Looking for a good read?

Grab this months issue of British Patchwork & Quilting magazine (out now), its packed full of inspiration and articles.

Projects from Julie Alderson, Kristen Clay and Debbie von Grabler-Crozier.

Inside you’ll also find my ‘Caribbean Whirlwind’ quilt. Its an magnificent 62″ square quilt, made using ‘Sweet Shoppe Too’ fabric from Makower. Quilted using Vlieseline cotton mix batting and Aurifil threads.

This months magazine also includes features from Janet Goddard – Lets go shopping to Stitch and Knit and Quilts for Veterans by Helen Kent.

Follow me here on my blog, and share with friends, you can also find/tag me on Instagram and Facebook with your makes.

‘Do what makes your heart smile’
Happy Sewing

Michelle

Island Batik Ambassador boxes have arrived…

Welcome along to the Island Batik Ambassador unboxing blog, can you believe we are half way through the year… I’m feeling slightly overwhelmed by this years boxes – just wait till you see what inside and the challenges we have been set to see us through to the end of year

Hope you enjoy my unboxing video, my extremely talented son (Jack Roberts Guitar) wrote the melody for the video.. enjoy 🙂

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0.5 bundle of Spring 2020 collection + 6 half yards of coordinating Batik Foundations fabric

 

0.5 bundle of Summer 2020 collection + 6 half yards of coordinating Batik Foundations fabric to use for the November Inspired By Nature Blog Hop

A Spring 2020 precut + 2 yards of coordinating Batik Foundations fabric, precuts are available in shops now

1 FQ pack of a Fall/Winter 2019 collection

 

4 yards each of White, Grey and Black Solids

4 yards of a Neutral SKU

2 Stash Builder packs

A pattern, hardware and Spring 2020 collection yardage for the September

‘It’s In The Bag Blog Hop’

6 spools of Aurifil thread for the October Thread Painting challenge

Studio 180 Design tool for the August Try A Template with Studio 180 Design challenge

Hobbs Heirloom Black 80/20 – Queen Size

Heirloom Fusible 80/20 – Queen Size

Hobbs Heirloom Fusible 80/20 Batting Strips – 2 ¼” x 25 yards

Hobbs Tuscany Silk Batting – Throw Size

AccuQuilt GO! Me Fabric Cutter Starter Set and 2 dies

 

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‘Do what makes your heart smile’

Happy Sewing

Michelle

light at the end of the tunnel…

Can I see the light at the end of the tunnel?

Quilt Now have just released its first publication since lock down, and the magazine is absolutely packed full of inspiration and exciting things to make… and I’m thrilled to be featured inside, in fact I have my first pull-out supplement…

Inside you’ll find information about the history of the Dresden quilt, the Dresden ruler and my pattern to make the quilt with matching cushion, using the beautiful fabrics from Riley Blake ‘Sweet Honey Kisses’

These beautiful photos were taken by Quilt Now…

 

 

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‘Do what makes your heart smile’

Happy Sewing

Michelle

 

 

Island Batik June Challenge…

Can you believe its June already…

If I’m honest everyday seems to feel the same at the minute, but today I will celebrate June by sharing with you my Island Batik June project

This months challenge was a ‘free’ theme, that meant we could make anything, using any fabric from box 1… I couldn’t resist using more fabrics from the stunning ‘Northern Lights’ collection from Kathy Engle for Island Batik.

I had been given a sample of Vlieseline R200, a new thermo insulating wadding… Its is lush. Vlieseline have developed two new thermo-insulating waddings made using 100% recycled polyester: R80 and R 200. These exceptional waddings have a high migration resistance so they will retain their shape and smooth handle, even after washing. They are suitable for use with all fabrics and are great for quilts, patchwork, bag making and garment applications. R200 is a more substantial, extremely bulky wadding with a soft handle.  It can be hand sewn and is washable to 40°

I chose to make a cat bed, I have four cats, and they love to sleep on my quilts (usually when I’m trying to quilt them), so this one could be theirs…

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I made a row of 6″ hearts using different fabrics form the collection

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I quilted the row of hearts and this created the surrounding edge for my cat bed

I self covered 4 small buttons, and these were added to the base of the cat cushion

I hand sewed the surrounding edge to the base, and the cat bed was ready for its first guest…

One very happy and comfy mog

I couldn’t resist sharing a few more photos of my cat making herself comfortable

Follow me here on my blog, and share with friends, you can also find me on Instagram and Facebook

‘Do what makes your heart smile’

Happy Sewing

Michelle

Borders and Binding challenge…

Welcome to April’s Island Batik challenge – Creative Borders and Binding…

I completed this challenge just in time (she checks her watch, yep with hours to spare), we have certainly all found ourselves in different and sometime difficult times over the last few months, but we are all a little bit closer to getting back to ‘normal’ times.

I know one thing, I could never be a school teacher – hats off to all teachers out there!

Just this week alone, I’ve revisited the history of the Civil War, Oliver Cromwell, Food chains, Probability and Fractions…

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This months challenge was to get creative with borders and binding, some examples of these were… Easy Braid, Prairie Points, Piping, Yo-Yos, Scalloped Edges, Log Cabin Spiral, Flying Geese or Double Sawtooth

I was super excited to work with my pack of 40, 2 1/2″ strips of Ancient Etchings designed by Jackie Kunkel for Island Batik

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I graded the colours of the strips as they cascaded their way through the quilt

I kept the darker colours to the one side, to create the borders, and teamed them with Island Batik solid black…

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It was time to bring it altogether, to create a 60″ x 60″ quilt…

I may go back and add a silhouette or two to the centre piece, I’m thinking a lizard, a tree or a couple of love birds , would love to know your thoughts…

I quilted using Aurifil threads, Schmetz needles with Hobbs cotton batting inside. The yellow binding really popped against the black border.

I backed the quilt with Island Batik Marbles from their basic range, and Cherio in Lemonade

Thanks for stopping by to see what I’ve been up to this week, hopefully this bright, colourful quilt has made you smile…

Next months challenge is to create something for the home, using a new line of fabric – I’m so excited as I haven’t even opened the ‘surprise’ fabric bundle yet… be sure to keep an eye out to see what all the Island batik ambassadors make next month

Stay safe, stay strong

Follow me here on my blog, and share with friends, you can also find me on Instagram and Facebook

‘Do what makes your heart smile’

Happy Sewing

Michelle

Island Batik February Blog Hop…

Hello… I’m so excited you’ve joined me on this very exciting blog hop, at the end of this blog post you will find an amazing giveaway i’m hosting, head to

https://www.islandbatik.com/log-cabin-blog-hop-and-giveaway

to see all the beautiful quilts so far and to enter the giveaways.

The challenge was to use the classic Log cabin block, but which will we choose… curved, triangle, wonky, star, twisted, classic?

The 25 Ambassadors are showcasing twelve new Island Batik lines that will be available in your local quilt shops this month, and they are all beautiful.

I cant decide if i like the prints or colours better in this collection, they are all simply gorgeous… il let you decide

My collection is called ‘Forget-Me-Not’ designed by Kathy Engle for Island Batik… these fabrics have had me day dreaming of warm days spent at the beach, beautiful golden sands and blue seas… look closely, the prints are stunning…

The cabin log block is simple and fun, perfect for all abilities, and there are so many different designs, the possibilities are endless

The prints in this collection are beautiful, so i wanted to create a design that included some large pieces a well, so i turned my cabin log to enable me to add some HST

Take a look at these beautiful prints up close

My quilt is made up of sixteen 14 1/2″ blocks, so each block really shows off the gorgeous fabrics, sewn together using Schmetz needles and Auriful threads from the Sicily Yellow collection.

To quilt I’ve used Hobbs Cotton Wool Blend, throw size from the Hobbs Tuscany collection

The backing is made up of a piece two pieces from the collection

GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY

I’m giving away 3 x 1/2 yards of Island batik Forget-Me-Not fabrics from this gorgeous collections, I just love the names; Star – Dark Lagoon, Check – Sunflower, and Check – Lemonade.

Enter Here…

 

Good Luck, the winner will be chosen at random and announced Sunday 1st March

Congratulations to Cathy Wilson who was chosen at random and has won this beautiful bundle of fabric

Follow me here on my blog, you can also find me on Instagram and Facebook

‘Do what makes your heart smile’

Happy Sewing

Michelle

Check out all the 2020 Island Batik Ambassadors below…

Carolina Asmussen ~Carolina Asmussen

Megan Best ~ Best Quilter

Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts

Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter

Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts

Joanne Hart ~ Unicorn Harts

Mania Hatziioannidi~ Mania for Quilts

Carla Henton ~ Create in the Sticks

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Denise Looney ~For the Love of Geese

Leah Malasky~Quilted Delights

Sally Manke ~Sally Manke

Maryellen McAuliffe ~Mary Mack’s Blog

Carol Moellers ~Carol Moellers Designs

Gail Renna ~ Quilt Haven Threads

Sharon Riley ~ Sew Riley Designs

Michelle Roberts ~Creative Blonde  that’s me !

Gail Sheppard ~Quilting Gail

Jennifer Strauser ~Dizzy Quilter

Jennifer Thomas ~Curlicue Creations

Alison Vermilya ~Little Bunny Quilts

Sandra Walker ~mmm! quilts

Suzy Webster ~Adventerous Applique and Quilting

Janet Yamamoto ~Whispers of Yore

Island Batik Ambassador Unboxing Video…

Its my third year as an Island batik Ambassador, and I’m super excited to of been chosen again…

Every year we receive two boxes of goodies, the first arrives in January and the second have way through the year. Its filled with Beautiful Batik fabrics, and other amazing products from their industry sponsors ; Accuquilt, Schmetz, Auriful and Hobbs.

There are 25 Ambassadors this year, so be sure to follow us all, as we bring you the best from Bali… its sure going to be a year packed full of inspiration and amazing fabrics…

 

Sit back and enjoy my short video – The best from Bali

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Check out all the 2020 Island Batik Ambassadors here…

Carolina Asmussen ~Carolina Asmussen

Megan Best ~ Best Quilter

Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts

Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter

Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts

Joanne Hart ~ Unicorn Harts

Mania Hatziioannidi~ Mania for Quilts

Carla Henton ~ Create in the Sticks

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Denise Looney ~For the Love of Geese

Leah Malasky~Quilted Delights

Sally Manke ~Sally Manke

Maryellen McAuliffe ~Mary Mack’s Blog

Carol Moellers ~Carol Moellers Designs

Gail Renna ~ Quilt Haven Threads

Sharon Riley ~ Sew Riley Designs

Michelle Roberts ~Creative Blonde  that’s me !

Gail Sheppard ~Quilting Gail

Jennifer Strauser ~Dizzy Quilter

Jennifer Thomas ~Curlicue Creations

Alison Vermilya ~Little Bunny Quilts

Sandra Walker ~mmm! quilts

Suzy Webster ~Adventerous Applique and Quilting

Janet Yamamoto ~Whispers of Yore

Follow me here on my blog, you can also find me on Instagram and Facebook

‘Do what makes your heart smile’

Happy Sewing

Michelle

Island batik December challenge…

I’m closing this year with my Island Batik December challenge ‘3D challenge’.

With my presents bought and wrapped, I thought it would be lovely to add some special touches to the Christmas table.

I love the art of fabric manipulation, so I decided on making some fabric flowers, perfect for napkin rings, present toppers and decorating a special bottle of bubbly for friends or family.

There are many different flowers you can create, simply by changing the shape of each petal, i’l show you a couple of ways…

Cut six 4″ circles, per flower, press in half, then into quarter. Repeat for all six circles

Using Aurifil 100% cotton No 12 , weave small stitches along the outer raw edge, thread each petal , then pull tight and join to the first petal to create a secure circle.

Create different size flowers, by reducing / increasing the starting circle. The larger flower shown is made from 4″ circles, the smaller one is made from 2″ circles. These can now be sewn on top of each other, and finished off with a decorative centre. I used a small Christmas bell from Groves. Secure ribbon to the back in a loop, to hold the napkin in place

An alternative flower can be created by cutting a 4″ circle, and divided up into 8 equal triangles. Stitch along the raw edge as before and secure into a circle

Ribbon can be sewn to the back of flower, so they can secured to a napkin, a bottle of bubbly or a present

A special touch for a special gift, or a special celebration/occasion

Hope this has inspired you to get creative this holiday season.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, and every happiness in 2020

Huge thank you to each and every one of you who has followed me on my journey this year. Each comment truly does make my day

Follow me here on my blog, you can also find me on Instagram and Facebook

‘Do what makes your heart smile’

Happy Sewing

Michelle

Box 2 Island Batik Ambassador

I’m so excited to share with you the goodies I received in Box 2, as part of the 2019 Island Batik Ambassador program. We receive 2 boxes a year, you can watch my first ever video at the link below…

https://creativeblondeblog.wordpress.com/2019/02/01/my-first-video/

There were a few collections from Island Batik I had fallen in love with, and was really excited to find out if they were in my box – (the boxes are kept a secret until we receive them)

 

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My head is buzzing with ideas for these beautiful fabrics, threads and batting. The Accuquilt die is just out-of-this-world – so excited to play.

My son wrote the song and music for the video  -I’m one proud mummy!

Thanks for reading and sharing this journey with me

Follow me here on my blog, you can also find me on Instagram and Facebook

‘Do what makes your heart smile’

Happy Sewing

Michelle

Artsy Fartsy…

Welcome to the Island batik July challenge , the fabric and threads used in this project were given to me as part of the Island Batik Ambassador program 2019

Artsy Fartsy using three different Aurifil thread weights.

I’ve used thread weights 28,12 and floss.

The larger the number, the finer the thread.

I’ve used the Aurifil floss to hand embroider the letters in the center, 12 weight cotton thread for bold decorative machine stitches, and the 28 weight threads was used to machine applique my fabrics in place, using free motion embroidery

I had such fun fussy cutting lots of bright and bold flowers, butterflies and dragonflies from my gorgeous Island batik fabrics, which i fused to Vlieseline Bondaweb.

After I fused all my gorgeous fabrics into a 10″ circle, and used free motion quilting and thread weight 28 (slightly thicker then my everyday thread, I wanted it to be a little bolder) to secure my applique.

Before starting this project I fused the 16″ square piece of main fabric to Vlieseline Interfacing, this gave it extra strength, so I was ready to hand embroider the letters using floss and a darning needle. I chose a simple back stitch. I love the reverse of this piece too

To finish this piece, I used thread weight 12 (make sure you change your bobbin thread to match your top thread weight). I wanted to create a strong bold decorative stitch that would stand out

I framed my finished piece in a 12″ embroidery hoop. I’ve never made ‘Artsy Fartsy’ before, but I’ve had such fun – love a good challenge!

Thanks for reading, be sure to head over to the Island Batik Facebook page to see what the other ambassadors are making this month, and throughout the year…

Follow me here on my blog, and you can also find me on Instagram and Facebook

‘Do what makes your heart smile’

Happy Sewing

Michelle