Island Batik Ambassador Log Cabin Blog hop!
Welcome to my day to show you Primo, by Ebony Love, of Lovebug Studios.
Disclosure: As an Island Batik Ambassador, we are provided with the fabrics, Hobb's Heirloom cotton batting, Schmetz Microtex needles, Accuquilt GO! Die cutting system, and Aurifil thread used in this project.
Primo has a lovely selection of designs and colors. It features shades of berry, teal, navy and purple, with touches of gold, coral and pink. The designs are more geometric, with swirls, circles, stripes and triangles, along with bricks.
I contemplated the design I would use for weeks before cutting the fabric. I did decide to go with my favorite book author and designer, Eleanor Burns from Quilt in a Day. I looked at a few variations, but figured this Primo collection should be a basic version. It didn't "speak" to me to have stars or something else added. I wanted the fabric to do the talking.
I also considered using Sprinkles for part of the background, but didn't end up using it. Primo wanted to be front and center! The Star. The Top Banana, or Prime. Primo. I used almost all the fabrics in the collection, with the exception of one gold and one of the berry colors, because I wanted the center block to stand out.
So I sorted the 1/2 yard pieces, with the additions of the 2 yard cream brick, and navy stripe, into light, medium and darker shades. I saved the navy stripe for the border and binding, so it's not actually in the top. I wanted to go big.
So, I cut a variety of 2 1/2" strips from the fabrics using the Accuquilt GO! die we received as Ambassadors, and sub cut into the sizes needed for the blocks, following the Scrappy version. I actually pieced 30, for the queen size in the book, but opted to only use 25 in this. It's a queen size measuring about 88" square. I'll probably make place mats with the other blocks, after adding a little more fabric on each side.
Here are some progress photos.
Some of the pieces cut for the first few rounds.
A pile of partly assembled blocks. You can see the lights and mediums starting to form the 2 sides of the cabin, around the "berry" swirl center. History on this classic block says the center is the heart of the home, and the logs represent the bright days and darker nights of life. Good times and bad. I opted to use the basic Fields and Furrows layout, with the scrappy look of using about 18 different fabrics. It worked best with the blocks, and I think it's effective to showcase the fabrics and colors.
Once I had the top finished, I loaded it on Vanna, my Handi-quilter Amara long arm. I used a grey swirl wide backing fabric I have, and Hobb's Heirloom Cotton batting with scrim, in a queen size. I'm happy that their batting runs a little wider than the package says, because this quilt is big! I did load it more to the right side, since I still need to access the bobbin case, and not having fabric to fight while cleaning the lint and replacing bobbins is a good thing.
I programmed the Prostitcher with a Handi-Quilter design called Clam with Swirls. I had watched a video on how to make the clam alternate, so the shell of one meets the center top of the next level. I wanted something with swirls, because of the swirls in the fabric. This design gave a great texture, and wasn't too much to overpower the Log Cabin design and the fabrics. I quilted it with Aurifil 40-2, 1246 Dark Grey made for Long Arms. It's 3 ply, and super for the speed and number of stitches, and was a great color to blend into the whole top. You can see it, but it's not starring. I'm so happy I've figured out more about this machine, there were no thread breaks! I used 7 bobbins 2600 Dove for the bobbins, since it matched the backing.
Since it was pouring rain when I needed to get photos, I put it on my guest bed. I like how the teal paint pulled out the aqua and teal fabric pieces.
You can see a little of the quilting texture here.
The stripe on the binding is fun! You can see a little more of the 40-3 thread in the quilting here, too.
Since it was really rainy, I only got a few quick photos on the clothesline in my yard. I was hoping to find some great scenic locations, but the weather Tuesday had other plans. (Yes, yesterday, because I'm still working on things and cleaning up the house, so I can move up, and the contractor had a few days of work to finish, but it's coming along. Slow progress, but still, progress.) And getting it completely done for an actual finish for the blog hop was accomplished. The quilt is now in the wash, because the yard was muddy.
Anyway, I hope you look for Primo in your favorite LQS, or ask them to carry it. Since this is all made with 2 1/2" strips, it's a perfect beginner quilt (which was actually my first quilt, back in 1990, when I first took a Quilt in a Day class.)
So, since you've read this far, I'll be giving away some scraps from this collection. I have a 1/2 yard piece of one of the golds, and smaller pieces of some of the others. Just comment that you follow my blog via email or Bloglovin, and if you've ever made a Log Cabin quilt. I'll ship free to US and Canada, but ask that international batik lovers only comment if they're willing to cover the additional difference in shipping. Your Flat Rate envelope will be worth it! Give-Away closes March 8th, 2020. I'll pick a winner from the comments.
Please also visit the other features this week. And enter the Island Batik give away, below at the Rafflecopter link.
Monday, February 24
Tuesday, February 25
Wednesday, February 26
Maryellen McAuliffe You're here!
Thursday, February 27
Friday, February 28
Blog Hop Round Up Week at Island Batik's blog
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