Slip along with me on the Get Away Blog Hop...featuring Icicle

Welcome to the final day on the month long Get Away Blog Hop from Island Batik!! If you are just joining us--make sure to check out links to all the previous posts HERE.

Icicle--is the collection Island Batik provided me to work with for this special blog hop. This is a Signature Collection by Kathy Engle for Tamarinis. View the full collection and accompaning patterns HERE. 

I see that I added one fabric from the Foundations line--Gun Metal Bubble Hole--isn't that a cool name. Plus I love how the Foundations just blend seamlessly with the other collections.

Icicle should be arriving soon in your quilt shop that carries Island Batik--if your shop doesn't carry Island Batik--make sure and ask for it!!!

The cool and crisp colors in this collection immediately made me think of a Nordic sweater. I have wanted to remake my pattern--Peace Seeker---available HERE--or send me an email--so this collection was a perfect fit--get it sweater--fit--oh I must be putting in too many long days here on the farm--or my brain is frozen with all our below zero air tempuratures this past week!

Using this collection of AccuQuilt dies--all the pieces for the 80" x 84" quilt were cut out in no time at all!!

Love me some batik stacks all ready to sew together!!!

Pretty piles of 2" half square triangles--notice all the dog ears are already cut off--my favorite part of using the AccuQuilt dies!!

Beautiful morning sunrise on the day I pieced this quilt top!! Those pretty rays on either side of the sun are called Sun Dogs--seeing them means COLD weather ahead!! But they sure are pretty!!

One of the coolest pieces in the Icicle line is the Deer Stripe--the row of deer run the entire 45" length of fabric--and I say 45" because that is exactly how much fabric goodness you get with Island Batik!!

The Deer Strip was bordered with this equally cool check print!! Just look how even that plaid is!! When you think that these batiks are HANDMADE in Bali--just look at the precise craftmanship of those artisans!!

Visualizing what applique shapes to use in those lovely wide open spaces of cool blue goodness!!!

Cameo apperance of my sister, who was here last night!! She doesn't consider herself crafty--but with one short lesson--she cut out all the upcycled wool appliques for the quilt!! Great memory for me!!

I may have taken a few too many photos of this one....so just sit back and enjoy for a bit!!

This headboard was made with two doors from the old farmhouse we lived in...great way to bring the old house to the new house!

..these pretty ivory snowflakes were once a classy pair of wool trousers that I took apart and felted!!

...I only have a little bit of that fun houndstooth left--will have to start hitting the GoodWill stores again!!

The sun was shining for just a brief moment this afternoon--I should have put a coat on--almost got frost bite--but just look at all the glorious crisp blues!!!!

It's like the quilt is just a reflection of the Winter sky--ohhh I may have just come up with the name--I have actually been thinking the whole time I was sewing and even writing this post--what am I going to call this one--naming quilts is one of my favorite things to do!!
I am looking at this photo again--and look closely snow color in the ditch--a perfect match to the beautiful blues in this Icicle collection!!

Winter Sky.

"Winter giveth the fields, and the trees so old, their beards of icicles and snow."

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Now for the fun part--make sure you head on over to the Island Batik Blog HERE and enter the rafflecopter giveaway for an amazing rainbow of colors!!!

I am offering all these leftover fabrics from the collection--and when I say leftovers--that is what I mean--there might even be a finished half square triangle or two in there!! Along with the pattern--Peace Seeker that I used to make Winter Sky. Will be drawing a winner after Feb. 10.

To enter please leave a comment about your favorite winter memory!! 

Thanks so much for stopping by and make sure to check out the other stops for today!!

Friday, February 1-  Candy Cane Lane and Icicle

Terri Vanden Bosch Icicle - Meanderings along Lizard Creek

Anne Wiens- Icicle - Sweetgrass Creative Designs

Mania Hatziioannidi Candy Cane Lane- Mania For Quilts

Barbara Gaddy - Candy Cane Lane  -Bejeweled Quilts by Barb

Library Llama tote with Island Batik....

Here we are...the last Island Batik assignment for 2018!! Whimsical and Wonky is the theme.
My brain being the Squirrel that it is---had another project in mind--and even half started--I still really like it so will finish it sometime.....

.....but then this adorable Llama just spoke to me with his whimsical attitude and challenged me to some play time!!!
Earlier this month I joined an online club offered by Jaculynne Steves called The Art of Home Club.
Once a month she provides a collection of line drawings to either embroider or possibly applique, along with ideas for quilts, totes or various other items to use the drawings with. Llama is from the Hipster Animals collection.

After tracing the design onto the Basic white batik with a Micron pen, I applied a tear away stabilizer to the fabric back. Put the #23 embroidery foot on my Bernina. Threaded the machine with black Aurifil. Lowered the feed dogs......

......and started to free motion thread sketch, following the black traced lines as best I could. I was going for a doodly whimsical look.

Then it was time for some fun. Coloring!!! Playing with Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils is something I don't do enough of!!! The color will always look different after liquid is applied, so I made a little chart with actual colored samples to help in choosing the right pencil!!!

Look at the vibrant color that appears after the textile medium is applied!!! The nice tight weave of this batik makes this process so smooth and easy!!

Next, I used 4--10" sqaures from the Spirit Rythm by Bella Nonna stack leftover from THIS bucket bag project.
The sqaures were cut in half, then randomly sliced up and sewed back together again to form the border strips.
Partial piecing was needed to make the borders spin around the center block.

By now it is evening, and I am thinking it is time to be finished in the studio for the day. I find this 12 weight Aurifil hand quilting thread in just the right color!! Off to my chair for an evening of slow stitching!!!

What great definition this thread gives the front and back pieces. Along with the Theramore batting from Hobbs!!!

The corners were boxed. Then my camera batteries died!!!

And the Llama Library tote is finished!!!

My grandson just loves the Llama Mama book series, so I am thinking this might become his library tote!! Doesn't this face just make you smile?!?!

Thank you to Island Batik, Hobbs and Aurifil for supplies to create this tote!!

Market Day the pattern...

...is a great confidence builder--yet still very easy quilt to make!!! I have loved basket quilts for as long as I can remember--but have only made one--because I haven't been a fan of putting the basket on point.

So I drew up this stunning straight set friendly basket block. The handle is fusible applique--but could
very easily use a bias strip to make the handle also.

The barn on the farm was built in 1904. How cool is that?!?! It isn't used for animals anymore. Just quilt photos and some storage inside.

When I designed this quilt, I had the thought of the pioneer ladies on the prairie who would carry their baskets into the general store to fill it up with supplies that would need to last them for a while before they could make the long drive into town again. Or the basket could have been used to gather blooming flowers from the praire to add a spot of cheerful to the supper table.
I love this photo because it shows where we store our harvested grain. We store the grain in the bins until the market has a good price. Then we sell and deliver the grain to the buyer.
Market Day.

Pattern includes full size templates for fusible applique, detailed piecing instructions, quilting suggestions and a coloring page to plan your own fabric choices. Quilt size 54" x 72".
Pattern availbe for immediate PDF download HERE. Email me for wholesale pricing or paper printed copy.

The fabrics used in this cover quilt are from the Ditty Collection by Kathy Engle for Island Batik.
You can view them HERE.

Smoke Stacks..the sequel...with Island Batik....

November assignment.....log cabins....one of my least favorite blocks. I am not sure why, as it really is a versatile and quite easy to do block. It just is not on my list of can't wait to make quilts.

But being a good Island Batik Ambassador...let's carry on and get this party started!!! I was making another project and had all these leftover super cute wool circles cut out--with my GO! Circles die from AccuQuilt--and they just matched too perfect not to share!!

In the blog hop this past January for Island Batik, I designed and made Smoke Stack with the fabric line City Culture 2. You can read about that HERE. I promised a pattern...so the log cabin challenge this month seems the perfect time to release it!! But you will have to look at all the pretty pictures first!!

I am just loving these soft yet vibrant colors in the Victoria and Albert fabric collection.

I used them in Peace Seeker...you can find this pattern on my Craftsy site HERE. And I also used it for Star Spin HERE.

Fabrics all cut and sorted look so pretty!!

Chain piecing....and piecing...and piecing....

Auditioning block placement.

This springy green color #2886 by Aurifil was the perfect match. I am trying to brush up my domestic sewing machine free motion skills again!! I know they are somewhere in my muscle memory, but it seems that the long arm muscle memories are much closer on the list of how to's in my brain!! But again--carry on and finish strong!!

In between working and quilting....I bring noon lunch and supper out to the fields where my farmer husband is putting in long hours to get the harvest finished this year!!

During one of my lunch bringing runs I remembered we had this pile of old wooden fence posts in the grove on the farm that would make a great backdrop for a log cabin quilt!!!

And I may have had a bit of fun with it...

So there you have it...Smoke Stack the sequel!! The pattern is available as a PDF download on my Craftsy site HERE.

Thank you again to Island Batik for supplying the fabrics and to Aurifil for supplying the threads fot this project!!