Island Batik's The Great Outdoors Blog Hop

The Island Batik Ambassadors have been busy this month with The Great Outdoors Blog Hop.  I am totally blown away by the creativity of my fellow ambassadors as well as the beauty of the Island Batik fabrics! 

The collection that I was given to work with is Lavendula and it's a beautiful mix of purples and greens.  Lavendula will be appearing on your local quilt shop's shelves SOON!  Be sure to ask for it at your local quilt shop or request that they talk with an Island Batik rep to order it. 

While I'm typically know for my modern traditional pieced quilts, I opted for some raw edge fusible applique to showcase the fabrics.  I designed this quilt, aptly named Flutter Away.  Since the prints in the collection feature dragonflies, butterflies and birds - all creatures with wings that flutter - the name seemed only appropriate!

Print and PDF patterns will be available soon and I'm giving away 3 patterns as part of the blog hop.  Be sure to leave me a comment with your favorite Island Batik collection to be entered to win.  I will randomly select the lucky winners on Sunday September 9, 2018.

Photo location: Limberlost Covered Bridge Park near Ceylon IN.
Photo Cred: Nancy Scott of Masterpiece Quilting

To see all the Island Batik fabric collections, be sure to check out all the ambassadors and their blogs!

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

And we can't have a blog hop without a giveaway .... Be sure to click to enter the giveaway!

Welcome to the Poinsettia Song QuiltALong on Annie's Creative Studio

I'm so excited that I finally get to share the Poinsettia Song quilt with you!  I've been working behind the scenes on it since early 2018 and now it's available as a QuiltALong for you to participate in and make. 

 Poinsettia Song is a 13 week Quilt A Long that I am teaching available on Annie's Creative Studio.  We cover a block a week for the first 12 weeks and then on the 13^th week the episode focuses completely on the assembly instructions and how to quilt the final quilt. 

Poinsettia Song includes a lot of techniques – including Paper-piecing, Fussy Cutting, Y-Seams, Squaring Up Units and Blocks, Template Piecing, Partial Seams, Framed Blocks, Multi-part Cornerstones and Pieced Borders.  I like to call it - "A Little Bit of Everything but Applique" quilt! 

And yes, some of these are more intermediate and advanced level skills – but by learning together as I demonstrate each step in the video, it will give you an opportunity to grow as a quilter.  

The quilt is named based on the fabric collection used to make the sample quilt – Poinsettia Song from HoffmanCalifornia- International.   I want to give a huge Thank You to Hoffman California-International for graciously donating the fabrics for the sample quilt as well as the step outs using during taping. 

While it may look challenging, this is a tremendously rewarding quilt to make. Your confidence and skills as a quilter will grow week by week as you learn and master new techniques. 

If you have been on the fence about joining Annie's Creative Studio, now the time!  You will get access not only to this quilt along but hundreds of other classes not only in quilting and sewing, but also knit, crochet and home décor. 

I sure hope you will join me and participate in the Poinsettia Song QuiltALong.  It was a log of fun to make this quilt and tape the episodes for you to learn new techniques and master quilting skills. If you get started now, you will have a beautiful quilt for your bed by Christmas! 

And to stay up-to-date on all my projects, be sure to like and follow me on Facebook and IG: @masterpiecequilting

2018 Monthly Color Challenge - August = Yellow Orange

For August's 2018 Monthly Color Challenge we are celebrating Yellow-Orange. 

While I'm not much of an orange person, I was surprised how much of it I had in my stash. I don't remember buying it, but I sure have quite a bit of it!  And, before you say anything, I will be the first to admit some of my yellow-oranges are a bit more orange-red but I needed to have the contrast to get the block to look right. 

If you are finding this blog post for the first time and aren't sure what we are talking about .... To get all the scoop, be sure to check out Jen's post.

I used Island Batik fabrics for my block.  The color saturation of the batiks is perfect for a block like this where we need lights, mediums and darks of the same color. I'm using Jen's pattern (available on her blog - see link below) and made both the 12" and 6" block this month.  

Don't you love the subtle texture of Island Batik fabrics? 

With 8 blocks complete now, I'm still thinking about how I want to do the final layout …. (yep, I'm a thinker!)  In last month's post, I was playing around with on-point and horizontal layouts.  Which one do you like best?  Maybe I will do one for my 12" blocks and the other for my 6" blocks. 

I can't wait to see what your block looks like.  On Jen's blog you have an opportunity to share your yellow-orange block or anything made with yellow-orange from August 21 to 30 to be eligible for prizes.  

And speaking of prizes, the sponsor for this month is the Fat Quarter Shop who are giving away a $25 gift certificate.  What could be more perfect than that? 

Also be sure to visit the other bloggers who are participating this month.  It's so much fun to see what fabrics everyone has selected and how different the same block looks with different fabric choices!

Jen Shaffer of Patterns By Jen
Jen Strauser of Dizzy Quilter
Sherry Shish of Powered By Quilting
Jen Rosin of A Dream and A Stitch
Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon Quilting
Joanne Harris of quiltsbyJoanne

And if you are playing along with us, make sure to use #2018monthlycolorchallenge on social media! And speaking of social media, be sure to follow me on IG: @Masterpiecequilting and Masterpiece Quilting on FB for sneak peeks and updates!