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Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Batik Pincushion



Due to a much needed house maintenance I have been without access to my sewing machine for a couple of weeks. I have been itching to CREATE! Finally, yesterday I was able to make this cute, little pincushion from a tutorial by PolkaDotChair. My embroidery scissors fits perfectly in the pocket.


 The pincushion is is made from scraps of Island Batik stash builder rolls.


 The color scheme is perfect for the season, and the fussy cut center of the churn dash block is the icing on the cake.


I used a green leafy batik for the back of the pincushion.


Keep on creating!

Saturday, November 3, 2018

Log Cabin Challenge



Here is my November project for the Island Batik Ambassador program, it is my own design and I call it Logs With A Twist.


The November challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors were Cozy Cabins, where we should incorporate a log cabin block or log cabin variations in our project, 36"x36" or larger.

I used the 2.5" strip set of Vintage Morris that was provided in the Ambassador package from Island Batik, along with matching yardage. In addition I used solids in black, white and grey.


The quilt blocks were pieced with Aurifil 50wt in white 2024, in a traditional log cabin design. The inner squares were cut 5" and 2.5", respectively . I did all my quilt math in the old fashioned way, on paper, as shown above.


I made the log cabin blocks in two different sizes, 16" and 8" finished. The bigger blocks are made with the full width of strips, and the smaller blocks with 1.25" strips.


Vintage Morris blends in with the surroundings perfectly. The fall colors of the collection are beautiful, but personally they would not be my first choice for a quilt. But it is nice to work outside my comfort zone once in a while.


I like how the copper color of the outer part of the big blocks twist its way around the quilt, while the inner smaller blocks are calming down the design.


When assembling the quilt sandwich I used Britten Nummer from Ikea as my backing fabric, and Warm&White cotton batting. Before quilting my quilt top measured 48" x 64".


Here is the finished quilt hanging on my porch wall, with the next to naked birch trees in the background.


 I did extended search to decide on the quilting design, and finally settled on a leaf and swirl combination, inspired by Angela Walters' YouTube videos.


I did the quilting on my domestic sewing machine with 50 wt thread in Silver from Connecting Threads.


The binding is made of leftover strips cut down to 2.25" width. The scrappy binding adds extra life to the quilt.


Thanks to Island Batik and Aurifil for providing fabric and thread for this project.