All Seasons Basket Quilt - Vintage Quilts Inspiring New Creations

Between working on the house and travelling to take care of our grand children this weekend I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to finish my project for this month's Island Batik Ambassador challenge.  I ended up packing up my machine and supplies and taking the project with me, and really enjoyed being able to show the kids what I do, and talk with them about how quilts are different from blankets and how I do the machine quilting!

I was able to do some stitch in the ditch around the blocks and finish the large border before we left.  I really like the pointy loop I did here, and plan to try this again, stretching it out a bit to look more like an overlapping heart!

I wanted to try out some ruler work, but forgot my extension for my machine.  I did try a curve in the open space of the basket, but ended up free-motioning the curves in the background.

I added some loops above the curve and wishbones in the lover part, which filled up that area nicely!

I did some overlapping spirals in the setting triangles.  I used a green variegated Aurifil thread on the whole quilt, and was really pleased with how well it worked.  (4653 50 wt)

At this point I decided to add the binding and call it done :)  I caught a break between showers and took the quilt outside for some photos.  Next time we visit I'm taking a stack of them, what a nice yard for pictures!

So pretty!

I've been loving using bits and pieces to make up a backing, too.  It's fun to see sizable chunks of some lovely fabrics.

The pattern I used for this quilt is my All Seasons Basket.  The fabrics were all provided by Island Batik, and I used a variety of lines. 

Thanks again to Island Batik for another fun challenge - I love how using their lovely batik fabric can make a traditional pattern look entirely modern!

You can see my previous posts about this challenge below:
Design inspiration.
Making the blocks.
The finished top.

I hope you enjoyed following along with this month's challenge!

Scrappy Baskets - Finished top!

I was having such a fun time with picking out the remaining fabrics for my Scrappy All Seasons Basket quilt that I went ahead and actually got the top finished this weekend.  All of these fabrics were provided by Island Batik as part of the Island Batik Ambassador program.

Isn't it fun and colorful?  Keeping with my theme of using up what I already have, I pieced the back out of some more chunks and strips from my Island Batik stash:

I am quite the hoarder and had a hard time of letting go of some of these fabrics!  The strip on the far left was a piece from my very first Ambassador box four years ago.  Anything more than 1/4 of a yard is always hard for me to give up - I know I can use it for something beside "just" a backing.  Can you picture me hovering over my overflowing box of fabric, petting the pretty fabrics and murmuring "my precious"? 

The next step will be going through my stash of Aurifil thread to choose something for quilting.  I'm thinking I will actually use several different threads and custom quilt this one!  I just got a new toy to play with and I think I will try some ruler quilting on this one using my new foot.

Are you a fabric hoarder, too?  I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this!

Scrappy Baskets part 2

Yep, still having fun with the scrappy baskets.  I finished the pink one on Thursday and the purple one on Friday.  I'm having such fun putting these wonderful scraps together!  These were all provided by Island Batik in different Ambassador boxes I have received.  I love scrappy, and am not shy about combining fabrics from different lines - it makes the quilt so fun and unique!

I do believe the pink is from the Cherry Berry line.  Fun!

This pretty purple was a 10 inch square, I don't know what the line was.  It has trees on it, though!  Here is how I cut the pieces from the square, I even had a bit left over.

I like being able to cut a single triangle by using my Easy Angle ruler. 

Now I've started auditioning fabrics for the borders.

I think the green and blue with the lemons will be the first border.  That came from the Sour Apple line.  Then I will choose a blue for the final border, and another of these blues will be the binding.  Or maybe the seashell print.  We'll see!  What do you think of the aqua blue corner stones?  Too bright, or just right?  The jury is still out on that one.  That fabric is one of the blenders - the color is called Pool.  I am getting down to the last scraps on this, it has been included in several quilts and is definitely one of my favorite colors ever!

Have a wonderful weekend!