Island Batik - New Beginnings Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Island Batik Ambassadors New Beginnings Blog Hop, featuring all of the 2016 released at market fabric collections.

The stop today is featuring Twilight Blush -- a new winter collection.

I chose to make Wendy Sheppard's Crossings Quilt from her book --yes, the one on the cover! It needed 15 fat quarters and I had exactly that with this bundle.

Yes, I needed to substitute colors vs. what is in the original, but that was part of the creative challenge to find contrasts and coordinating elements so that it would work.

Let me give you a few tips if you decide to make this quilt.

Here are the fabrics that I started with, Twilight Blush is on the right. The top left is going to be the backing and I'm using the other two for the background and cross intersections :

Don't forget to color test your fabrics!! Better to be safe than sorry.

Although each of these subassemblies are cut to their smallest size first, I think it could be quicker to cut long lengths and sew strip sets together and cross-cut, but I followed instructions! The cutting instructions don't necessarily match the assembly instructions, but there is just a bit that needs to be trimmed down to make it work. I used my "The Angler 2" for sewing the diagonals so I didn't have to mark each one. I also chain pieced them, meaning I sewed them all, one right after the next, and then turned it around and sewed about 1/2" away from the needed seam in the part that would be trimmed off. That meant, I could cut between the two seams and get a HST from the 'cut away' section.

This is the quilt before quilting and all those leftover HSTs! With more time before needing to get this done, I might have created some sort of border with them or interesting backing, but I'm sure I'll come up with something down the road.

This type of quilt design lends itself to quilting a continuous line edge to edge pattern using the piecing grid as the 'lines'. I designed this motif and was able to load the quilt top sideways and get it done in 5 passes. I continued the same stitching into the border.

We've still got a fair amount of snow so when the quilting was done I tossed it out onto the snow in front of my quilt shop/studio.

Here is the quilt, bound with the same fabric as the backing and an image from the backside so you can see the edge to edge of the stitching. While I was trimming the quilt, the name "Medieval Times" came to me, so that is what I have named it.

Don't forget, there are plenty of other stops on this blog hop.

Friday, January 6 – Hop Introduction!

Island Batik
Monday, January 9 – Coastal Mist
Stone Cottage Quilts
Tuesday, January 10 – Dotalicious
DelLillians
Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting
PamelaQuilts
Inchworm Fabrics
Wednesday, January 11 – Drizzle
Webster Quilt
Thursday, January 12 – Fifi and Fido + Happy Hounds
Mary Mack Made Mine
Quilting Affection
Friday, January 13 – Fresh Catch
Bejeweled Quilts by Barb
Monday, January 16 – Glowing Embers
Purrfect Spots Designs

Tuesday, January 17 – Lake Life
Freemotion by the River  
NOTE: I have a free pattern on Island Batik's website too with this collection.

Wednesday, January 18 – River’s Edge
Ark Angle Creations
Jennifer Sewing
Friday, January 20 – Blushing Blooms
Desert Bloom Quilting
Monday, January 23 – Gone Fishin’
Maria Michaels Designs
Wednesday, January 25 – Surf and Sand
The Patchwork Pearl
Beaquilter

TODAY --> Thursday, January 26 – Twilight Blush
KISSed Quilts  --you are here!!

Coming up....
Friday, January 27 – Happy Harvest
For Quilts Sake
Monday, January 30 – Jolly Holly
Kauffman Designs
Tuesday, January 31 – Frost
MooseStash Quilting
Wednesday, February 1 – Merry and Bright
Patchwork Breeze
Sally’s Quilting Corner

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be a guest blogger scheduled for February 1 (next week!)  over at Tamarini's so hope to see you there! She's organized a blog hop featuring the Coastal Mist collection.

Note: My Rondure Retreat dates have changed to March 28-30, 2017

--let me know if you're interested. I have a few spots still available.

For my giveaway bundle of Twilight Blush, please leave a comment here about your favorite pattern for using fat quarters and consider these ways to follow me....

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right here on my blog (see sidebar).

I'll select a random comment (as long as you left an email) on February 2, 2017 to win the bundle of fabrics.

Use this Rafflecopter to register for the Island Batik giveaway.

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