Northern Lights and the Ultimate Home Decor Blog Hop

Time for my day on the Island Batik Ultimate Home Decor Blog Hop!

Do you know what serendipity is?  It is "the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way."  I knew that for my project I wanted to make something special for my dining room, but when I saw that I was going to be working with the Northern Lights line I was totally inspired!  I love this line that was provided in my Island Batik Ambassador box this year - it was designed by Kathy Engle, and it is absolutely lovely.  Another new favorite for me!  These fabrics are part of the Winter 2019 line and are now arriving in quilt shops everywhere.

And the serendipity part is that I just so happen to have an older pattern I designed that is also named Northern Lights and would be perfect for this challenge!

I've been hanging a quilt over the east window in my dining room, but my husband was getting tired of standing on a chair to fold the quilt up over the rod every morning, so my goal was to make a quilt top from this design and turn it into a shade for the window.  I've made several Roman shades over the years, this book is a great resource for ideas and how to's:
                                                                   

First, cut a lot of strips!

I used the lightest purple thread in the Amalfi Purple color builder box from Aurifil Thread for the piecing.

I started out by making a strata of strips from all the fabrics in the line.  They go in sets of 5 strips from light to dark in color.  When I was happy with these, I proceeded to cut them into strips, then sew the strips together. I call this a freeform bargello because the strips aren't cut the same width going either way, so you don't have to worry about matching up the corners!  It's fun and easy to do.

 

After you go through three sets of the strata, the center of the quilt is finished!

Wow!  I just love the waves of color that form as you work with the strips.

For the next step, I measured the window and figured out how wide the side borders, plus top and bottom borders needed to be.  For a normal quilt they would all be the same, and I could have removed a strip or two to make my borders even, but I was just fine with having the side borders be smaller.  My quilt inspector made an appearance as I was getting a picture out on my patio so show you the richness of the colors in this fabric!

I backed my pieced top with a lightweight drapery lining, and topstitched the sides.  I added a velcro strip to the top to attach to the mounting strip that I placed on the window frame.  This is simply a 1 x 2 board with velcro on the top and screw eyes for the cording to run through on the bottom.  By using velcro I can change my curtain out for the seasons.  I will make a heavier, quilted shade for the winter, but this one will be nice for the summer months.  I hand sewed rings in lines every 10 inches across the back.  I used four in each row, so they are about 13 inches apart.

 Finally, the shade is mounted on strip, and the lines are threaded through the rings.  Voila!  I knew it would be hard to get a good picture of it hanging.  I can't wait until next month when I plan to repaint this room is a soft tan color.  Goodbye yellow walls!

Here it is glowing in the morning sun!

And now it's raised so we can enjoy the lovely view and sunshine in my dining room!

Here's a picture in the evening, I can raise and lower the shade to where I want it.  My husband approves of the shade, and says the fabrics are beautiful!  Of course, they are!

I have a special giveaway for you, too!  I originally wrote this pattern using 10 fat quarters of fabric.  I wasn't thinking and when I cut my strips for the strata I ended up cutting double what I needed because I was using 20 fabrics.  So I have enough strips of the strata already cut and sewn together in sets of 5.  I will give these to the winner, along with 3/4 of a yard of the purple for the border plus a copy of my pattern so you can make your own quilt!  (You don't have to make a shade out of it, it's a good lap quilt size!)  Sorry, only US winners for this one, it'll be a bit too expensive to ship overseas...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

There is also a great giveaway sponsored by Island Batik this week (with two winners!) of a River Valley bundle.  This is the line I used for last month's challenge and it is gorgeous as well.  Make sure you visit the rest of the Island Batik Ambassadors for more great giveaways and home decor projects!

May 11:

• Pamela Boatright
• Michelle Roberts

May 12:

• Leah Malasky
• Sandra Walker

May 13:

• Gail Sheppard
• Maryellen McAuliffe

May 14:

• Vasudha Govindan
• Carla Henton

And here is that giveaway sponsored by Island Batik:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck, and hope you enjoy the projects this week!