is 4.”

HobbsHeirloom8020Bleached
HobbsHeirloom8020Bleached

 

What I liked about using Island Batik fabrics:

  1. The colors are so vibrant.
  2. There is a wonderful texture in the fabrics.
  3. They have very little fraying after they have been cut.
  4. They produce very little lint in your sewing machine.
  5. They are tightly woven, yet very light. I had been working with the batiks for awhile and then switched to regular quilting cotton. I thought the quilting cotton was so heavy that I had a double layer, but I did not. The light weight of the batiks would make for an overall lighter quilt, depending on your batting and how much quilting you put onto the top.

The supplies I used to make this project were provided by:

Island Batik Foundations Fabrics: Brilliant Blues, White, and Black for the top and Pearl for the backing.

Aurifil 50 wt Thread (white. black and blue)

Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 Bleached Batting

Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle

Accuquilt Go! Big Cutter and die #55456 Flying Geese 

 

Thank you Island Batik, Aurifil Thread, Hobbs Batting, Schmetz Needles and Accuquilt.

Island Batik
Island Batik
Aurifil Thread
Aurifil Thread
Schmetz Needles
Schmetz Needles
Hobbs Batting
Hobbs Batting
accuquilt
accuquilt

 

 

Blue Bear likes this quilt because of its fabulous blue colors. He hopes you like it too!

Blue Bear with quilt
Blue Bear with quilt

The other amazing Island Batik Ambassadors are also posting their first quilts of the year. They are all making wonderful gradation quilts in a rainbow of colors. Check out their projects by clicking on the links next to their names to be directed to their blog posts.

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs

Megan Best ~ Bestquilter

Pamela Boatright ~ Pamelaquilts

Elizabeth DeCroos ~ Epida Studio

Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts

Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts

Jane Hauprich ~ Stitch By Stitch Custom Quilting

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Denise Looney ~ For The Love Of Geese

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine

Anorina Morris – sameliasmum.com

Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Claudia Porter ~ Create with Claudia

Gail Renna ~ Quilt Haven Threads

Brianna Roberts ~ Sew Cute And Quirky

Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Andi Stanfield ~ True Blue Quilts

Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

#islandbatikambassador #islandbatik #iloveislandbatik 

 #hobbsbatting #accuquilt #accuquiltgo #aurifil #aurifilthread #schmetzneedles #doyoueq #bernina 

 

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Patterns Designed For Accuquilt

Storm at Sea Life Medley Quilt

Over the years, we have created a number of patterns for Accuquilt. I thought it would be fun to share them all in a post. They are all available on their website as a free download. The patterns on their website may be found here: https://www.accuquilt.com/patterns.html

The first pattern that we created for Accuquilt was Hexagon Illusions and it was made by cutting larger hexagons from an ombre fabric and then cutting smaller hexagons from the same section of the fabric and rotating them 180 degrees and appliquéing them onto the larger hexagons.

Hexagon Illusions
Hexagon Illusions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elephant Cuddles was the next pattern and it was made from Minky.

Elephant Cuddles
Elephant Cuddles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holiday Northwoods Medley Placemats are created with a reverse appliqué technique.

Holiday Northwoods Medley Placemats
Holiday Northwoods Medley Placemats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lilac Table Topper uses the die that cuts perfect 1″ finished squares.

Lilac Table Topper
Lilac Table Topper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall Frolic Table Runner was made with beautiful Jinny Beyers Denim fabric from RJR Fabrics.

Fall Frolic Table Runner
Fall Frolic Table Runner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cleapatra’s Garden Gate featured the Cleapatra’s Fan die.

Cleopatra's Garden Gate
Cleopatra’s Garden Gate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever heard of crumb quilting? That was the technique used in Spring Medley Mug Rugs. You sew small scraps of fabric together and then apply fusible webbing before cutting out the appliqué shapes on the die. Accuquilt also supplies the embroidery files as a free download on their website.

Spring Medley Mug Rugs
Spring Medley Mug Rugs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun at Sea Life Medley is a great quilt pattern for showcasing your appliqué shapes.

Fun at Sea Life Medley Quilt
Fun at Sea Life Medley Quilt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With that same die, we also created Storm at Sea Life Medley.

Storm at Sea Life Medley Quilt
Storm at Sea Life Medley Quilt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Antique Americana was made using the very versatile Hattie’s Choice die. This patriotic quilt is perfect for the 4th of July, Veteran’s Day or a Quilt of Valor.

Antique Americana
Antique Americana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A perfect quilt for a hot summer day would be Orange Cream Soda. It features the Studio Setting Triangles dies.

Orange Cream Soda
Orange Cream Soda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A modern take on the Glorified Nine Patch block resulted in Sherbet Dreams.

Sherbet Dreams
Sherbet Dreams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall is Coming is a great quilt for fall which uses Kimberly Einmo’s Solidish Fabrics from Timeless Treasures Fabrics.

Fall is Coming
Fall is Coming

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love Letters also used Kimberly Einmo’s Solidish Fabrics from Timeless Treasures Fabrics. This would be a great Valentines quilt.

Love Letters
Love Letters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the mood to create something scary? Then you might want to make the Boo! Halloween Medley Table Runner.

Boo Halloween Table Runner
Boo! Halloween Table Runner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ahoy Mate and Let’s Go Sailing were created using the GO! Nautical Medley die and is the perfect pattern and die for all of you water lovers.

Ahoy Mate Table Runner
Ahoy Mate Table Runner

 

Let's Go Sailing
Let’s Go Sailing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Retro Twist Wall Hanging was made with the Starry Path die. This is the perfect wall hanging for your mid century modern home.

Retro Twist Wall Hanging
Retro Twist Wall Hanging

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Go! Yuletide Gnome Wall Hanging is a great decoration to make for the holidays. Who doesn’t love a little gnome?

 

Gnome
Yuletide Gnome Wall Hanging
Yuletide Gnome Wall Hanging

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your kids will love the Deco Dino Table Runner.

Deco Dino Table Runner
Deco Dino Table Runner

 

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for more fun and inspiring designs we create for Accuquilt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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New Patterns Aplenty

It has been a busy summer at Blue Bear Quilts. We taught our Pixie Party Quilt and Quilt in a Day’s Autumn Leaves table runner, in August, at Affinity For Quilts in White Bear Lake Minnesota. Everyone had a great time and some beautiful quilts are in the making.

Pixie Party Class
Pixie Party Class
Autumn Leaves Table Runner
Autumn Leaves Table Runner

While we were in Minnesota, we ran into the editors from one of our favorite magazines. Quilt Folk. They were kind enough to pose for a photo. If you have not discovered this magazine, you need to. It has gorgeous pictures of quilts on premium matte paper and really interesting articles about everything Quilt Folk might be involved in. We also went to the Great Minnesota Stae Fair and I had to have photo with my favorite lumberjack, Paul Bunyan.

Quilt Folk magazine
Quilt Folk magazine
Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan

 

We had a couple more of our quilt designs show up in magazines. Canoe Junction made the cover of the September/ October issue of Love of Quilting magazine. It uses Flower Garden Gatherings Fabrics from Moda. Winter Visitor is featured in the November/ December issue of McCall’s Quilting magazine. It uses the Cardinal Woods flannel collection from Northcott Fabrics.

Canoe Junction
Canoe Junction
Canoe Junction in Love of Quilting
Canoe Junction in Love of Quilting
Winter Visitor
Winter Visitor

 

Speaking of lumberjacks, don’t forget about our Quilt Cruise to Alaska’s Inside Passage June 6-13, 2020 aboard the Holland America Eurodam. We will be making the beautiful Northern Star Garden Quilt, a pattern that was designed exclusively for this cruise. It involves shapes that have been precut for you with Accuquilt, a no tear-out the paper, paper pieced center star and Hawaiian (should be called Alaskan) appliqué snowflakes in the border. A different technique for each day were are quilting, while the ship is at sea. When the ship is at sea, it is up to you as to how much time you want to spend sewing. When the ship is in port, you will be able to go into the the ports of Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka and Victoria, BC with your family and friends. This is a trip of a lifetime to one of the most beautiful places on Earth. The trip is over half full, so don’t miss out and sign up today. Here is the link if you are interested in joining us on this cruise. https://quiltretreatatsea.com/quiltinginthewild/

Quilt Cruise to Alaska
Quilt Cruise to Alaska
Alaskan beauty in fabric
Alaskan beauty in fabric
Northern Star Garden
Northern Star Garden

We have created some wonderful free patterns for Accuquilt, which we hope you will enjoy making. They all were designed with Timeless Treasures Fabrics. Speaking of which, we have several new patterns, which will be making their debut at Fall Quilt Market for Timeless Treasures Fabrics. More to come on these patterns at a later date. A couple of them do involve panels, however. The first Accuquilt pattern is Antique Americana, which involves the use of the Hattie’s Choice die. Here is the link for the pattern.   https://www.accuquilt.com/go-antique-americana-throw-quilt-pattern.html  Then, we have Orange Cream Soda which involved the use of the Studio 6″ setting triangles. Here is the link for that pattern.   https://www.accuquilt.com/studio-orange-cream-soda-throw-quilt-pattern.html  Sherbet Dreams involves the use of the Glorified Nine Patch die. Here is the link. https://www.accuquilt.com/go-sherbet-dreams-throw-quilt-pattern.html   Love Letters uses the Studio 8″ setting triangles. Here is the link for Love Letters. https://www.accuquilt.com/studio-love-letters-throw-quilt-pattern.html And finally,  Fall is Coming, which uses the Studio 8″ setting triangles. The link to Fall is Coming.  https://www.accuquilt.com/studio-fall-is-coming-throw-quilt-pattern.html

 

Antique Americana
Antique Americana
Orange Cream Soda
Orange Cream Soda
Sherbet Dreams
Sherbet Dreams
Love Letters
Love Letters

 

 

Fall is Coming
Fall is Coming

Last, but certainly not least, we have two new patterns making their debut with QT Fabrics at Quilt Market, In Houston, October 2019. They are Fit For a King, which utilizes the Accuquilt Hattie’s Choice die and Kings and Queens. You will be able to purchase these patterns from QT Fabrics, if you are a quilt shop and also from our website, very soon. Fit for a King uses QT Fabrics basic lines, Quilting Illusions and Color Blends. Kings and Queens uses a fat quarter bundle from QT Fabrics Illuminations collection, which will be arriving in shops around April 2020. Kings and Queens pattern is perfect for those fat quarter bundles you would love to turn into a beautiful quilt.

Fit For a King
Fit For a King
Kings and Queens
Kings and Queens

Well, that’s it for now. Happy Quilting till we come back and share more of what’s happening at Blue Bear Quilts.

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Busy Summer

Kaleidoscope Quilt

It has been a very busy summer, designing new quilt patterns, teaching classes, attending a Niece’s wedding, designing quilt patterns for magazine submissions and entering a contest.

We entered the Accuquilt Block Design contest again this year. They should be announcing the winners very soon. Here are a few of the blocks that I entered this year. Thank you to everyone that voted for my blocks. I appreciate it very much!

X Marks the Spot
X Marks the Spot
Snow Cones
Snow Cones
Sea Glass
Sea Glass
Blue Diamond
Blue Diamond
Big Star Grid.
Big Star Grid.

 

Before attending a wedding, we went to a family farm, in Northern Minnesota, and I was able to walk across the Mississippi River, in Itasca State Park. This is where the great river originates and it is very narrow and shallow, enabling you to walk across. I would not try that in New Orleans where it is deep and wide. I also saw amazing sunflower fields and llamas.

Reed at start of Mississippi
Reed at start of Mississippi
Crossing Mississippi
Crossing Mississippi
Llamas
Llamas
Sunflower Field
Sunflower Field

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Niece got married this August in Stillwater, Minnesota. It was beautiful wedding at a flower farm and the rehearsal dinner was on a riverboat.  I also went to the Como Park Conservatory, which has amazing floral displays.

Niece and husband
Niece and husband
Stillwater Riverboat
Stillwater Riverboat
Lights at Wedding
Lights at Wedding
Wedding Bouquet
Wedding Bouquet
Hot Air Balloon
Hot Air Balloon
Como Park Conservatory
Como Park Conservatory
Very large hibiscus
Very large hibiscus

 

 

 

 

 

 

Butterfly at flower farm
Butterfly at flower farm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I taught a Quilt-in-a-Day class on Kylee’s Kite at Bear Patch Quilting Company in White Bear Lake Minnesota. Everyone had a great time. Several students brought in their completed tops from this year and last year.

Kylee’s Kite
Kylee's Kite class
Kylee’s Kite class
Student's Kylee's Kite
Student’s Kylee’s Kite
Student's Bear in My Watermelon Patch
Student’s Bear in My Watermelon Patch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t reveal the quilt designs for the magazines yet, or several new patterns I developed with QT Fabrics. However, I can show you the Northwoods Holiday Medley Placemats that were designed for Accuquilt and the pattern is available as a free download on their website https://www.accuquilt.com/go-northwoods-medley-holiday-placemats.html 

Northwoods Holiday Medley Placemats
Northwoods Holiday Medley Placemats

I can also show you our latest pattern, Kaleidoscope, that was designed with QT Fabrics. This pattern is available on our website, Craftsy, and coming to a quilt shop near you soon.

Kaleidoscope Quilt
Kaleidoscope Quilt

It is going to be a busy fall writing patterns and making a sample quilt for QT Fabrics that will be displayed at quilt market this November, utilizing a new line of fabrics for them.

 

Also, Blue Bear will be teaching on a cruise in 2020. We are very excited about this and hope to be able to provide you with details soon. When it is this far out, it will give you lots of time to plan and save for a quilting cruise. We are so excited to have the opportunity to quilt and cruise with you! Stay tuned.

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Secret Sewing Projects

In the Jungle Quilt

At Blue Bear Quilts, we have been very busy getting ready for the summer 2018 classes. We also have been working on some secret sewing projects for Accuquilt that we can’t wait to share with you. We also have been designing patterns with QT Fabrics. Hopefully, we will be able to share these projects with you very soon.

Triaxial Weave Pillow
Triaxial Weave Pillow

 

Here are some of the exciting classes that we have coming up this summer. We will be offering a Triaxial Weave Pillow at Keep Me in Stitches on May 22& 29 in Tampa and July 12 & 19 in Largo. This is a weaving project that has little sewing and offers many creative ideas to incorporate into your sewing projects like garments, bags, and quilts.

 

 

We have an exciting Electric Quilt 8/ Accuquilt Event coming up at Keep Me in Stitches on May 25 & 26 in Tampa, and June 22 &23 in Largo. In this two-day event, you will learn the basic functions of EQ8 and learn how to create the “In the Jungle” quilt in EQ8 incorporating Accuquilt die shapes. The second day, we will cut out the quilt pieces using an Accuquilt cutter and die and sew the quilt together.

In the Jungle Quilt
In the Jungle Quilt

Finally, at Keep Me in Stitches, we have an Accuquilt party called “Patriotic Windings Ways,” perfect for the 4th of July, on June 8 & 9, in Largo, and June 15 & 16 in Tampa;  a 3D Pinwheel Serger Blanket for the Baby Lock Serger Club, and the Bright Hope Quilt, in Tampa,  on June 7 & 14th, and, in Largo, on August 20 & 27th.

Patriotic Winding Ways
3D Pinwheel Serger Blanket
Bright Hope Quilt

At Happy Apple Quilts, We are offering “Hawaiian Stars” on May 31st and “Box of Chocolate Covered Cherries” on June 28th.

Hawaiian Stars Quilt
Box Chocolate Covered Cherries

 

Country Quilts and Bears in Clearwater will have two offerings this summer. The first is our Accuquilt block contest fan favorite, “Not Your Grandmother’s Flower Garden”  on May 23 & 30 and then “Water Wheel,” on July 14th, A Quilt in a Day Pattern.

Water Wheel

At Bear Patch Quilting Company in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, on August 8th, we will be teaching a Quilt in a Day pattern called “Kylee’s Kite,” which we have put a modern spin on it with black and white fabrics and lots of geometric quilting.

Kylee’s Kite

 

Finally here are some photos from classes that we held this last session: Zippered serger pouch, Wonky Heart Pillow, Hawaiian Stars, and Snapshots Quilt.

Hawaiian Stars Class
Snapshot Quilt
Snapshot Quilt
Snapshot Quilt
Snapshot Quilt
Wonky Heart Class
Barbie Snapshot Block

Serger Zipper Pouch

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Greek Isles Modern Quilt

For the 2017 Blogger’s Quilt Festival, I thought I would share Blue Bear’s most popular pattern, Greek Isles Modern. 

This pattern is much easier than it looks. It is made with 2.5″ strips of white and 2.5″ strips of light, medium and dark batiks, that you may obtain from jelly rolls, or cut on your 2.5″ strip die with your Accuquilt Go! Cutter. The blocks are all constructed the same way, and placement is what determines the pattern. At 70 x 90,” it is the perfect quilt to curl up with on the couch for binge watching your favorite Netflix shows.

Here is a picture of Kim at Keep Me in Stitches in Largo, Florida, quilting this beauty; followed by a close up of her fantastic quilting.

 

Here are several more photos of the quilt out and about.

 

 

I have taught this class several times and here are some of my students interpretations of the quilt. Click on the links for short videos. They did a fantastic job!

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If you would like to purchase this pattern, it is available on our website here, www.bluebearquilts.com, or on Craftsy here- https://www.craftsy.com/quilting/patterns/greek-isles-modern-quilt/490532

Greek Isles Modern Quilt Cover

Sharing at the Blogger’s Quilt Festival hosted by Amy’s Creative Side.