Sweet Surrender by Sue Cody, pieced by Beth and quilted by Judi Madsen

This month's Ambassador Challenge for Island Batik is sponsored by one of our industry partners, Aurifil thread. We were sent a selection of weights and colours in our Ambassador box back in January, and an additional packet of thread arrived later this spring. It included these 3 spools of 40, 28, and 12 weight to be used in our challenge. Our instructions said, "Fabric is your canvas and Aurifil thread your paint! Create a one of a kind art quilt or project with Aurifil thread." This project took a great deal of thinking. Normally, we design to showcase the fabric but this time the thread needed to take centre stage. We had been sent cuts of solid colour batiks, and I decided to use the plain white as my background. I printed some New York Beauty blocks from EQ8 on plain white paper and started colouring in doodles with a box of markers to see if I could make this work. We all know if you can draw it, you can stitch it, so I pulled some of the same colours from my thread stash and set to work. This is my working sketch from EQ8; the blocks are drawn to 6". The only unappealing part of this project was tracing the block outlines onto my fabric. I wanted to get stitching, and this was going to slow me down!! My solution was to cut both freezer paper and the white batik into 9" x 12" pieces, and iron the freezer paper to the back of the fabric. It was then trimmed to 8-1/2" x 11" and fed through my printer. It was a super easy (lazy!) way to transfer the lines. I printed one block first as a test and did this much stitching before I decided it was going to work. (I'm not big on practicing!) The freezer paper was removed from the fabric and the blocks were joined with 1/4" seams as per regular patchwork. I used my favourite Hobbs wool batting for the middle, and another layer of white batik on the back. My bobbin was loaded with 50 weight Aurifil in 2024 white. To say this was fun is an understatement! I changed my needle as often as my thread, opting for a size 12/80 for my 50 weight, a 14/90 topstitch for the 40 and 28 weights, and a 16/100 topstitch for the 12 weight. The 12 weight thread fills in beautifully, even with just rows of straight stitching. The project took about 2 weeks to stitch, and I loved adding new bits every day. Below you can see how fine the 50 weight (purple) used in the swirl inside the spike, appears next to the 12 weight (black). For the white background bits, I simply stitched feathers in white 50 weight. I toss my emptied Aurifil spools into a container, so I fetched two to use as finials. They slid onto each end of a 3/8" dowel for the perfect finishing touch. In all, I used 26 different colours and 4 different weights of cotton thread. Thank you to Aurifil thread, Island Batik, and Hobbs Batting for supplying the products used in this challenge.

Dandelion Clock Quilt

I am in love with this quilt! It's bright rich colours and dimension just make it come alive. It's actually more like a piece of art than a quilt. The pattern is called Pretty Pyramid and is made using a graduated fabric. Each piece cut out to make the pyramids create an optical illusion. Here you can see the triangle pieced before it is quilted. Hoary for my customer she did an amazing job piecing together all of those tricky Y seams. For the quilting I stitched in the ditch around all of the black piecing and then the triangles themselves were quilted with three triangles inside each spaced one inch apart. Each in a matching verigated thread. I love using Wonderfil Threads they are fabulous to work with and they have a great selection of verigated threads to choose from. I made sure that the corners of the stitched triangles matched up with the seams of the pieced triangle to create an added and amazing 3D effect. Then to finish it all off I stitched the border using a triangular pattern to accentuate the pattern of the quilt itself. This is one of those jobs you feel extremely satisfied with when you are done and wished that the quilt was hanging up in your own studio :)

Made by Carol Taylor of New York; winner of first prize in the category Embellished Quilts in the judged show at the 2007 Houston International Quilt Festival.

This is a pattern for making an interwoven quilt. The pattern lists all the necessary supplies and fabric you will need to complete a king size, 104”X 104”, interwoven quilt, along with step by step instructions. The size of the body of the quilt before border is 96” x 96”. You could adjust the finished size some by adjusting the border width. The unfinished squares are 4 1/2”. You could square them to 4” and that would decrease the dimensions of the quilt by 12”. The pattern is a digital file that the buyer will download after purchase. A paper copy may also be purchased in a separate listing in my Etsy store. This digital pattern is only sold in my Etsy store, Jayne's Quilt Shop. If you have purchased this pattern from somewhere else please contact me. jaynewilmarth [!at] gmail.com

Busy Hands Quilts quilt patterns for modern and traditional quilters in all sizes, precuts, fat quarters FQs, layer cakes, jelly rolls, & charm packs.

Catwalk features Backsplash in delicious ombre colors by Hoffman Fabrics. Ombre fabrics that shade from selvedge-to-selvedge work well in this pattern. Finished size: approximately 60" x 70" Designed by Gourmet Quilter.

It seems that each new quilt that comes through my studio becomes my favorite. I haven't been blogging much lately, especially about quilting that I have been doing for clients, but this one is definitely worth sharing. It's a stunner, and my new favorite. Please excuse all of the phone photos. This quilt is called "Eclipse." It was designed and pieced by Kimberly Bourne of Main Street Market Designs. The pattern is currently available as a preorder for $3 off what the regular price will be. It's paper pieced, and Kimberly's patterns are very detailed. I immediately knew when I saw this quilt for the first time that it would be a perfect candidate for straight line geometric quilting within the triangles. I took this photo at night. Mmm, texture. Most of the techniques I used on this quilt were inspired by Angela Walters' Dot-to-dot Quilting. I just love the rainbow of colors from the Alison Glass fabrics (Sunprints and Ex Libris). It was just so FUN to quilt this. As much as I love the front, the back is pretty great too. In the center I decided to quilt some curves, echoing the appearance of curves on the rest of the quilt. Seriously, I love the texture on the back. You can preorder this amazing quilt pattern now here! Thank you Kimberly for letting me quilt it for you! This gorgeous quilt is hanging this weekend in the Andover Fabrics booth at International Quilt Market.

Spotlight at 40 Quilt

This contemporary improvisational quilt is fun to piece and once you get the process, it goes very fast.  The blocks in this quilt are made from only one strip size (OSS).  The cutting is super easy!  You might notice that our sample pictures show the quilt rotated.  You decide which way is up.   There are 5 columns in this quilt.  Each of the columns has 10 blocks.  Thus, the quilt has 50 blocks.   You make one column at a time.  You will have lots of fun selecting colors for your columns.  The background color stays the same in each column. After you finish the columns, you add one border and the quilt is finished!  (You can omit the border if you like) We show you two color variations.  In one, we used a dark grey for the block background color and for the border and binding.  In the other we used a white background in the blocks and a grey for the border and binding.   The quilt finishes 57" wide by 80" long. The project pack includes the pattern and a pack of 2.25" Thangles. To make any Thangles pattern smaller just use a smaller size Thangles and the corresponding strips.  Since all parts come from the same strips, the blocks will automatically scale down.  Then you adjust the borders to what looks right. To make Shattered smaller - Assuming you kept the border the same proportions as the original, if you make the blocks with 1.25" Thangles (1.75" strips) the quilt will finish to 44.5" inches long, 32" wide.  You could add additional columns to make it wider if that is too narrow. You can find all sizes including the 1.25 Thangles HERE.

Before ...and after ~Jenny~

There were over 400 quilts at this years Sydney Quilt Show. So many amazing, beautiful, outstanding quilts. This is just a small selecti...

More amazing quilts from the Denver show! The '39 by Jo Baner Pyrite Ammonites by Kimberly Lacy First Place Innovative ribbon Dolce LaVita by Elsie Campbell, long arm quilted by Kelly Cline Honorable Mention ribbon Objects at Rest by Colleen Wise 2nd Place Innovative I really like this one :) Glacier Star by Barbara Odor Long arm quilted by Jewel Nickel 3rd Place Traditional Love the quilting on this one.... Rose in Wonderland by Sharon Schlotzhauer The machine quilting and embellishments on this one are amazing. 2nd Place Wall Quilts Ruffled Roses of Basel by Jean Konopacz Honorable Mention Traditional I do like Shirley Gisi's quilts! Floating by Shirley Gisi 3rd Place Wall Quilts I think I've seen this one before, maybe in a magazine, but Lea was also recently on The Quilt Show and they showed it there. She was at the Denver show too, standing in front of her quilt and talking about it. You can learn about her techniques on a recent episode of The Quilt Show. Panning for Gold by Lea McComas Best Wall Quilt How Sweet It Is...Buzzing with Bees by Rhonda Denney Best Colorado Wall Quilt Oriental Poppies and Pink Daisies by Bea Mansanarez 2nd Place Traditional Once again - amazing quilting! This quilt was quilted by Peg Collins. Evening Mystasha Lillies Mary Sue Suit and Diana Larson 3rd Place Innovative You know what Mystasha means right? Everything came out of their stash!

Explore aundoegh's 11717 photos on Flickr!

I finally finished a quilt!!! Do you remember this quilt top? I finished the top about a year ago. This summer I finally got the back put together, and sent it off to the local quilter. A week ago, I got it back and immediately got to work on the binding (it's my favorite part, eek!). On Saturday, I took it to my moms house (she will be fostering the quilt for me), and we got some quick pictures outside before the rain came in. The weather has started to cool here, and the trees are changing color. This is my favorite time of year, and its the time of year that I get excited to play with fabric again. I took another quilt in to the quilter, and hopefully I'll have that back in the next month or so. Until then I will keep working on piecing my long list of UFOs. It feels great to finish something, and even though this quilt won't be living with me, it was still nice to snuggle with it for a while. Do you snuggle with your quilts when you finish them? I feel like it's not really a quilt until it has kept someone warm. I hope everyone is having a great week! Cristina The Quilted Mitten

52 of my favorite modern quilts from QuiltCon 2024.

Magic Cubes is an amazing, yet fun to make quilt of illusion! Perfect for the confident beginner to intermediate quilter. Pattern is 8 pages and includes full color cover, fabric selection information, fabric requirements for traditional fabric (not gradated) and Karen's Serendipity gradated fabric. Also includes cutting information, sewing information and color quilt diagrams Quilt is 48" x 60" FABRIC REQUIREMENTS Traditional fabric (non-gradated fabric) Light, Medium and Dark Lime Green: 1/4 yard each value Light, Medium and Dark Sky Blue: 1/4 yard each value Light, Medium and Dark Teal: 1/4 yard each value Light, Medium and Dark Purple: 1/4 yard of each value Light, Medium and Dark Aqua: 1/4 yard each value Background: Midnight Blue or Black: 1¼ yard Backing: 3 yards Binding: 1/2 yard If using Serendipity gradated fabric line by Karen Combs, use the following yardages: Tro-1380/13 Lime: 1 yard Tro-1380/19 Sapphire: 1 yard Tro-1380/17 Pool: 1 yard Tro-1380/2 Lapis: 1 yard Tro-1380/16 Aqua: 1 yard This pattern is a download. After purchasing the digital pattern you will receive an instant prompt for download of the files purchased. You will also be sent an email with the link for download shortly after payment has cleared to the email address you have on file with Etsy. The PDF file link can also be found in the purchases section on your Etsy account. Patterns are a final sale, due to their digital nature they cannot be returned or refunded. Pattern copyright 2016 by Karen Combs Studio. All rights reserved. Please respect our copyright, you are purchasing this pattern for your personal use. You may not copy, share or reproduce this pattern, whether you profit from it or not. Please give credit if selling quilts from this pattern. More Quilt Patterns by Karen Combs https://www.etsy.com/shop/KarenCombsStudio

This Ingenious Solution Works Every Time! When making a quilt, do you ever find yourself having to sew several long strips together? Of course you do. And you may have noticed that after a bit your piecing project begins to bow and start to lose it’s shape. The more strips you have, the more it …

Get inspired with this list of 25 free fat quarter quilt patterns! From beginner to intermediate, there's a pattern for everyone.

Batiks and stars: a match made in heaven We love batiks, and we suspect we're not alone. Thus we've been on a quest - an odyssey, you mig...

The Asterisms quilt is a great new quilt pattern designed for English Paper Piecers and Hand Piecers alike. The finished quilt is 73" x 77". Now including SVG file for shapes. This pattern is a Sami Casanova Design brought to you by The Darty Kite Pattern Co. The listing is for a PRINTED pattern copy, the SVG file will be emailed after purchase, there are separate listings for the PDF pattern, templates, and papers.

Explore Jessica's Quilting Studio's 7594 photos on Flickr!

This dramatic Wall/Art quilt is Quilt-As-You-Go. The Lap/Twin is made with traditional piecing. Amazing results with either technique! Fabric Requirements Wall/Art Quilt 28" x 35" 3/8 yard - white marble 1/8 yard - outline poppy on white 1/3 yard - black squares & dots on white 1/8 yard - white squares & dots on black 1/8 yard - field of flowers on black 1/8 yard - geraniums on black 1/8 yard - poppy bouquet on black 1/8 yard - mini bud on black 1/8 yard - dark red squares & dots 1/8 yard - pink & red marble 1/8 yard - pink & green stripe 1/8 yard - field of flowers on white 1/8 yard - geraniums on white 3/4 yard - black with circles 1 yard - backing Lap/Twin 67" x 95" 1-1/2 yard - white marble 5/8 yard - outline poppy on white 7/8 yard - black squares & dots on white 5/8 yard - white squares & dots on black 5/8 yard - field of flowers on black 5/8 yard - geraniums on black 5/8 yard - poppy bouquet on black 5/8 yard - mini bud on black 5/8 yard - dark red squares & dots 5/8 yard - pink & red marble 5/8 yard - pink & green stripe 5/8 yard - field of flowers on white 5/8 yard - geraniums on white 1-1/2 yards - black with circles 6-1/2 yards - backing

I know several planners, doctors, engineers, and now quilters. And I have decided that quilters are the best people - even when you have not met them. Once you meet them, it only gets better. This blogpost is about three quilters. 1. GrammaBabs - Her name is Barbara and she lives in Massachusetts. We know each other through the M* quilting forum. Therefore it came as a surprise to me when she asked me the following: "is that little baby here yet??? Just wondering... can't wait to send something for HE or SHE...:))" GrammaBabs was asking about Harry and Sally's baby. When I told her that Leah was born on February 23, 2017, she sent me the loveliest little pink sweater. Leah is the new-born daughter of Harry (and Sally) who is the brother of my friend Manveen. I have met Harry only thrice. Have not met Leah yet. Of course GrammaBabs has not met anyone - not even me. So what prompted her to make something for Leah? A quilters heart!!! 2. Sylvia - Also met Sylvia on the M* quilting forum. We have met a few times. I try to meet with her whenever I travel to Pennsylvania. Sometimes our schedules do not match up. So when I saw her this time, it had been about six months. Sylvia had been dealing with some stuff, which meant little sewing and no fabric shopping. Come time for our rendezvous, she raided her stash to find the loudest, brightest, wildly happiest fat quarter. For me. Guess, my reputation precedes me. We devoured chips and guacamole, talked about politics and other taboo topics (yes those ones), and split a flan :-) 3. Mari - Mari is the quilter/blogger who blogs at Academic Quilter. She has supported and comforted me with her wise words. We think alike in several ways but then our fabric choices are markedly different. That works, because I'd hate to battle over a bolt with Mari. We agreed to meet at the AQS show in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Lots and lots of eye candy at the show. Mostly awe-inspiring. So many times we squinted our eyes - how did she do that? This quilt was my favorite. It was so festive and reminded me of bridal outfits from India. But that was before I saw this one. I saw the tear in her eye. Mari noticed the churn dash blocks in the background, even when they were faded. That is when I noticed the words on each of the scales. I got goosebumps. Respect, Generosity, Kindness, Service, Tolerance, Love, Compassion, Responsibility Just then another viewer was trying to read the words, but it was hard. The text was subtle and we were behind the rope. So, I took a picture on my phone and zoomed in. As I read aloud the words, on both scales (for the viewer's benefit), I felt hot tears roll down my cheeks. Anger, Incivility, Selfishness, Greed, Intolerance, Fear, Hate, Willfulness At that moment, we all knew. No more words were required. Mari hugged me. The viewer tried to comfort me - "Oh there are more of us than them." And I knew, in my heart, that we will be fine. Eventually. With such an amazing community of creators, who feel so deeply, think so freely and give so selflessly, how can we not? We ended the evening with a fabric shopping spree at Mook Fabric Store. Wish I had taken pictures in the store. But I was so bewildered by the bolts and the low prices. Remnants were $3.99 per yard. Oh, I bought more fabric than this, but let's save that for the next Sunday Stash. I came home to the April Honey Pot Bee and there it was - more inspiration, colors, fabric and pattern. Here is my interpretation of the Stripey Stripe Block. The Starry Sky Block required paper piecing. UGH!!! I printed out templates and followed the instructions. Mostly. And yes, there was waste - both paper and fabric waste. In just one weekend, I experienced enough joy, sadness, hope, excitement, inspiration, kindness and comfort to last me the entire month - a whole color wheel of emotions. I think that is April's goal accomplished. Do I have a quilty goal for April? May be I will finish a quilt or two. There are at least two scrap vortex quilts in the making. Linking with April OMG at Elm Street Quilts and all my favorite linky parties. As always, I'd love to hear about your emotional experiences.

Whirlwind quilt sewing pattern from Quilt Moments More Details Whirlwind quilt sewing pattern from Quilt Moments Create a whirlwind with flying geese with this Whirlwind quilt sewing pattern from Quilt Moments. Just one block with different fabric placement creates this fun design! Use a variety of fabrics for the main blocks and make all the alternate blocks the same to create the swirling effect. Perfect project for blenders or solid fabrics. You can experiment with prints, too. Many options: use fat quarters, 2-1/2” strips, or even 10 in squares in three shades of various colors. Easy to kit: 12 fat quarters plus accent & background for the Medium quilt Features fabric from Chalk and Charcoal collection from Kaufman fabrics. 4 Sizes: Small 44in x 44in, Medium 68in x 68in, Large 68in x 92in, Extra Large 92in x 92in Click Here for more Quilt Sewing Patterns Click Here for more sewing patterns from Quilt Moments

For those of you that have been reading my blog awhile, you have heard me talk of my amazing sisters. Two older, Jeanetter from Inchwor...

This quilt has become so popular on all the popular online sites and so many people want to know the name of the pattern. (I posted it further down in the blog post but I thought I would add it up here in the first paragraph.). The pattern is called Rising Stars by Cozy Quilt Designs.. Well, I finished this quilt just in the nick of time. I am taking a break from doing the hand binding, and hand stitching the casings on four quilts so they can be hung in my guild's quilt show tomorrow. This is a UFO that sat on my shelves for years, at least the jelly rolls did, and then I started this quilt back in January. I wasn't quite sure just how I was going to quilt it until I just happened upon an IMQA calendar that had this same pattern in it! Wow! I loved the way Debbie Treusch had broken down the elements in this by framing each 16 patch. I contacted Debbie and let her know that her quilt inspired me and she wished me luck with my quilt! She is one talented lady, and has won many awards in the quilting world. The pattern is called Rising Stars by Cozy Quilts. Be sure to tell them I referred you :) Of course I had to put my own creativity on it, so I changed up the fills, the sashing, the feather style, as well as the cc's in the 16 patches. I am a bit disappointed that I did not use a contrasting thread in the white. The stitch definition shows up beautiful in natural light, but in artificial light it gets lost. In the future I will use a slight contrast. After all, why do all that custom quilting to have it get lost? This will most likely be my last personal quilt I work on for quite awhile, as I have a few customer quilts that I am really excited to start on!

Sixty-nine quilters beat the clock to enter their completed Beyond the Block mystery quilts in our contest, which ended in January. From embroidery to applique to foundation piecing to photos printed on fabric, participants showcased an incredible array of techniques and styles in their focus blocks. All 69 quilts are now posted for your enjoyment at http://www.americanquilter.com/publications/readers_contests.php?id=1&year=2011, where you can read about the quiltmakers and their inspiration. Three winning quilts have been selected from these entries and will be announced next week. Photos of the three winning quilts will appear in the May 2011 issue of American Quilter magazine. The spectacular quilt shown above is one of the contest entries. Marlene Oddie of College Place, Washington, wrote this about her finished quilt, which she titled Bordered Beyond the Block: "The focus blocks were chosen from the Savannah line by Michael Miller. This fabric reminded me of a painting, My Grandmother Dreams in Peonies, http://www.stacybarter.com/images/peonieslowresimage.JPG by Stacy Barter, a high school work colleague and classmate. This painting received the Best in Show $25,000 Award for the 2007-2009 Museum Exhibition Tour of Blossom - Art of Flowers. The fabric was in my stash with a few coordinating prints I had been saving along with it to someday do something spectacular. The ad for the 2010 American Quilter magazine Beyond the Block mystery quilt said it would have a ‘stunning setting’ so I decided this was the project to get out the Savannah fabric and put it to use. The rest of the fabric was selected from my stash based on the mystery guidelines. I did use two fabrics for #6 Light. Extending the borders was exciting. I had just written an article about extending centers into the border for the Country Register, so it was fresh on my mind. I experimented in EQ7 until I was satisfied with the final outcome. I used black Quilter’s Cotton Sateen in the border, backing and binding and wool batting. I quilted this on my Gammill Optimum Plus with a fair amount of stitch-in-the-ditch and the rest free motion. It is fun to look at the backside with a light on in the front of the quilt—you can see the quilting in a whole new way." Marlene has graciously offered to share her instructions to make the extra extended border for this mystery quilt pattern. Contact Marlene via her blog at http://kissedquilts.blogspot.com/

This is a detail of the quilt. The sand was all beaded and the ocean was many layers of sheer with fish on every layer so it looked 3D!