Seashore Splendor - Part One!

Today is the day we start!  I have the first block of Seashore Splendor ready for you, and it works out so that we will finish right at the end of the year, so it all will turn out great in the end!  This year I will be using my Payhip shop to share my downloads.  I've created a collection section for all the patterns, so if you miss one, you will be able to find them there.  You'll need fabric so here are the details on that part of it:

Seashore Splendor

60 x 72 inch quilt

I designed Seashore Splendor with my overflowing stash of blue fabrics in mind, so the yardage estimates are generous.  You can work from your own stash, purchase fabric in small amounts equaling the total needed (1 ½ yards would be 6 fat quarters) or purchase straight yardage.  I think scrappy looks fantastic, so highly recommend that, but if you prefer to use one fabric for each color, please feel free to do so! 

The blocks will be released every other week, and the finishing instructions will come out at the end of the year.

 

We will be making a wide variety of block sizes, most of the blocks will have a nautical theme, some of them are traditional blocks, some I have designed.  Most of the blocks you will make one of, but there are some that you will be making several repeats.  This will be all basic piecing, no applique needed! 

Thanks so much for your patience as I dealt with a few roadblocks to getting this started!  I am looking forward to a fun year of sharing these blocks with you, and I hope you like the finished results as much as I do!

Make sure to follow my blog for the block tutorials:  PamelaQuilts.com

Sign up for my newsletter to have the instructions delivered to your inbox:  Newsletter

Yardage:

Light Blue:  1 ½ yards each Sea and Sky

Medium Blue:  1 ½ yards each Sea and Sky

Dark Blue:  2 ½ yards (Sea)

Yellow, Red, Green, Black, White, Gray: ¼ yard each.

And now for Block one:  Lady of the Lake:

This is one of those bucket list quilts for me.  I love the way all the triangles shimmer like waves on the water!  This is a block that is beautiful in a quilt:

This block has five horizontal and vertical units, so I decided to make it a 15 inch block for my Seashore Splendor Quilt.  All the units are triangles, so it's actually pretty simple!

First you have your large triangle.  You can use a 10 inch square to cut these, then use the leftover half to cut four of the small triangles.

I wanted to use the fabric in my dark triangle for all of my small triangles, but there wasn't enough.  No worries, this is a scrappy quilt, so I chose another fabric and made 8 of each.  I figured if I didn't care for the looks of it I could always remake it. 

Looks great to me!  Make sure you measure and trim your triangles so they are all the correct size.  And definitely lay everything out before you sew!  It can get a little tricky to make sure all of those triangles are pointing the right direction.  I was careful, and my seam ripper stayed in the drawer for this block. 

A nice finish!  Larger blocks are great for that feeling of accomplishment...

When each block come out I will show you the progress toward the finished quilt - as you can see, we have a long voyage ahead, but it's going to be great fun!  Go download your block now, and get started - I've also included the printable page for the fabric requirements for you so you can print it out. 

Download Block here

Thanks for playing along with me!  Feel free to let me know if you have any questions - I'm happy to help.

Mystery Quilt - Pulling Fabric for Daisy Chain Mystery

There are so many fun quilt alongs, mysteries, and block parties going on right now, it's hard not to be tempted to join in with all of them!  (Not to mention starting my own Block of the Month this week)  I guess it's part of the fun of quilting - after all there's not many things as fun as starting a new project.

This week I finally pulled my fabric for the Daisy Chain Mystery Quilt Along!  I decided to do the crib size since maybe I can actually keep up and finish this size.  I decided to use some of my Island Batik stash since most of the fabric requirements are 2 1/2 strips - I have some fun brights that I am going to use with a pale blue background and a beautiful piece that I received in the latest box called Peacock.  Well - I'll just show you what I have:

The pink is my accent.  I'm looking forward to seeing what we'll be making - it's bound to be pretty with these lovely fabrics!  You aren't too late to join up, too - just go to Little Bunny Quilts and start pulling your fabric - cutting instructions will be coming out next week!

Two for One...PQ10.3 is a Magnificent Mini!

Have to blame this entirely on Kim - she suggested to the Island Batik Ambassador group that our monthly challenge would also suit this week's challenge for Project Quilting...oh yes, a double challenge!  (Fabrics and thread for this project were provided in my Island Batik Ambassador box)  With that in mind I set aside my original idea, went to my Miniature Quilt Magazine collection and pulled out an issue at random with the intention of choosing a project for my Magnificent Mini.

I quickly found one that suited me, and met both challenge guidelines - Bigger Than a Breadbox (over 9 x 18 inches) and smaller than 24 x 24 for the Island Batik Challenge.  Of course I chose a project that required 128 one inch finished half square triangles and 32 two inch finished triangles!  That's a lot of cutting!

I started out by cutting all the small triangles...so tedious!  I did put some Slip Stop onmy Easy Angle Ruler, and that helped keep it from sliding, but it was still a long process to cut sew, and trim all those triangles, even if I only had to trim one side.

I decided to get out the Go! cutting system to cut out the 2 inch finished triangles. (provided through Accuquilt as part of this years Island Batik Ambassador program) I knew it would be accurate, but I really didn't think it would save me that much time since I was cutting them from sctraps, so would only be doing two matching pairs at a time.  Well, I was more than amazed when I realized that I actually cut 32 pairs in about 15 minutes.  And really, the waste was not that much, even from scraps.  I would have thrown out just as much if I had cut them all with the rotary cutter.

Now I really just want to dig in and cut up a bunch of my scraps into useful pieces for quilting.  But, wait...I have a challenge to finish first!

Lots of sewing happened, and of course the seam ripper got pressed into action a few times as well.  It's hard to tell when you get a triangle going wrong in these blocks until you look at them all together!  Finally I finished the top, added borders, then quilted it as suggested in the magazine using a light blue 40 wt Aurifil thread.  I pieced it using 50 wt cream from Aurifil as well - they, and Hobbs Batting are industry partners with Island batik and have been providing supplies for us to use as well!  My batting was another piece of the Natural Cotton batting I've used for the last several challenges.  And here it is my finished quilt:

The pattern is Blues Bayou by Carol J Lewis.  It is in the Fall 1993 issue of Miniature Quilts magazine.  I got many of mine on e-bay, they are great magazines with lots of patterns!

It was as easy as sewing pairs of triangles into blocks -

And arranging them just right to create the diagonal lines!  I did a pretty good job of matching up all those points:

I love the depth that using various backgrounds gives!  I made a small dent in my scrap bags with this quilt, and it was fun seeing different fabrics from various projects make an appearance in this quilt.  I just love scrap quilts for that reason.

I'm calling my quilt Coos Bay Winter Blues, it measures 21 x 21 and was made by me - Pamela Boatright - in Coos Bay, Oregon!  It my Magnificent Mini that's Bigger than a Breadbox :)

Thanks to Island Batik, Aurifil Thread, Hobbs Batting and Accuquilt!  And Kim of Persimmon Dreams for the great challenges!

Linking up with Connie at FreeMotion by the River for Linky Tuesday.

Well, it has been an interesting week here - we've had snow days, work days, last night was quilt guild and today was Bunco!  That didn't leave a lot of time for sewing, but that's ok - I did manage to get my new Island Batik fabrics all snuggled into their spot in my sewing room and am ready to start working on the Mavelous Mini challenge.  I even have a pattern picked out and fabric pulled, so I just need to start cutting!

Are you ready for that giveaway I promised?

I have some leftover 10 inch squares (27 in all!), a couple of stash builder rolls, a hunk of Buttercream foundations and an Island Batik Pin!  This will make a nice little bundle for someone to play with.

I thought it would be fun to have this giveaway go through Valentine's Day and I'll do the drawing the day after.  I really appreciate all of you for reading along and encouraging me in my quilting adventures (and all the other odds and ends that go on around here!).  It wouldn't be near as much fun to write my blog if no one were reading it!

Oh, and in other good news, I'll also start this years Block of the Month next Friday!  I had a bit of a delay due to the changes at Craftsy, and dealing with that set me back a bit, but now I am ready to get started.  Seashore Splendor will feature a nautical theme, with blocks in different sizes.  I'll send a new block every other week, and will give you the layout for the finished quilt at the end.  I'm loving the design, and I hope you will too!

Here's that giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hope you have a great weekend - we are wondering if we will get snow or not...I'll let you know!

Cornerstones done and pieced border added!

I was really happy and relieved to get the cornerstones done today for the Brothers and Sisters quilt.  Of course, there was a bit of unsewing to do as I found one more upside down unit, but the corner units were sewn on without too much drama!

I was a little nervous about whether I had done my math correctly - it seems like I've had plenty of issues with these borders and I wouldn't have been surprised if they had been the wrong size!  I did a bit of a happy dance when they pinned on perfectly!  No more issues as I sewed them on and now I'm ready to add the final solid border.

After that, I'll be piecing the backing, then on to the quilting - it won't be too long before this is done at last.  One more project off my list!

Progress on Brothers and Sisters

There is a finish in my sights on this project!  I managed to cut 6 of the pink pieces wrong, then had to re-cut them, but I persevered and now the top and bottom orders are pieced!

Now I just need to piece the cornerstones and I can sew these babies onto the quilt - then just one more solid border and the top is ready to go.

Also I gave a customer at the quilt shop a great tip today.  She was trying to arrange some fabrics in order from light to dark.

I showed her how to use her cell phone camera to take a black and white shot of the fabrics to see if anything looks out of order.  She loved my tip and is ready to go cut and sew her strips now.

Have you learned any great new tips lately?

Announcement, Announcement, Announcement...

I wanted to get this post up earlier, but had some distractions going on here today.  So better late than never, I wanted to make the official announcement that I am one of the 2019 Island Batik Ambassadors!

I was so excited to hear the news earlier this month, and even more excited to see not one, but two shipping notices for packages headed my way!  I made an unboxing video, and I have to apologize for the really weird lighting.  It was a super rainy day so I had to use my dining room and the lighting was definitely not the best.  So sorry.  Anyway - enjoy my glee at opening up two very fun boxes!  Oh, and you can tell I made this earlier this month because I talk about a couple of projects that are now completed :)

I can't wait to start my new projects using all of these wonderful fabrics!  And what an awesome surprise to receive the Ready Set GO! cutting system from Accuquilt - I've already put it to use in making my first project for Project Quilting and I know I am going to be using this a lot this year.  So much wonderful batting from Hobbs, and thread from Aurifil as well - what a great way to start out 2019!  I am definitely feeling spoiled and very thankful!

In all there are 50 Island Batik Ambassadors for 2019, and we are located all around the world!  There are some new, and many from last year, so you can look forward to lots of awesome projects this year.  You can see the list of Ambassadors on the tab at the top of my page, and check out the announcement on the Island Batik Blog.

I'm working at putting together a giveaway to not only celebrate being a 2019 Island Batik Ambassador, but also to belatedly celebrate my 1000th blog post since that happened in December
 - I'm not quite ready yet, but I am scheduling that for Friday - I hope you'll join in!  In the meantime, here's a look at what I woke up to this morning.  Winter decided to come to visit!