My work this week started with the above photo. These are fabrics from my Bee-mates – the Sewatorium Sisters. We are each making a beach themed quilt using these fabrics. There are 7 of us, and 2 came from Mary, who died a few years ago and we continue to work through her stash.
I saw two of the quilts, and they are more overall scenes. I felt I needed a different plan so I thought I would go with a polaroid scrapbook – having seen many a polaroid quilt over the last few years. My plan is to make 9, right now I have 5: A mermaid siting, a sailboat, beachhouses, my shell collection, and a lighthouse. Wish me luck coming up with the next few – there are a few ideas swirling about in my head but I would like to get done tomorrow or Wednesday (Tuesday we have company).
I have been spending time learning more about EQ8. I am taking a class “Shoot for the Stars” from OnPointQuilter. The blocks above are an example of some of the work I am doing. I have half a dozen things to design:
1. Island Batik Star Challenge (September)
2. Island Batik other challenges (Oct-Jan)
3. A design for a challenge at EQ
4. Maybe some ideas for a magazine
I highly recommend EQ8 – you can buy it here (affiliate link*).
I also have some blocks to make from Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland’s QAL. They won’t take long, just a little time.
I have bound the quilt for the big Island Batik Great Outdoor Blog Hop, here is the list. I am not up until September 3rd, but I will be ready – with a giveaway too! It will be my second as you will see in a few minutes. When I attended the Machine Quilting Expo, I met Linda Deming, a longarmer in Maine. She’s not too far from me and she quilted this quilt.
She also quilted this one, and the binding will be put on it this week. I needed more fabric for the binding, but I was able to get it this week.
See those luscious Blueberry Park Fabric from Robert Kauffman. Well, I have a whole bag of 3 1/2″ wide strips. They are various sizes and I was going to use to make the back of the quilt, but I decided against it. So a lucky reader will get my scraps.
So, I have a busy week and can’t wait to have a winner for my first giveaway!
Linking up:
Freemotion by the River: Linky Tuesday
Clever Chameleon: Chameleon’s Linky Party
*Affiliate links allow me to a make a little money to defray the costs of running the blog. They do not change your pricing.
Disclaimer: *Links with asterisk indicate an affiliate link and as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Your price is not any different, but a small percentage of the sale will go to supporting my blog.
I have always wanted to play with some Blueberry park!! I have EQ8 and have been trying to play with making applique blocks, I just need to learn more about everything!!
Hope you get to play with Blueberry Park – its a great line. Find some tutorials or lessons – I am pretty good at self teaching but I always learn more when I do it with someone who knows – even online!
Lots of different quilty things going on for you! Thanks for offering a bit of Blueberry Park. I need to learn more about how to service my own machine. It’s just so hard to find a place to get it done when we’re only in one spot for a few days!
Good luck in the drawing! Hope you find a way to learn something about maintaining your machine. I would tell you though, I have two pretty free maintenance machines – a Janome (QC 2140 I think) and Bernina 440 QE (lots of people upgrading from these machines) that I do service about once a year and never run into problems with them. I would buy from a dealer where you spend the most time (if there is such a place) – then they might be able to help you with your schedule. Your machine should not be a source of frustration. This is probably more info than you wanted BUT if you walked into the store I worked in and told me I would tell you that – and we didn’t sell machines. Its the right tool for the right job.
I have just barely begun to learn EQ8, but I like it so far. Those polaroid blocks are fun! Nice that you met up with a longarmer too! I love your quilt labels!
Wendy, it was great to meet a new longarmer that has a fast turn around. She did a great job and I was so pleased. The EQ8 class I took is abut $30 and runs whenever you want but you get lessons M-W-F and really starts at the beginning. I just love being able to have a clear idea of how things are going to look.
A lot of fun variety going on in your studio, Kathleen! Love those polaroid shots! You’re doing some amazing things with EQ. I’m interested to see how she quilted your plus playtime. Have a great week!
I love the way both these quilts turned out, but I wish you were closer :). My plan is to post by Friday on the plus playtime – wish me luck. Definitely spend some time with EQ8 and find an online class that works for you-it is well worth it. The one I took is mailed MWF so you have time to catch up if you miss things. Kari is in Minneapolis area but no schedule on her website…might be worth checking it out!
I hope you have fun finishing up your Polaroid blocks. Sounds like you are prepared for things to come! 🙂
Thanks, Yvonne. I am trying to stay ahead of the game and feeling pretty good about it. I have to find a way to make writing my blogs take less time. I think the key is going to be doing more as I go along, rather than waiting to the end!
I have EQ7 and have mostly used it to audition fabrics in my quilts. I would love to learn more about designing quilts with it.
I highly recommend the series from On Point Quilter. Kari does a great job and just from her newsletter you can learn a lot – often a video lesson and little challenge.
I love the idea of making polaroid blocks from a vacation. I’ve never used an EQ program mostly because I like to design as I go. My projects tend to take on a life of their own and turn out differently then I first planned. I guess I’m an organic quilter maybe??
Yes, you are an much more of an organic quilter. I rather love the computer and so it is a fun place for me to design.
You have been sew busy. Lovely work. Looking forward to seeing more. I follow on Instagram. Thanks for the chance to win. I have a Blueberry Park quilt in the works that calls for 3.5” cuts. Would love to add these to the mix. Happy sewing… 🙂 Pat
What a happy coincidence! Good luck in the drawing!
Hi Kathleen! Wowee – you have a busy week before you. I have been trying to learn EQ8 as well – not too successfully. Is the class you are taking an online version? I would love to go to their academy in Ohio in September, but that is just an awful time to take off from work. Your Plus Playtime looks fabulous, as does your almost-blocks for Fireburst. Last but not least – I love your labels! Happy Monday to you! ~smile~ Roseanne
They do seem quite busy and yesterday other things took too much time. The class I took is online, with both a pdf to follow and a video and a facebook group – all very helpful. I will forward you her newsletter (two of them) with a using the panel class – its a good test to see if you like it. $30 and sometimes on sale (I think I got it for $25). Hope your Monday was lovely as I hope your week is.
Wow! You have been quite busy in your studio!! I have a mini version of EQ8 and am enjoying it but realize it’s limitations… I seriously should upgrade as I really love designing quilts!
If you love designing go for the complete version. It gets better each year. I also think your other files are transferrable, but you can ask their support – which is terrific. It has made my life easier for the Island Batik Ambassador program in that I can always see my project
I wish you lots of luck in winning this bit of stash. What a lucky woman to have a “shared” machine. You will love learning on it and it really gets those tops done and often on to their good homes.
Looks and sounds like your schedule is full. Lots of great projects! I have not tried, used or learned EQ-anything ;-( Maybe one day. This summer my BFF bought a longarm and she is sweet enough to call it “ours”. This is what I’m really wanting to learn, FMQ. We need to take some beginner classes and then it’s, practice, practice and more practice. That’s a lot of money to spend to have it become a “UFO project “.
How great that you and your Bee-mates are able to sew with some of Mary’s stash. That’s Awesome!
Thanks for a chance to win your giveaway. Blueberry Park is a lovely line! Would love the chance to play with these beauties.
A lot of cute blocks going on here. I really love all the star blocks. I am making a sampler quilt with all the different star blocks I can find. I think it really looks awesome so far.
Thanks for the chance to win your giveaway.
Thanks, Joyce. I love samplers – it is so much fun to do different blocks. Thanks for entering the giveaway.
Great progress on lots of things! I have EQ7 and 8, but I’ve been putting off learning the 8 and just stick with 7! Lol! Blueberry Park fabrics are the fabrics I hoard. I just love them so much!! I love looking at them! Maybe 2019 will be the year I use them in a quilt! 😉
EQ8 is actually more intuitive but really most of the functionality is the same. That Blueberry Park fabric is just great. I am just happy to share at this point – feel like there are a lot of scraps hanging around and I don’t feel so motivated to use them, so this is a good thing – share the wealth!
It is looking lovely – I expect tomorrow it will be bound. Whole lot of silly stuff interfering but tomorrow its concentration all the way! I am really enjoying the EQ8 lessons and will probably do the modern quilt one too. I need to design most of the rest of the year of IB projects so I can zoom ahead to getting January well underway. My collection has 22 this time – Yikes! 20 was hard enough.
I think I am happy with the simple things..But would like to try paper piecing. …. happyness04431@yahoo.com
Paper piecing is great once you learn it. It has a little bit of a learning curve but there are great tutorials and great videos. Good luck with your goal and the drawing.
Thank you for this amazing giveaway!
You are welcome!
I don’t have EQ but would love to try it!
I wish I could give that away. Well worth learning if you are interested in designing. It is really fun once you get going!
EEEEE! That’s me squealing a little at seeing Plus Playtime! Can’t wait to see it all quilted. 🙂 Oh I love Blueberry Park; I see my own FQ stack neatly unfolded and waiting for a project, maybe Cheryl and Paige’s plus QAL, if I can find time after this week is done! Your IB project is looking good too, wow for being well ahead of the game! EQ8 is good, just takes time, always time. I love what Linda at Cozy Quilter posted on her blog the other day, so true!
The polaroid quilt is a great idea to showcase an eclectic mix of beach themed fabrics. So impressed with your organisation…. oh that I was that far through my Island Batik list! I designed September’s quilt last night and pre-washed the fabrics, so that’s a start 🙂
I wish I thought I was that organized. I know I have a week of company in September and my son (24) and his friend for 3 nights so thats 1/3 of September – G-O-N-E. I am finding keeping lists really helpful.
The design is cooking, but I really need to see the fabric again in Medford. The summer for me has been mostly in one place so that helped me concentrate and it was without the distractions of employment or appointments! Washing fabric is often the first step to getting the juices flowing. I am trying to decide if I want to try improv or do something more organized. We’ll see.