Monthly Archives: July 2019

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The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik, Aurifil, and Hobbs.

My July Island Batik Ambassador challenge was to use three weights of Aurifil in fabric art/non-traditional quilting/sewing/thread painting technique. I doubled up with my Aurifil Artisan challenge to create a seasonal project and chose to make a whole cloth patriotic pillow featuring Island Batik Smoke from their Basics line. I had the perfect sized remnant of Hobbs Tuscany 100% wool batting. Hard to see, but the batting gave it a lovely dimension.

I had a wide variety of possible threads to use for the project and ultimately opted to use four weights of Aurifil thread in three different colors to create my fireworks. Before this project I have primarily quilted with Aurifil 50wt, with an occasional foray into 40wt.

For my free motion firework motif I googled "fireworks line art" for some inspiration. That helped me with the angles of the lines. I started with Aurifil 28wt Liberty Variegated (#3852). I love the bold line it creates.

This is the firework right in the middle of the pillow. It's about 4 inches across.

My next firework was the larger 6 1/2 inch firework at the top in Aurifil 40wt Liberty Variegated (#3852). Then I opted for some more subdued fireworks in Aurifil 50wt Red (#2250) and Aurifil 40wt Peacock Blue (#6738). I added the final firework on the right side in Aurifil 12wt Liberty Variegated (#3852). I need some more practice doing free motion with 12wt, so I opted to do some hand quilted stitches (my first ever!) for this last firework. This really made me want to do some more hand quilting.

I figure the pillow can make multiple visits to my red couch throughout the year, for New Year's Eve, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, and Veteran's Day. It's pretty subtle from afar, but I love the fireworks. They were really fun to stitch and the Island Batik Smoke was the perfect choice for the look of a smoky night sky.

I've linked up to the Q3 Finish Along Finishes post. Check out my whole Q3 list of projects.

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Last month I passed my starting block onto Suzanne to kick off our round robin. There are five of us from my guild, Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association, participating in this round robin. We are passing the projects each month at the guild meeting.

In the first pass, I received Callista's project. She chose earth and jewel tones, heavy on rusty orange to maroon. She included many fabrics to choose from and she wants a lap/couch quilt that feels "warm, boho, a mix of fabrics, prints, and scale." During my sewing slump I had her center block up on my design wall. There are so many possibilities! As a group we chose two random prompts to chose from for each round. In round two my options are to include a pinwheel block or something from nature.

I won't be able to show you what I'm adding to her block until the round robin concludes in late October when we reveal the finished quilt tops to their owners. I think I know what I'm going to add to Callista's block, but I'd love to hear what you would do!

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I have always wanted to participate in a round robin. Years ago, my guild, Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association, ran a round robin and it was so fun to see what was created. In recent years I've enjoyed seeing online round robins, including the Kids Quilt Round Robin that I co-hosted. Yet I had never myself participated. So this spring when SCVQA announced another round robin opportunity I signed up to participate.

Five of us joined the round robin and we met in May to iron out the details. We drew from an assortment of potential parameters to create a set of rules for each round.

1st quilter: starting block/unit
2nd quilter: pinwheels or something from nature
3rd quilter: quilter's choice
4th quilter: flying geese or four patch
5th quilter: snowball or log cabin

I decided to look over my many WIPs to find something that would be suitable for the center of a medallion round robin. I settled on this 20" Fierce Feathered Star block (from the Snowflake Sampler pattern by Jess Zeigler) that I made during a sew along in August 2017. I'd been intending to finish it into a floor pillow, but decided it would be a fun center to a medallion quilt. I added the border strips to preserve my points and bring it up to 22 1/2" x 22 1/2" unfinished (since it wasn't quite perfectly sized).

We each completed an information form with details about likes, dislikes, and wishes. I wrote lots of notes on mine, including... Scrappy, modern, improv, or precise piecing. Geometric prints, solids, blenders in grass green, navy, teal, and pale blue. No solid white. My block is 22 1/2" square and I'd love for the quilt to finish 60" x 60" or larger.

We also decided there would be no progress shots shown along the way, online or in person. We will pass the projects to the next quilter at each monthly guild meeting, so we will finish in October and present the finished quilt tops back to their owners at that meeting.

Here's a peek at the fabric I supplied with my project. (Can you tell my love for blender fabrics!?) A couple pieces were small scraps of fabric from the block. I didn't feel like I had enough fabric/variety to require the group use only my fabric, so they may choose to add their own fabric. I also put a note to let me know if they'd like me to provide more fabric since I'm open to picking up some more options.

The initial projects were passed on to the second quilters at the June guild meeting. I'll be sharing the starting block I received from Callista tomorrow.

Have you ever participated in a round robin? I'd love to hear about your experience.