Beat the Heat Blog Hop

Hey guys,

Welcome along to the ‘Beat The Heat BLOG HOP’ a whole month packed full of all the new Island Batik Collections… plus there are prizes to be won along the way too.

click the link below to win a pre-cut bundle of Garden Party by Kathy Engle.

www.rafflecopter.com

In Box 1 I received ‘GEARED UP’ a stunning collection of Autumnal colours; golds, browns, rusts, blacks and yellows. All with the most amazing prints of chains, cogs and gears

The idea I has for the quilt was obvious, it just had to be a quilt with gears…

I began by cutting lots of 8″ squares from the lighter fabrics, and after sewing them together in a random order, I started making my gears from the black prints…

 

I had such fun making the gears, and they were so simple to make, each gear is drawn onto the paper side of Vlieseline Bondaweb, then fused to the chosen fabric, and cut out. Once happy with the placement, peel away the backing paper, fuse using a dry heat to the top quilt and free motion quilt round each one.

I used the beautiful super strong No.50 Gutermann threads, from the denim professional jeans thread pack. I changed my machine needle to a Hemline ‘Top Stitch’ needle.

 

I was super pleased with the look of the stitches. The quilt is made using Hobbs Heirloom Cotton Batting.

 

My Finished Quilt

 

Another Chance To Win…

I have Ten 10″ squares of my favourite prints from this range to give away to one lucky winner, to enter – simply leave me a comment here on my blog, telling me your favourite thing to do to ‘Beat the Heat’

 

Thanks for reading and sharing this journey with me

TODAY (27TH AUGUST) BRINGS THE ISLAND BATIK ‘BEAT THE HEAT’ BLOG HOP TO A CLOSE. THE LUCKY WINNR OF THIS FABRIC BUNDLE IS….

Congratulations

Here is the blog hop schedule. Each day, a different Island Batik Spring 2019 collection is being featured. So be sure to visit the participating Ambassador’s blogs every day of the hop to see their gorgeous quilts and to enter their giveaways!

Monday, August 5th – Blueberry Patch

Leanne @ Devoted Quilter

Sherry @ Powered by Quilting

Tuesday, August 6th – Clockworks

Bill @ Studio Bill Locke

Lisa @ Lisa Lisa and the Quilt Jam

Wednesday, August 7th – Electric Desert

Sandra @ mmm Quilts

Terri @ Lizard Creek Quilting

Thursday, August 8th – Enchanted Forest

Pamela @ Pamela Quilts

Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing

Friday, August 9th – Blog Round Up Week 1 and Giveaway Winner Announcement!

Monday, August 12th – Garden Party

Karen @ Sew Karen-ly Created

Carol @ Carol Moellers Designs

Tuesday, August 13th – Geared Up

Michelle @ Creative Blonde

Tish @ Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland

Wednesday, August 14th – Graphic Gems

Anne @ Sweetgrass Creative Designs

Gene @ Gene Black

Thursday, August 15th – Kaleidoscope

Tina @ Quilting Affection Designs

Bea @ Bea Quilter

Friday, August 16th – Blog Round Up Week 2 and Giveaway Winner Announcement!

Be sure to come back for this special post.

Monday, August 19th – Petal Pushers

Joanne @ Unicornharts

Carla @ Creatin’ in the Sticks

Tuesday, August 20th – Quiet Shades

Connie @ Kauffman Designs

Vasudha @ Storied Quilts

Wednesday, August 21st – Seedlings

Vicki @ Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

Mania @ Mania for Quilts

Thursday, August 22nd – Soil & Seeds

Gail @ Quilting Gail

Friday, August 23rd – Blog Round Up Week 3 and Giveaway Winner Announcement!

Be sure to come back for this special post.

Monday, August 26th – Steam Engine

Maryellen @ Mary Mack’s Blog

Jennifer @ Dizzy Quilter

Tuesday, August 27th – Sunny Side Up

Connie @ Freemotion by the River

Here is a round up from the first week – there is some amazing eye candy!!

www.islandbatik.com/end-of-week-one-beat-the-heat-blog-hop

 

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

Try It…

June is ‘Try It’ challenge as part of the Island Batik Ambassador Program, I had a few ideas in mind, but finally decided on ‘Stained Glass Applique’…

If I were to make another, I would make the applique pieces bigger and far less fiddly, but we live and learn.

Have you ever tried ‘Stained Glass Applique’?

With my fabric chosen, and the layout sorted, it was time to start sewing the blocks together, I then went on to adding the strips of bias binding along each edge

I was pleased with the look this gave me, when I hung it up to the window

Now this is where it got complicated… I fused my hearts in place, and trimmed my bias binding so it measured 1/4″ when sewn in place.

So many pins!!!!

The idea is to make sure you have no raw edges showing, so you have to plan your bias binding journey around the applique pieces. I also wanted to make my hearts look interlinked, which made this process even more complicated…

Finally all the hand sewing was done!

I quilted around each coloured block, and added a brown border to frame it

And my Stained Glass window was complete…

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

I’ve let the cat out the bag…

This week I’ve been fortunate enough to try out a few little notions that I’m super excited to share with you, they could make your sewing a little sweeter…

Gutermann have brought out some new hand quilting threads, they come in a pack of 10 spools each containing 80m mercerized cotton. No tangles when sewing, and super strength you can rely on when pulling your stitches tight – so no thread can be seen

Watch my video here…

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A post shared by Michelle (@michelle_creativeblonde)

Next up… Clover have these really cool ‘fork pins’ which allow you to pin your nested seams.

Do you ever get frustrated with seams that don’t match up?

These are so fine, you can sew right over the top of them – great way to get accurate seam matching

Watch my videos, to see my results…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Michelle (@michelle_creativeblonde)

The Results…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Michelle (@michelle_creativeblonde)

Thanks for watching!

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

‘Do what makes your heart smile’

Happy Sewing

Michelle

Keeping out of trouble…

Hello, thanks for stopping by.

I wanted to do a quick post to keep you updated with the many quilt-a-longs I’m taking part in this year, and to announce the winner of the Lap Size Piece of Vlieseline Wool Batting competition from last weekend…

Here are blocks 12 and 13 out of 20, of The Flower Bouquet quilt along hosted by Pat @quilterpatsloan,

Im using fabrics by Gutermann from the Portifino collection

I got in nice an early with April blocks for the Sewing Bee 4 group, this month block has been chosen by Jayne @plaincreations for the charity @siblingstogetherquiltgroup

I used some Island batik scraps, I love the swirls in the purple

This week brought with it Unit C of the Daisy Chain Mystery Quilt-along – hosted by Amanda @honeybunnyanddoll.

I’m so excited to see how these blocks are going to come together…

This months colour challenge is Blue, this quilt along is being hosted by Jen @patternsbyjen.

I’ve been using Batik scraps throughout this challenge…

and the last in the quilt alongs this month, is the Modern HST BOM hosted by Steph @stephjacobsondesigns.

I’ve used Ditty Batiks and Black Batiks to complete this block

The Winner of the beautifully soft Vlieseline Wool batting is… 

nwpaintedlady

Huge congratulations, please get in touch with your address, so I can this sent out to you – happy sewing

You can 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 @creativeblonde66

 

Island Batik April Challenge…

This month is all about the AccuQuilt cutting machine, this A-mazing piece of equipment was given to us by Accuquilt as part of the Island Batik Ambassador program 2019.

AccuQuilt Ready. Set. GO! Challenge Baby Quilt  – Make a 40″ to 48″ square baby quilt using AccuQuilt dies

So how long would it take you cut out 625 Half Square Triangles ? With the Accuquilt Go  Cube, you can Mix and Match to create over 72 block designs, I chose the following die cuts, and it took me under an hour to cut all my pieces out  – That’s Crazy right? and not a dog ear in sight!!! – Happy days!!

I create my design on the EQ8 software.

This quilt was made using Island Batik fabrics given to me by Island Batik, as part of the Island Batik Ambassador Program

The pile of HST looked so pretty all stacked up, don’t you think?

It took me almost 7 hours to sew these 625 pieces together, but I love the end result…

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 @creativeblonde66

Vintage Re-Imagined…

Just in the nick of time… March Island Batik Challenge was;

 Vintage Re-imagined

Vintage quilts inspiring new creations

36” x 36” or larger

I’ve always loved the hourglass block, so I wanted to take this and add to it. I also wanted something bold and bright – so I set to designing my quilt on my EQ8 software…

Its quite a lovely feeling seeing a design come to life. I would like to take you on a little journey of photos to see my quilt come together…

All the fabrics used in this quilt, were given to me from Island batik, as part of the Island Batik Ambassador program 2019

My cat was keen to try out the quilt, i think she approved of the Black Batting from Hobbs… Yes BLACK!!  – have you ever used black batting before?

So why use black?

Hobbs Heirloom® Premium 80/20 Black Cotton Blend Batting is highly recommended for quilts made with black or dark-colored fabrics

It is made using color-fast, dyed cotton fibers to provide quilters with a batting that not only keeps the fabric colors true, it will not create light fiber lint on the quilt top during the quilting process

Hobbs Heirloom® Premium 80/20 Black Cotton Blend Batting is manufactured in the same manner as our Hobbs Heirloom^® Premium 80/20 (Natural) Cotton/ Poly Blend Batting – it is lightly bonded and needle-punched for exceptional strength and durability and it’s machine-washable, with no worry about the black dye in the cotton bleeding.

Hobbs Heirloom® Premium 80/20 Black Cotton Blend Batting is wonderful to quilt by hand or machine. Close quilting yields a flat, low-loft appearance, while more space between stitching lines yields a slightly higher loft.

Quilting/stitching should be every 4″ inches, or closer, and quilters may experience shrinkage of 3-5%.

I quilted this using Gutermann Sulky Thread, and used Black binding

It was such a beautiful evening here in the UK, so I was super keen to grab some shots with the evening sun shining onto the quilt…

And guess who wasn’t far away? yes you guessed it, my cat was happy to have a comfy quilt to sit on, as she watched the sun set.

Be sure to leave a comment, I’d love to hear if you’ve ever used Hobbs Black batting before, or quilted using Gutermann Sulky threads

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 @creativeblonde66

Sunday and still going strong…

Hello, thanks for stopping by to read what I’ve been up to this week…

I’m feeling just a little bit pleased with myself ,as I’m keeping on top of the quilt-a-longs I’ve signed up to, so here is where I’m at so far…

First up – Daisy chain QAL hosted by Amanda @honeybunnyanddoll this week was all about sewing together Unit A, I’m itching to find out what this will look like when its finished, so is my cat 🙂

As I’m making the Throw size, I had 39 of these traditional 4 square blocks to make

The start of March brings with it, the next in the colour challenge block, hosted by Jen @patternsbyjen,  this month is BLUE… I’ve used an array of Beautiful Blue Batiks from @island_batik, and Gutermann threads.

I’m still busy sewing along with the weekly flower bouquet hosted by Pat @quilterpatsloan, can you believe we have reached block 10 of 20 already? I’m using Gutermann fabrics from the Portofino collection for all my blocks, along with Gutermann threads

The next block in the Modern HST BOM hosted by Steph @stephjacobsondesigns, is now available, I was keeping to a bit of a blue theme this week. I’m using Island Batiks and Guterman threads

The last sew along I need to update you with, is the Mystery QAL, hosted by Tracy @itsatsweetsday, this is where we are given one particular fabric which we need to include in our final make, along with whichever fabrics we like. this quarter the fabric is an adorable mouse fabric @lewisandirenefabrics, I’ve decided to make a paper piecing project, adding some fabrics from Moda and Stoffabrics

This week I was asked to play around with some accessories from Groves, so I decided to make a few simple Mothers Day gifts, my tutorials are suitable for beginners. You can download my patterns below 🙂

 

Mothers Day Gift ideas – key fobs

 

Mothers Day Gift ideas – keyrings

 

Mothers Day Gift ideas

‘Do what makes your heart smile’

Check out my Instagram and Facebook page @creativeblonde66

~Michelle~

x creativeblonde x

Its a Happy Monday…

Hey, thanks for popping by 🙂

I usually dread Mondays, and this Monday was going to be especially sad, as my boys were heading back to school after half term, and I always miss their company, but this Monday i had some exciting news…

My name was mentioned in the latest Gutermann meeting – they loved my wash bags using the Gutermann Marrakesch fabric collection – Grab issue 59 of Quilt Now magazine to make yours. And they’ve asked me to make some more home projects things for them – i’m thrilled and my heading is buzzing with ideas 🙂

Then came along some more exciting news… I won the beautiful Pincushion Competition that I entered on Instagram. These gorgeous pincushions are made by Rosie Marshall www.instagram.com/rosiescraftcorner, I chose a blue and white one 🙂

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Last Friday, Quilt Now issue 60 hit the shops, I’m thrilled to have two of my quilts featured in this months issue.

My ‘spring fling’ quilt, uses the beautiful new collection from @vickyyorkedesigns for @camelot_fabrics called ‘Village Life’.

The other quilt is featuring the new Island Batik fabrics from the gorgeous new collection ‘All a Flutter’ by @kathybrettengle

(photos curtesy of Quilt Now Magazine)

I’ve just about kept up with the ‘Flower Bouquet’ sew-along, hosted by Pat @quilterpatsloan, here are blocks 6,7 and 8

Last week brought with it the start of ‘Daisy Chain’ mystery quilt along, with my fabrics chosen, it was time to begin cutting…

I’m so excited to see what this mystery quilt will look like, head over to Amanda’ Instagram page to find all the details www.instagram.com/honeybunnyanddoll

One big finish this week, was the my Cosy Burgundy Quilt, using a new collection from  Stoffabrics – ‘autumn leaves’.

***I quilted it using Vlieseline Cotton mix 80/20 and I’m IN LOVE!!***

Has anyone else used this? I would thoroughly recommend it – so cosy!

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Lastly… its almost time for the final reveal of the #sweetestthingssampler, hosted by Dawn at Honeybee Cloths and Myself at CreativeBlonde.

Are you nearly finished?

I went with the QAYG method, and Sunday was spent quilting all my Irish chain blocks.  All the blocks in this quilt are available to download over on

‘Honeybee Cloths’ Blog

‘Do what makes your heart smile’

Check out my Instagram and Facebook page @creativeblonde66

~Michelle~

x creativeblonde x