Winter Beauty Wall Hanging in Quilting Away the Winter Blues from Quilter's World Magazine

If I have to pick just ONE color combination, the one that is my absolute favorite quilt color combo - it's blue and white!

I am completely smitten by blue & white quilts and have been for a long, long time.  Maybe it goes back to my grade school days when our school colors were blue and white.  Maybe it goes back to the vintage blue and white quilts my Grandma Scott had.  Maybe it's the stunning contrast achieved by the colors and the way they embody vintage and modern all at the same time. 

Needless to say, I was super excited when I was invited to submit my designs for the Quilting Away the Winter Blues publication from Quilter's World Magazine!  

Designing and making a New York Beauty quilt has been on my bucket list for a while and this was the perfect opportunity to bring that design to life.   I was graciously provided Island Batik fabrics in shades of blue and white and Hobb's Tuscany Collection 100% Wool batting to make the sample wall hanging. 

If you follow me at all, you know that paper-piecing is NOT my favorite technique.  But it IS growing on me and I have started designing quilts using it.

We can't grow as quilters unless we try the techniques that are new or seem hard to us!  I've come a long way since the first paper-piecing experience when I sewed fabric to both sides of the paper! 

When I finished this wall hanging, I was in awe of it's beauty.  The precision of the points, the stunning color and the movement make it one of my favorites. 

Winter Beauty - Pattern available in Quilting Away the Winter Blues

For the quilting, I kept things pretty simple.  Since it's a wall hanging, it needed to hang nice and straight.  No wall slouches allowed!  

If you are interested in purchasing Quilting Away the Winter Blues, please click on one of the links.  I do earn a small commission which helps support my family owned business.  

Like what you see?  Subscribe to my blog to get updates on each new post. 

Review of Hobbs Tuscany Collection Cotton Wool Blend Batting

It was not my original intent to do a public review of Hobbs Tuscany Collection Cotton Wool Blend batting, but after I posted that I was using it for the first time last week, so many of you responded and wanted to know my thoughts.  So I will share my experience with you.  

I'm starting with a lot of disclaimers.  First, I received the batting complimentary as part of my work as an Island Batik Brand Ambassador.  Hobbs graciously provided batting to each of the Island Batik Ambassadors to use in their challenge projects this year.  If you want to read more about the Island Batik quilt I used the batting in, check out this blog post. 

Secondly, I'm not being paid to write this nor am I being paid to write a good review.  I'm writing it simply because this is the fastest way to let everyone know what I thought of the batting. 

As a longarm quilter, I'm very conscious about shrinkage.  There are 3 ways a quilt can shrink.  1 - the fabric can shrink, 2 - the quilting process itself shrinks the quilt and 3 - the batting can shrink.   There are a variety of ways to manage and control the shrink - from prewashing fabrics, batting and by the choice of quilting patterns. 

Since I was on a deadline, done was most important to me!  So in this case, the fabrics were not prewashed.  The top was all Island Batik fabrics and the backing was a Red Rooster print straight off the bolt that I purchased on clearance when a quilt shop was closing.  The batting was right out of the bag - no washing or pressing.  I used a medium density edge-to-edge pattern, TK Totally Modern Fans E2E #2708 from TK Quilting & Design. 

Since we are talking about shrinkage - here are the stats.

Quilt top before quilting = 55-1/2" x 55-1/2" 

Quilt after quilting / before binding = 54-1/2" wide x 54" long
Yep, it's not unusual for the quilt to shrink more on one direction than another while quilting.  I floated the top, so it pulled up tighter since there wasn't tension on it. 

After binding and washing = 52-1/2" wide x 52" long
I machine bound the quilt and after a fast photo session, just threw it in the washing machine on regular wash - no special treatment.  And then straight into the dryer on regular settings.   

Here is the after quilting, before washing photo. 

And here is the after washing photo - same location, similar styling. You can see more texture and dimension in the quilt after it was washed and the quilting stands out more.  

Okay, so back to the batting.  

It quilted beautifully.   I really appreciated that I could handle it in the longarm frame and I didn't poke any finger holes in it nor did it leave any stretch marks from being handled. 

No "pokeys" or bearding.  

The wool makes the batt a bit loftier than 80/20 batting (80% cotton / 20% polyester) that I typically use so the finished quilt is a bit thicker, heavier, maybe more substantial is the word I'm looking for .... anyway, it feels different - which is okay. 

One thing I noticed immediately - it didn't hold fold lines when I went to photograph it.  The quilt came out of the dryer, got folded, measured and then plopped into the truck with my camera bag on top.  Then grabbed out of the truck, draped on the logs and photographed.  No special treatment, no fancy styling.   

Would I use it again?  Absolutely.  
If you are wanting a paper thin batt for a table topper, then this might not be my first choice -  but for wall hangings, throws and quilts - it worked perfectly. 

Well that's all folks!  I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts and opinions.  If you want to keep up with all my blog posts, please enter your email on the right hand side or follow me on Facebook or IG: @masterpiecequilting  

Stepping Out - Island Batik Ambassador Challenge

For November, the Island Batik Brand Ambassadors are getting "cozy" while making and creating using the challenge theme of Log Cabin blocks.  Instead of the traditional layout I opted to use the Courthouse Steps variation of the Log Cabin block.  

As I was trying to decide where to photograph the quilt this afternoon (read further down for more on the photography challenges!), I thought it might be fun to use reclaimed barn beams for the backdrop.  After all, it's a log cabin block - why not photograph it with beams that could be used to build a log cabin?

Since this is my second year as a brand ambassador, my tote of Island Batik fabrics was getting pretty full so I went totally scrappy for this project.  Normally my quilts are fully planned - with each color in it's specific spot; so going scrappy was a leap of faith for me!  But I love how bright the quilt turned out even if there are a few of the same fabrics touching each other :) 

Each block started with a 2" center square and then 1-1/2" logs were added to opposite sides until the blocks measured 11-1/2" x 11-1/2".  I made a total of 25 blocks which let me stitch them together in a standard 5 x 5 block layout. 

For this quilt, I used a batting that I haven't used before - Hobbs Tuscany Collection's Cotton Wool Blend.  Hobbs graciously provided batting to each of the brand ambassadors to use in their projects. It quilted beautifully.  I really like the way I could maneuver the batt in the longarm while quilting without it stretching out of shape.  I will have a separate blog post reviewing the batting, so watch for it.  

So more about the photography challenges ....  It's November in Indiana which means everything is dreary, as in dreary gray.  I've got a couple go-to places where I like to take quilt photos but we were starting to run out of daylight, so I needed to stay close.  At the edge of town, there is a really cool wood fence that works great for photos, so we headed there.  

I have learned one thing about taking photos of quilts.  There can be NO WIND for days, but as soon as you get a quilt styled the wind picks up.  It never fails.  So here is what the quilt looks like blowing in the breeze! 

I only got about 5 or 6 photos before the wind blew it off the fence, so that's when we opted for Game Plan B and headed to the lumber yard for the rest of the photos.  

Normally, I try to have a pattern ready with each challenge quilt but I don't have one yet for Stepping Out.  Let me know in the comments if you would be interested in a pattern.  

To stay up-to-date on my blog posts, please subscribe using the opt-in the right side of the page.  You can also follow Masterpiece Quilting on Facebook or IG: @masterpiecequilting