Last Call!

Tomorrow begins a new month - a super busy month! - so today is "last call" for students to sign up for the Beginner Feathers workshop at this year's Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival.  There are two spots left. Below is the sample we will stitch:

You will be provided with various weights of beautiful Aurifil thread so that you can see the effects each has.  I am particularly fond of stitching with the 12 weight:

There is more information and a registration button on this page. Come join us, for a very relaxed, no pressure class.

This week, in preparation for the festival, I will be setting up a display of my Island Batik quilts in a downtown store window.  I am also putting in the last touches for my October Ambassador project, beginning to get November's underway...as well as working on a project for Quilt Market. Later this week, a big order of Aurifil thread is arriving...and somewhere in there, is a Thanksgiving meal to prepare! (The pumpkin pie was such a disaster last year, I am not sure anyone wants me to try that again...:) Thankfully, I quilt better than I bake...

twinkle...little stars :)

For September, the Island Batik Ambassadors were given the theme "Star Struck" for the monthly project.  We had free reign to choose any fabrics from either of the boxes sent to us this year, any method of construction, and any size for our project.  A veritable blank sky for our stars!

I've been quite taken with this "Paisley Dots Brights" collection since it arrived, and decided it would be perfect for little pops of light here and there on a neutral background. 

The background is called "Almond" and although it is hard to see in the picture, it too has a subtle marbling of colour popping out here and there throughout.  Perfect! I used 12 different colours for the stars, so that there is only a little of each showing.

Wanting the effect of the stars to be "barely there", I drew them out with very thin points in EQ8.  So that there would be no division between blocks, I chose to piece this as a sashing star, rather than in traditional block construction.

As I worked, the star points reminded me of bunny ears!  I used a foundation for the points, to keep them sharp.

You can see in my sketch above that originally I intended the quilt to be borderless, but in the end, decided to add colourful points around the piece in the form of half-square triangles.

The coloured triangles circle the quilt in sequential order.

For the batting, I chose the Hobbs Tuscany cotton/wool 80-20 blend we received in our second Ambassador box.  It quilted beautifully.

I free motion quilted spirals in the star centres, and also in the corner squares of the border. For this I used Aurifil 50 weight in a natural white, 2021.

Here's the finished piece, which demanded to be named nothing other than "twinkle"...with a lower case "t".   And here's the surprise for this quilt:  the shapes are all outline quilted with a glow-in-the-dark thread, so it will continue to twinkle and glow gently after the lights go out :)

Measuring 34" x 42", this simple-to-stitch quilt is a great size for a baby, especially backed in a lovely soft flannel.

The pattern for twinkle is available from my website, as an instant download and at Mrs Pugsley's Emporium.

I would like to thank Cheryl Coville, of Grandma CoCo Designs, for her help with pattern editing, as well as Island Batik, Aurifil, and Hobbs for supplying the materials for this quilt.

Winner!

The awesome Island Batik Ambassador "Great Outdoors Blog Hop" has ended.  Thank you for all the lovely comments. It was fun to select a winner for my prize draw.

Initially, I installed a give-away widget, but decided that kicking it old school would be way more fun.  So I printed the names of those who left comments, and put them in a special china dish (names are blacked out for the picture, as there were email addresses.) The bowl has a bit of a story.  The pattern is Johnson Brothers Pareek  "Jasmine", and it was my grandmother's china pattern.  When we ate Sunday dinner on this set, Gram always referred to it as her "leave home dishes"...i.e, if you broke a piece, you had to leave home!  Fortunately, none of us did, and my older sister inherited the set.  My youngest son found this dish on eBay and made it my Christmas gift one year, so that I could have a piece of this china.  I treasure it.

Sadly, as much as she would have liked to help, Polly was not able to fish out one of the papers with her paws, so hubby volunteered to make the draw. 

The winner is Barefoot Thunder. (What a great name!) 

Ms Thunder has been notified, and her 3 patterns were sent out right away.  She received copies of all the patterns I have released during my year as an Island Batik Ambassador:   Sun Salutation (pictured under the bowl), Interlocking Herringbone, and Sunset. This was a fun event in which to participate, and I thank you for hopping along.  You can visit each Ambassador to see all the quilts at the links below. We will do it all again next January!

Monday, August 6 - All A Flutter - Yellow Cat Quilt Designs, Creative Blonde
Tuesday, August 7 - Birds N’ Bees - Ark Angel Creations, Patterns By Jen
Wednesday, August 8 - Canterbury Manor - Sally Manke, Powered By Quilting
Thursday, August 9 - Eclectic Garden - Desert Bloom Quilting, Sew Karen-ly Created
Friday, August 10 - Vintage Morris - MooseStash Quilting, Devoted Quilter


Monday, August 13 - Safari - Sew Incredibly Crazy, SweetGrass Designs
Tuesday, August 14 - Spring Blossoms - Mary Mack Made Mine, If These Threads Could Talk
Wednesday, August 15 - Victoria and Albert - Bejeweled Quilts, Clever Chameleon
Thursday, August 16 - Wild Things - Freemotion By The River, Kauffman Designs
Friday, August 17 - Petting Zoo - Den Syende Himmel, Sarah Goer Quilts


Monday, August 20 - Ocean Odyssey - Gateway Quilts, The Quilt Rambler
Tuesday, August 21 - British Rose - Busy Hands Quilts, Mania for Quilts
Wednesday, August 22 - Dear William - The Inquiring Quilter, MMM Quilts, Living Water Quilter
Thursday, August 23 - Dragonfly Dreams - Inchworm Fabrics, BeaQuilter
Friday, August 24 - Fur-ocious Friends - Quilting Affection Designs, Dizzy Quilter

Monday, August 27 - Globetrotter - Pamela Quilts, Curliecue Creations
Tuesday, August 28 - Jungle Cruise - Vicki's Crafts and Quilting, Little Bunny Quilts
Wednesday, August 29 - Lavendula - Carole Lyles Shaw, Masterpiece Quilting
Thursday, August 30 - London Calling - Quilt in a Not-Shell, Lizard Creek Quilting
Friday, August 31 - Spirit Rhythm - Steph Jacobson, Whispers of Yore

Monday, September 3 - Sweet Tweets - Kathleen McMusing, Adventurous Applique and Quilting
Tuesday, September 4 - Whatnot - heARTS Creations, Slice of Pi Quilts