Wendy Sheppard - Winter Blues

Welcome to my stop on the "Creative New Quilts and Projects Blog Hop"! #creativenewquilts

Wendy Sheppard (#wendysheppard) has wowed quilty peeps for years with her beautiful designs and stunning quilting. If you don't follow her blog you've likely seen her designs in magazines. I've personally followed her blog, Ivory Spring, for several years and have appreciated her insights to the 'how' when she gives us her "Thread Talks". She is a domestic machine quilter, but many of her ideas can be used on a long-arm as well.

Maybe the fact that we both have degrees in engineering helps me relate to what she shares with us.

Listen to her brief interview with Pat Sloan about this book.

 

So, it feels like a personal honor for me to make one of her projects and be a part of this Island Batik blog hop featuring her new book.

When looking through the book, the first thing I appreciate about it as a shop owner, is that often my customers are looking to use some of the pre-cuts they have purchased or scraps from their own stash. This book has many options that are friendly to these scenarios.

When considering projects to make for the blog hop, I was immediately attracted to her 'Winter Blues' design (left) so was excited when I got the opportunity to make it!

My blog partner today, Freemotion by the River, chose to use a very different palette, but it was the simplicity and clean look of the blue and white that attracted me to the design. I chose fabrics from "Tinsel", a new Island Batik fabric line, currently shipping to shops. As you can see from this collection, it fits perfectly with the blue/grey/ white style of this quilt. I also added "Sprinkles" from Island Batik's Neutrals line for the white background.

Wendy's original used the same fabric for joiner/connecting pieces in both Block B and C as the square or rectangle portion of the block. In my own cutting I only paid attention to her notes that talked about the same fabric used in the C block and its connecting pieces. I chose to just proceed with what I had cut and continue with my piecing. In my initial selections from a 'stack' (10" squares) of fabrics to choose from, I did get a little picky and chose to use a fabric more than once just to keep the values (dark, medium or light) with sufficient contrast between the different blocks as specified in the design.

Consider how you cut if using a directional fabric, a lot of the cuts are rectangular, so it can make a difference. Once I had the pieces cut out, the piecing went quickly.

The next step was to lay out the blocks in rows and decide on their final placement. Wendy's illustration in the book provided a road map to make it simple. I would recommend you make a few extra of each block and connecting segments just to give yourself the opportunity to make it your own and play a little based on the coloring that you've chosen.

A great feature about Island Batik fabrics is that they are so well created it is often quite difficult to tell right from wrong side. That means some of the directional prints could go left or right....it is just the 90 degree cutting that you can't adjust so easily.


Batting: 80/20 and wool on top.

I do my quilting on a Gammill Optimum+ machine. It is all hand guided, but sometimes I use a pantograph and follow a laser light attached to the machine head and projected onto the drawn out design from the back of the machine. I had recently used this Dancing Snowflakes pantograph by Beany Girl Quilts (available at Willow Leaf Studio) in my March 4 finale post of our Planes, Trains and Automobile blog hop #PTABlogHop and decided that it was a perfect quick finish to this quilt.


Dancing Snowflakes panto with Warm & White batting.

I used The Warm Company, Warm & White batting available in my studio so that the quilting would lay fairly flat and the design of the quilt could stand on its own.

I used #Aurifil to piece and quilt (2024).


Although we've left WINTER behind .....I'll have it ready for next year! This would work great with a minkee or flannel back to add an extra cozy/soft feel. I just got into my studio some beautiful blue minkee that would work great.

Winter Blues - Island Batik "Tinsel" version

Buy the book here from Landauer Publishing or get it NOW as a PDF download. If you'd rather get a signed copy from Wendy use her email to contact her directly.

Do you have a local quilt shop to buy Island Batik fabric? Interested in a free copy of the book? Leave me a comment below on who your LQS with IB fabric is.....and use the Rafflecopter to register your email address. I wouldn't mind if you chose to follow my blog, visit my Facebook page and follow-along in a 'view first' way or signup for my newsletter. All of these optional ways to enter, will get you an entry to a random selection for a free copy of the book (US mailing address required) thanks to Landauer Publishing.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


If you don't have a local shop, but would like an opportunity to own some beautiful Island Batik fabrics, I have some available for purchase.

Shaved Ice Stack (10" squares great for this quilt! just add white and grey yardage)  $41
I also have Sweet Georgia Peach and French Roasted Stacks.











Also...kits or yardage for Woven Braid in two colorways (original and green/brown),
 

 

 

 A great grouping to work for "In Memory" and "Camouflage Canopy" from my Dangling Diamonds 'bonus' patterns using the Quilted in Honor fabrics.

And nature inspired motifs if you're working on a National Park inspired quilt in honor of this year's National Park Service Centennial. Don't forget, we're hosting the National Park Centennial quilt exhibit July 1-4, 2016 in Coulee Dam, WA. Don't miss it!

  

If any of these are of interest, just let me know "interested in your IB fabric" as part of your comment below and I'll get in touch with better details of what the fabrics are, pricing, etc. Still working on a proper shopping cart, but thank you for being interested.

 



Thanks for stopping by!
Here is the entire blog hop schedule:

Monday, March 14 – Island Batik Intro

Tuesday, March 15 – Adele Mogavero - Del-Lillian's

Wednesday, March 16 – Pamela Quilts 

Thursday, March 17 – MooseStash Quilting

Friday, March 18 –  Bejeweled Quilts

Monday, March 21 –  One Quilting Circle

Tuesday, March 22 –  BeaQuilter

Wednesday, March 23 – Freemotion by the River and Kissed Quilts  (you're here!)

Thursday, March 24 – Mary Mack Made Mine

Friday, March 25 – Lemon Tree Snippets