Tree of Presents....blog hop...Christmas Collection...

Welcome back to the blog hop for Nancy Scott of Masterpiece Quilting for her Christmas Collection 2018 book. Purchase your copy of HERE.

Petal Pushers fabric collection by Island Batik

And once again--I am going a bit outside the Christmas box here.

The Tree of Presents wall hanging set my brain into motion--and that can be dangerous!!

Foundations fabric collection by Island Batik

So since I have more ideas than time--I recolored this design with fabrics from Island Batik, added the text, and finally some ribbon curls!!!

How fun would it be to have a Birthday banner to personalize, one for the summer holidays or one just something to remind you that every day is a gift?!?

Little Sir, Little Miss by Bella Nonna for Island Batik

Treat every moment as a gift, that is why it is called the present.  --Deepak Chopra

Again--get your copy of this super versatile pattern in Nancy's book HERE!!

To stay up to date on what I am making next--follow me at Lizard Creek Quilting on Facebook and Instagram!!

Let's Gather Table Runner.....

Welcome to the first day on the 2018 Christmas Collection blog hop. Nancy Scott, of Masterpiece Quilting has compiled an amazing selection of her Christmas projects and published them into this easy to read book!! The projects vary in size from small wall hanging to bed size quilts and everything in between. You can get your copy on Amazon here.

While most of the projects in Nancy's book are colored in the more traditional red, gold and green--I took the Let's Gather table runner in a different direction. I have a small collection of vintage Shiny Brite Christmas ornaments that I use to decorate my basement family room at Christmas time. This table runner is the perfect size for my table down there!! So these glorious shades of colors from Island Batik are just right!!

Don't you just love a fabric closeup!!  While Nancy's cutting directions are very well thought out and easy to follow I like to use the AccuQuilt cutting system.

Here is a hint when working with a multi color batik....after piecing all the small components of the blocks, I like to match up the multi colored parts to the colored parts for a pleasing arrangement of color.

Since I chose to make each block a different color--I find it helpful to play around with the color arrangement until it is pleasing to your eye.

Lately these long, gently wavy and overlapping lines have been my quilting design of choice on small projects. 40 wt Aurifil thread gives such great definition to the stitches. I find the design to be softly modern--meaning not as harsh as dense matchstick quilting--yet still gives a nod to the modern end of the spectrum. So a just right happy medium!!

What appealled to me besides the generous 16" x 72" size of this table runner was this super cool end treatment--it looks way more complicated than it is--and you will have to get the book to find out!! Well worth the price in my opinion!!! Love how it looks!!

Love me some vintage Shiny Brite ornaments!!!

Make sure to check out all the other amazing projects over the course of the next couple weeks--Nancy will have the daily linkups!!

Thank you to Nancy for this fun opportunity, Island Batik for the fabric, Aurifil for the thread and The Warm Company for the Warm and White cotton batting.
You can follow the sewing and quilting adventures of Lizard Creek Quilting on Facebook and Instagram.

Balance.....Aurfil and Island Batik.....

...The challenge for July is sponsored by Aurifil--use 3 different weights of thread along with fabric supplied by Island Batik to make an art type quilt. I have an inspiration for this project--but no actual plan--this one grew as I went along. So how about a few ways I used the threads first!!

Aurfil 40 wt thread was used to machine embroider this collection of sea shells. The design is one that is built in my Bernina 790.  I haven't used the embroidery attachment for two years--oh was it fun again!!! The thicker thread gave such great dimension to the design. 50 wt is what I usually piece with--so just imagine that the 40 wt is a smidge thicker.

After some free motion quilting and decorative stitching--again with 40 wt Aurifil I added some simple hand stitches with Aurifil wool floss. Amazing texture was achieved with both thread weights.

Here I used a 40 wt to free motion quilt the background word along with a line of single letters that spell out the same word I quilted. 28 wt thread was used to edge paint these shapes. The thicker thread makes it so that less lines of stitching are needed to fill up the space around the edge of each shape.

Showing more of the edge painting, free motion quilting and decortive stitches. I also used the Aurifil wool floss to hand sew the binding down with a running stitch. LOVE this!!!!

Now for the inspiration...Balance...a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions--"try to keep a balance between work and relaxation".
To try keep our life in balance we took a trip to Carlsbad, CA this winter--nice to get some sunshine while the weather was frightfully cold in Iowa.

While driving on the Costal Highway we stopped in a cute little town--Del Mar--where we walked along the beach until it started raining!!

The vast amount of rocks on this beach were in colors that I don't normally see--who knew there was such beautiful turquoise colored rocks?!?! What fun I had collecting and making the tower just right!!

My treasures from that trip--a couple of shells, a piece of sea glass and a heart shaped turquiose colored rock that was on the top of the rock tower--I really wanted to take the large one on the bottom, but didn't want to overweight our luggage!! All to remind me to keep BALANCE in my life!!

Balance...my July art quilt!!!

"Balance is a feeling derived from being whole and complete; it's a sense of harmony. It is essential to maintaining quality in life and work."                                 --Joshua Osenga

Dream Catcher....Island Batik Style...

...assignment for June was to try a new technique!! Well how fun that sounds--I love a wide open challenge!!

The 1" Strip Cutter die from AccuQuilt made it super fast to cut a large pile of strips. The fabrics are from Island Batik, when I visited the office in Carlsbad this spring--see here--I was gifted a large stack of color samples that didn't make the final fabric cut--but are still beautiful so I figured this was a perfect place to use them!!!

After doing some research on Pinterest along with a distant knowledge of macrame from the 7th grade, I set out with a plan in my head!!

Since the fabric strips were short, I would have to keep adding additional strips, the thought was to apply some Elmer's glue and then hit the join with the flat iron to quickly dry the glue......

....yeah, that didn't work as expected---so hot glue gun to the rescue!!! It might have been better to just quickly overlap and stitch all the fabric strips together--but my sewing machine was all packed up yet from a class I had went to--and remember the challenge is to Try It!!!

The fabric strips handled being macramed--is that even a word??--very well. Except for the hot glued joins. I would definitely stitch the joins if I try this process again!!

The process was really fun and actually quite a stress reliever from all the secret sewing I have been doing lately!! Thanks to Island Batik and AccuQuilt for products used in this project!!!