Hope Quilts Blog Hop....Pieced Promise

The definition of hope as a verb (an action word) is to cherish a desire with anticipation: to want something to happen or be true, to desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment, and to expect with confindence. 

To expect with confidence, is the line that spoke to me most in this definition.

Sarah, at The Quilted Diary is hosting a month long blog hop of Hope quilts. Sarah will also be having a quilt-along with her quilt Hope for Tomorrow in January. Information and kits can be found on her website HERE. Make sure to check the list for each  designers' "hope" quilt and the story that goes with it. I will have the list at the end of this post. 

When the pandemic first started, I will admit to feeling a bit of panic and overwhelming heaviness in my heart.  Stress will cause me to do one of two things--resort to eating too many sweets or design something. This time I listened to my heart and went with designing something!!! 

And so the quilt, Pieced Promises was designed--over the first weekend of quarentine in March.

Each block is based on a promise from the book of Psalms. Something that my heart and mind definitely needed. I felt the need to share this pattern as a free sew along this spring. People from all over the world downloaded the designs. It made my heart so happy to be sharing this hopefilled journey with them.

Since all of our quilty gatherings were not being held, I went outside my box and did a weekly Facebook live to show the new blocks and a hint or two in making them. The videos are still up on my Facebook page HERE.

The weekly PDF block patterns come with full color instructions, the promise from Psalms along with a quote to fit the promise. The block patterns are still available on my website HERE.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty,” Psalms 91 : 1

The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.

---Maya Angelou

Hope....to expect with confidence....may you find that today.

December 1- Sarah Marcina (The Quilted Diary)

December 2 - Charisma Horton (Charisma's Corner)

December 3 - Jen Frost (Faith & Fabric)

December 4 - Terri Vanden Bosch (Lizard Creek Quilting) You are here.

December 5 - Tammy Silvers (Tamarinis)

December 7 - Carolyn Burgess (Applique Quilts and More)

December 8 - Jo Westfoot (The Crafty Nomad)

December 9 - Lisa Ruble (Love to Color My World)

December 11- Laura Strickland (Orange Blossom Quilt)

December 15- Kris Driessen (Phoebe Moon Designs)

December 18- Kate Colleran (Dreaming in Color)

December 21- Alyce Blyth (Blossom Heart Quilts)

December 22- Jen Frost (Faith & Fabric)

December 24- Sarah Marcina (The Quilted Diary)

December 26- Becca Fenstermaker (Pretty Piney Quilts)

December 30- Kathryn LeBlanc (Dragonfly's Quilting and Design Studio)

December 31- Sarah Marcina (The Quilted Diary)

Farmhouse Runner....Island Batik way....

October is here, along with a new challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors. Make a holiday runner that includes applique. Well, I have had an idea running around my brain this summer so this is the perfect opportunity to bring the idea to life.

I started with fabrics from the Foundations line--Custard and Smoke. The strips were torn along the lengthwise grain of fabric. Because of the tightly woven nature of batik fabric--tearing the strips is easy and quick!!

To keep my seam allowance accurate and straight, I used the seam guide for my 97D foot on the Bernina 790.

Now for the applique. What I thought was going to be a simple addition of letters to the runner, ended up taking me MULTIPLE tries!! But I persisted, because I was going for a specific farmhouse look for this runner. Most of the tries were user error on my part. I was torn between matching the letters to the stripe or making them from the solid black batik.

Using a ruler to align the  black solid batik letters across the runner end worked so well!!

Time for the quilting. Aurifil #2315 was the perfect match to Custard.

I chose my go-to design. Walking foot soft wavy lines that overlap!! I should come up with a name for it!!

I wanted this runner to have more of a farmhouse feel than a quilty feel--so a faced binding was just the right choice. Having never tried this technique before, I searched Pinterest and used the tutorial I found HERE.

I am just over the moon excited about the finished runner!!! It came out better than I had even hoped for--so there might be a winter one made too!!

Just a little glimps into my dining room corner. I love how Island Batik fabrics from the Foundations line blend so well with their other lines. Read about the little table topper on the chair HERE.

Since I enjoyed this project so much, I thought others might too. So I wrote up a little pattern leaflet. The leaflet is available in my shop. Use the code GATHER to get the leaflet free until 11-21-2019.

"What greater blessing to give thanks for at a family gathering than the family and the gathering."
--Robert Breault

"For He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills." Psalm 107 : 9

Thanks to Island Batik and Aurifil for suppling the products for this project.

Beat the Heat with Electirc Desert from Island Batik....

Welcome to my stop on the Island Batik Spring Collections of 2019 blog hop. You won't want to miss any of the other Ambassador stops--check them out HERE. Electric Desert should be arriving in your quilt shops soon--if you don't see them, make sure and ask for them!!!

Electric Desert designed by Jackie Kunkel of Canton Village Quilt Works for Island Batik

Just look at this stack of glorious color!!! So many possibilities--a summer sunset, zinnias in the garden or anything else in your imagination!!

The colors that jumped out at me were the turquoise ones. I have loved turquoise jewlery since I was a little girl when I purchased my first ring at the county fair. I was fasinated by the fact that the stone was mined in the desert, as I had never seen a desert growing up in the farm country of Minnesota.

So I set about to bring that memory to life in this quilt using a pattern I designed Come Into View which you can find HERE.

The motifs Jackie designed in this collection just bring the desert to life--the cracked earth, several differnt cacti, and various blooms work together seamlessly!!

Come into View is a super easy strip pieced pattern, so the blocks come together quickly!!

Following the pressing directions--makes this cute little four patch on the back!! Plus all the seams nest together--so no big bumps at the intersections!! Your quilter will thank you for that!!!

Now--I still live in farm country--so finding a desert near me is pretty much impossible--so I settled for these horses--they kinda have a desert vibe!! And isn't living in a rural area just so cool--this is actually a pasture IN the small town near my home.

So here it is--my turquoise stones surrounded and buried in the desert mountains!!

This amazing vintage car is just across the road from the horses--you can see their fence through the windows!!

Now for the fun part--GIVEAWAYS!! Island Batik is having a different giveaway each week of the hop--this week they are giving away a precut 10" stack--of--wait for it!! Electric Desert!! So head over to their blog and enter HERE!!

But wait!!! There is more--I have these 9 half yard cuts of fabric left--disclaimer--there is about a 4 1/2" square cut out of each one--a spool of Aurifil and a copy of my pattern Come Into View.

To enter--sign up for my newsletter--sign up should be below or on the blog sidebar. Then let me know in the comments your favorite gemstone and if it might spark a quilt design for you!! Giveaway will be open until August 30.

Elevate Your Creativity

Signup for news and special offers!!

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

If you would like to keep up with more goings on in my studio you can follow me at Lizard Creek Quilting on Facebook or Instagram.

Thank you to Island Batik, Aurifil and Hobbs batting--when I quilt it-- for suppling the products used in this project.

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

Wooly Totebag Challenge....

...if you know me at all....you know that I can't resist any challenge related to or using design and fabric of any sort!!!

So last Fall when I the Moda Wooly Tote Bag Challenge was issued...I jumped on the wagon....ordered the kit from Fox Cities Quilt Co.....put the kit on the shelf....

...and didn't think about it again until very early one morning after loading hogs. The thought popped into my head---"what if"--a very dangerous thought!!! What if I turn a quilt block design into what I put on the front of the tote bag!! Finally I had a plan---three days before the deadline!!

I pulled a selection of upcycled wools from my stash plus a charm pack of hand dyed wools from Primative Gatherings. Plan starting to come together.

The block pieces were cut out using the line drawing of the block printed from Electric Quilt.

...and stitched down with matching Aurifil threads.

I was a little concerned about stitching through the thick tote bag wool from the kit...but not to fear!!! My Bernina stitched a triple straight stitch perfectly through the layers. I decided to live on the edge and not back the block pieces with any fusible--just placed them down and went for it!! Worked great.

The more I looked at the quilt block design--the more the heart didn't feel right to me. The block was seeming to tell me that it wanted some flowers in it's corners!!
AccuQuilt Circle die #55484 to the rescue!!! Using two layers of wool, I had many adorable 1" circles cut in not time!!

Aurifil thread again....and seven 1" tiny perfectly cut circles....

...fold and pinch wool circle in half....push onto a threaded needle with knot at end of thread...

....keep adding wool circles to needle...

...pull circles to end of thread....

...gather circles....arrange into flower shape...push needle and thread through the back a few times to secure!! There you have it...an adorable little seven petaled flower. Keeping the thread attached to the flower, I simply handstitched the flower in place on the totebag in groups of three on each corner of the block.

What a great afternoon of creating I had doing this challenge!! Finished just in time to enter!!

Imagine my delight upon receiving an email it was selected as one of the finalists that needed to be sent to Moda for another judging!!! Super cool!!! Like I always say...some one has to win!!

Well today this box came in the mail....

...so it isn't one of the final 5 that will be showcased at Quilt Con next week....

....but it did come home with some great consolation prizes!!!!!

Thank you to Moda and Wooly Felted Wonders for such a fun contest. Can't wait to use the tote bag when the weather gets warmer and maybe some spring flowers are up!!

Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.
--George S. Patton

What interests me in life is curiosity, challenges, the good fight with its victories and defeats. 
--Paulo Coelho