My New Pattern with Jungle Cruise

The Great Outdoors Blog Hop is continuing!  I wanted to share my newest pattern, which features Jungle Cruise, with the rest of the inspiration today.  I named it Jungle Jumble.  It's a few different blocks, and you can do different things with it.  This is only one layout! 

This pattern uses a 10" Stack, plus some background, and then border fabric.  It's actually fairly easy, and will be available soon.  I'm working on final edits.  I think it's a great pattern to show off larger prints, as well as efficient use of the 10" squares.  There's only little scraps left of each square, and you could make a table topper out of the unused pieces.

Here's the fabric collection.

It's a great mix, and rather masculine, if you need it to be.  It has teal, browns and golds, green, and just a dash of plum aubergine.  The "Chops" are animal related, like snakeskin and other animals, plus ferns, and other natural looking designs.  

The Collection is shipping to stores now.  If you don't see it, please ask your favorite store to carry it.  I do know that Hancock's-Paducah will be carrying my patterns soon.  I was thrilled to get an order request today.  They'll also be in my Etsy shop, as soon as I can get them listed.  

I love designing with Island Batik.  They make it so easy, because they provide gorgeous fabrics to work with.  Keep an eye out for Jungle Cruise in stores, and Jungle Jumble coming soon!  

Remember to visit the other bloggers this week.

Monday, August 27 - Globetrotter - Pamela Quilts, Curliecue Creations

Tuesday, August 28 - Jungle Cruise - Vicki's Crafts and Quilting, Little Bunny Quilts

Wednesday, August 29 - Lavendula - Carole Lyles Shaw, Masterpiece Quilting

Thursday, August 30 - London Calling - Quilt in a Not-Shell, Lizard Creek Quilting

Friday, August 31 - Spirit Rhythm - Steph Jacobson, Whispers of Yore

And check in with Island Batik for the give-away.

a Rafflecopt er giveaway

Spring Blossoms in the Great Outdoors Blog Hop

Hi, and welcome to my day on the Island Batik Ambassador Great Outdoors blog hop!  My secret bundle of gorgeous fabric from the February box was called Spring Blossoms.  It's filled with pink, yellow, orange, red, green, purple, and turquoise, in a variety of prints, including flowers, birds, dragonflies, and raindrops.  We got 1/2 yard pieces of the prints, and 2 yards of the pink and red.  

Yes, I may have swooned a bit when I saw the colors, especially the dotted raindrops.  The SKU for that one is 111817220, and the color name is Nasturtium.  Please check your favorite store to see if they carry it, if not, tell them to get it! 

Yeah, isn't it gorgeous?  Look at the colors!  A rainbow of raindrops!  

I shared it on Instagram and had many comment on it.  I need more!  

Anyway, about my quilt.  I had a sweet design all ready to go, featuring the raindrops in the center of each block.  We're asked to use as many fabrics from the collection in this particular project, so I knew the other units would be scrappy looking, but wanted to highlight the raindrops.  Just as I was going to cut out the pieces I realized that my design would not work.  The drops are directional, and my design would not support that, nor would I have enough fabric to make it work.  Off to Plan B.  

Well, B was a great design, too.  Only, it wouldn't have enough fabric to work, either.  Because I wanted the drops to all fall the same way in my quilt.  So, back to EQ8, or the drawing board, for Plan C. lol.  I picked a Mosaic block from their library, which would use the raindrops as the center, but when put on point, would go the right way.  Yes, all the quilts were on point with a little sashing and cornerstones, which is where my plan went awry.  I wanted to end up under 60" square, too, so I could use the new Hobb's Wool batting we got in our July Ambassador boxes.  Again, best laid plans, lol.  I have to play more with EQ8 to figure out why my quilts are always larger in real life, than the program says it will be.  Without borders, this one is 59", and it needs borders!  

When all else fails, just go larger! lol.   I had enough for a 2" and 6" border, making this about 72" square.  And visit later to see some of the other designs, which may end up as patterns.   I know I have other batting I can use for this one, and need to figure out the backing.  This is just a top for now, but I'll be quilting with Aurifil soon.  

Here's today's quilt.  It uses 14 different fabrics in the blocks, plus Lime for sashing, the Berries print for cornerstones, and Turquoise Dot Floral  and Flamingo Mixed Birds for the outer border. The background and setting triangles are all from Almond.  I was planning to use the red from the collection, which was given for borders, but it was just too bright with the other colors.  I felt the Almond would play nicer.  

Here's the EQ8 design with red. 

In real life, when I put the red next to the green and turquoise, around the blocks, it was a little too bold for my taste.  So, Almond it is.  I do purchase yardage of that one and other neutrals when I can.  I love when Hancocks-Paducah puts their Island Batik on sale, and I'll pick up neutrals then, too. May as well get free shipping, right?

I made sure the birds in the borders were all going the same direction, too. 

So, to thank you for visiting, and reading this far, please leave a comment about your favorite Summer treat below, and be entered to win some squares I'll cut from the scraps, and a copy of one of my patterns.  Follow me on Facebook, and leave a second comment that you do, for another chance.  

Visit If These Threads Could Talk for another project with Spring Blossoms, and visit the rest of the bloggers for more inspiration and give-aways.  

Monday, August 6 - All A Flutter - Yellow Cat Quilt Designs, Creative Blonde
Tuesday, August 7 - Birds N’ Bees - Ark Angel Creations, Patterns By Jen
Wednesday, August 8 - Canterbury Manor - Sally Manke, Powered By Quilting
Thursday, August 9 - Eclectic Garden - Desert Bloom Quilting, Sew Karen-ly Created
Friday, August 10 - Vintage Morris - MooseStash Quilting, Devoted Quilter

Monday, August 13 - Safari - Sew Incredibly Crazy, SweetGrass Designs
Tuesday, August 14 - Spring Blossoms - Mary Mack Made Mine, If These Threads Could Talk
Wednesday, August 15 - Victoria and Albert - Bejeweled Quilts, Clever Chameleon
Thursday, August 16 - Wild Things - Freemotion By The River, Kauffman Designs
Friday, August 17 - Petting Zoo - Den Syende Himmel, Sarah Goer Quilts

Monday, August 20 - Ocean Odyssey - Gateway Quilts, The Quilt Rambler
Tuesday, August 21 - British Rose - Busy Hands Quilts, Mania for Quilts
Wednesday, August 22 - Dear William - The Inquiring Quilter, mmm! Quilts, Living Water Quilter
Thursday, August 23 - Dragonfly Dreams - Inchworm Fabrics, BeaQuilter
Friday, August 24 - Fur-ocious Friends - Quilting Affection Designs, Dizzy Quilter

Monday, August 27 - Globetrotter - Pamela Quilts, Curliecue Creations
Tuesday, August 28 - Jungle Cruise - Vicki's Crafts and Quilting, Little Bunny Quilts
Wednesday, August 29 - Lavendula - Carole Lyles Shaw, Masterpiece Quilting
Thursday, August 30 - London Calling - Quilt in a Not-Shell, Lizard Creek Quilting
Friday, August 31 - Spirit Rhythm - Steph Jacobson, Whispers of Yore

Monday, September 3 - Sweet Tweets - Kathleen McMusing, Adventurous Applique and Quilting
Tuesday, September 4 - Whatnot - heARTS Creations, Slice of Pi Quilts

And be sure to use the Rafflecopter to enter to win fabric packs from Island Batik.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping! Enjoy the rest of the hop!

Aviation Quilt Commission

Hi, and thanks for visiting.  A few months ago, one of my Quiltsy Teammates asked if I was interested in doing a commission quilt for an Aviation family's new baby.  I had a number of email conversations with Kaitlin, the new mom-to-be, and she shared her thoughts on colors and design.  I suggested Alison Glass Sun Prints because it offered most of the colors she wanted, plus the gray and gold colors she wanted for the border.  She shared a photo of a similar quilt for inspiration, so I did the math and came up with this design.  I got to work making the blocks, and was thinking of how I wanted to quilt the white blocks.  I got the idea of doing a variety of planes, helicopters, rockets and hot air balloon for my quilting designs, and searched online for designs that would lend themselves to quilting.  I've done similar things before, and usually find coloring book pages to work well.  

So, the quilt is done.  I chose 6 different flying things, because I had 18 white blocks.  I wanted the quilting to help share the design of the quilt and the theme of the nursery, which is "Oh, the places you'll go".  The colored blocks look like propellers, and Sun Prints has a compass design, and stars, along with flowers, and other shapes.  Kaitlyn wants to be surprised for the gender, and wanted something that would work for either.  The colored blocks all have a swirl design, in the matching color of Aurifil thread.  I took it to the Cradle of Aviation museum today for a few fun photos.  The guard and receptionist were very friendly and open to allowing me to do this, even putting the quilt on the wing of one plane, and holding it so I could get it with the Blue Angel jet.  

If you didn't know, Long Island has a wonderful history with Aviation.  The museum is in the area where Charles Lindbergh took off to fly to Paris.  Long Island is also home to Grumman, Sperry Fairchild and many other manufactures of planes.   I grew up knowing this area as Mitchell Field, and seeing all the old hangars and buildings and air strips.  I was really excited to see they decided to create this museum to honor the history of the area, and I toured it a number of years ago. It's only a few minutes from my house.  
So, here's my quilt!  

 Plane built by Grumman, on Long Island.

 Yes, it's on the wing!  

 Thanks to the guard for holding this!  The quilt measures about 58" square, and the photo is cropped only at the bottom.  Yes, it's a real Blue Angel plane.  

Aurifil 50wt Colors include 2024 white, 2255 Dark Red Orange, 2892 Pine, 2535 Magenta, 1133 Bright Orange, 2140 Orange Mustard,  1231 Spring Green, 1128 Light Blue Violet, 2920 Light Brass for the borders, 1125 Medium Teal, 2325 Linen, and 4182 Dark Turquoise.  Yes, lots of thread changes for about a minute of stitching the swirls.  I used a white bobbin in the bottom for all of it, though.  I knew changing for each color would not make me happy, lol.  I also knew too much quilt quilting would make the quilt stiff, not something a little one could snuggle into.  I use a blue wash-out marker for drawing the designs, and did each freehand, while looking at the printed illustration.  I couldn't use a lightbox for transferring, because it was already pinned together.  Sometimes having a strong art background comes in handy.  Quilting designs and Pictionary, are two examples, lol

 Feathers in the outer border. Binding and 2nd border are same gray print.

 Hot Air balloon, and some of the colors.  

 Rocket!

Biplane 

 Helicopter!  I guess I need to get close-ups of the other 2 planes.

Backing is Minkee.  

So, Kaitlyn I hope you love this quilt as much as I loved making it to help welcome your little one to a life to treasure.  Thanks so much for trusting me.  

Remember, it's also the day to Hop for Island Batik, and time to vote for your favorite Black and White challenge.  Mine is the Night and Day with purple border.  You get 3 votes!  

Thanks!  

Great Outdoors Blog Hop and more!

Hi!  First,  I just wanted to share that the Island Batik Ambassador hop is starting, and will go on for a few weeks.  Lots of inspiration and lots of prizes.  We're sharing the collections that were shown at Spring Quilt Market, and are now arriving in your favorite quilt shops.  Jungle Cruise, which I used in my newest pattern, Jungle Jumble is one of them.

Just wait until you see mine, next week, but here's the link for the full hop. 

On another front, Quiltsy Team on Etsy, my seller's team, is like a huge, international quilting guild.  Really!  We have over 100 members, many of whom are active in the daily chat, and we pride ourselves on the support in all aspects of life, from improving our shops to personal.  I can't imagine not having these incredible women in my life.  They've gotten me through so many things, including my daily issues with Mom's Alzheimer's.  I offered a challenge to them, and they answered with stunning results.  The challenge was to make something, table runner or larger, with black, white and one other color.  We're going to be voting for your favorites soon, so keep an eye out for the links.  Here's the Pinterest page with the entries, and I'll share the voting link soon. 

Just a reminder, this is my entry.  

And I'm almost done with a commissioned baby quilt.  I have to finish the border and bind it, then I'll share photos.  I'm hoping to have a great location shot.  Can't wait to show you!  

Stay tuned!  Lots happening this week and next.   

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Remember to hop!