Greetings friends and welcome to my blog day on the Blue Moon Blog Hop for the Island Batik “Blue Moon” fabric collection designed by Kathy Engle for Jackie Kunkel of Canton Village Quilt Works for Island Batiks. I am so pleased to be a part of this hop. Jackie sent me my absolute favorite… a collection of scraps. It doesn’t hurt that they were luscious batiks from Island Batiks. I was so excited that I filmed a little video about putting them all together so don’t forget to watch the video and leave a comment telling me what you like best about batik fabrics, your favorite project with batiks, or tell me your favorite pattern from Canton Village Quilt Works. Let’s get this party started, shall we?
Jackie has released five new patterns featuring this collection – Lattice, Pansy Garden, Snowflakes (includes a bonus pattern for a runner and placemats), Twisted, and Winter Solstice.
As a Certified Instructor for Judy Niemeyer’s Quiltworx, Jackie also made Caribbean Starfish and the Prickly Pinecone Tree Skirt in these fabrics. Aren’t those foundation pieced designs just the yummiest you’ve seen? I enjoyed seeing Jackie’s pictures on these projects as she was sewing them. Aurifil has released a gorgeous coordinating designer thread collection, curated by Jackie. Find it here! I just love the coordinating collections by Aurifil, my absolute favorite sewing thread. Lot’s of other designers have made gorgeous projects with the Blue Moon collection as well.
Pile O’ Scraps
I started my scrap quilt journey with a pile of Blue Moon strips and miscellaneous pieces that arrived on my doorstep. I love the vibrancy of Island Batiks. They have the brightest colors. The Blue Moon collection is such a wonderful mix of lights and darks with my favorite color teal mixed right in the middle. The patterns include some birds which I believe to be the raven, some pinecones and swirls and lots of tree prints so they are perfect for the cabin.
Choosing the improv background
I decided to use the dark value prints as my background and try something a little different for my new scrap class, Seasons of Scraps. The class involves using your scraps to make an improv background which serves as a base for your silhouettes in your landscape. You can choose to do literally anything with your background from simple scrap quilting of squares and strips, to random splashes of seasons colors in blocks, to creating an improv landscape from your scraps. The choice is completely yours. I chose to assemble the strips Jackie provided into a simple background that would be quick and easy to piece and add my detail to the quilt using my silhouettes. I even added a strip to the top and the bottom. The strip background measures approximately 42″ x 52″ (the perfect size for a large wallhanging) and lots of space to play with design.
Adding the embellishments
Using the light value fabrics as embellishments and settling on Winter as my season I created my silhouettes from some of my latest shape designs for class. I liked the idea of adding snow and trees and maybe a creature peeking out and came up with a basic design idea. I used a repositionable fusible for the silhouettes so that I could move them around as I was deciding on a final layout.
This technique also works for larger and smaller scale wallhangings. Our season of scraps wallhangings usually measure approximately 16 x 20 but as you can see any size can be created using this technique. I use the same technique for the improv backgrounds for my Scrap Petal Garden quilt in the various classes I teach. After a little more playing in the studio on the design wall, I came up with a final layout and a little surprise. You can watch the journey on YouTube below.
Watch the journey of my quilt top on YouTube
… and voila!
Seasons of Scraps
I was able to use Jackie’s fabrics to create a simple sample for the Seasons of Scraps project that I will be teaching this Fall at the R&R Retreat in Waterville Valley, NH. For more information about the retreat and how to sign up for the class to make your own Season of Scraps quilt, check out the Retreat page at Purple Moose Designs. Look for other sample designs in later blog posts.
To celebrate my love of improv scrap quilting I would love to give away a copy of my Scrap Petal Garden Pattern and my Nested Petal Template so that you can make your own Scrap Petal Garden from the Blue Moon collection. Pop down to the bottom of this post and leave a comment on the blog (or on my Facebook post) for a chance to win and don’t forget to…
Visit the other stops on the Blog Hop
BLUE MOON BLOG HOP SCHEDULE
Monday, Feb 5
- Island Batik – http://www.islandbatik.com/news/
- Jackie Kunkel, Canton Village Quiltworks – https://cvquiltworks.com/blogs/blog
Tuesday, Feb 6
- Aurifil – https://auribuzz.wordpress.com/
- Kate Colleran, Seams Like a Dream – http://seamslikeadream.com/blog/
Wednesday, Feb 7
- Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design – https://deb-tuckers-studio-180-design.myshopify.com/blogs/news
- Terri Sontra, Purple Moose Designs https://www.purplemoosedesigns.com/blog/
Thursday, Feb 8
- Penni Domikis, Cabin in the Woods https://cabininthewoodsquilters.com/blog/
- Kari Schell – On Point Quilter https://www.onpointquilter.com
Friday, Feb 9
- Linda and Carl Sullivan, Colourwerx – https://colourwerx.wordpress.com/
- Marie Bostwick – https://www.mariebostwick.com/blog/
Don’t forget to check out the other designer blogs during the Shop Hop and enter for all the great giveaways. Thank you so much for stopping by my weekly blog. If you enjoyed my YouTube video sign up to receive my newsletter, sign up to follow the blog, like us on Facebook, and subscribe to the YouTube channel. Don’t miss out on all the upcoming activities here at the Cabin this year.
~Happy Quilting