Hello! Welcome to my day on the Adventurous Applique Blog Hop with Island Batik and Aurifil Thread. This is my quilt, Mermaid. As you can see, it is just the top. I did not have time to quilt it and finish, as my husband's car had a major breakdown and I spent last week being a chauffeur. When I do finish, I will take this quilt to the beach for some more photos, I promise!
This month's Island Batik Ambassador challenge is Adventurous Applique, sponsored by Aurifil Thread. It was inspired by the Full Bloom quilt created by Fourth and Sixth Designs. Learn more about this quilt and the techniques used to make it here: Full Bloom Quilt
The Island Batik fabric collection I received for this challenge is Floral Fun. It is a signature collection for Lizard Creek Quilting, designed by Kathy Engle. Aurifil thread supplied me with five coordinating spools of thread to use for my quilt. I also received 2 yard cuts of coordinating light and dark fabrics. I used all but 2 of the dark purple fabrics in my quilt.
Floral Fun should be in local fabric shops now. Here's a few of the shops carrying this collection:
Jambearies in FL
Dutchman's Store in IA
Creekside Quilts in OR
This applique technique employs edge coloring each patch with matching thread. I've been wanting to make a Mermaid quilt for a while, so I looked online for ideas. I decided to use this coloring page by The Art Kit for my quilt. The edge coloring reminds me of coloring with crayons when I was a kid. I loved to use my crayons to darken the edges of the lines for more definition, so a coloring page seemed perfect for this quilt. You can find this coloring sheet by searching "Mermaid Cat".
The Full Bloom quilt also uses glue to attach the applique pieces to the background to make the quilt softer and easier to stitch through. Unfortunately, I got rid of all my glues and adhesives when I moved last year and had no luck finding what I needed at my local shop, so I used what I had on hand, a large roll of Steam a Seam 2. I enlarged the coloring sheet, printed it out and numbered each piece. Then I traced the pieces onto the Steam a Seam 2, numbered them, and added a little extra (marked with the dotted lines) on the edges that would be overlapped by other pieces. I had 109 pieces, plus the background.
Here I am, fusing the pieces in place. I used the 2 yard cut of Hydrangea - Purple Black for my background fabric, and the 2 yard cut of Tea Rose - Precious Pinks for the Mermaid's face, torso, and arms. My Oliso iron worked great for fusing everything in place.
After fusing all 109 pieces, I was ready to try edge coloring. I used all five of these Aurifil threads, plus two Aurifil threads I already had in my collection, a turquoise and a peach.
I used a Schmetz Vinyl needle for the edge coloring. These needles are non stick and work well with fusibles and multi layer quilts. Here I am edge coloring the kitty's mermaid tail.
I skipped around on the scales, using three different thread colors. It reminded me a lot of thread painting. If I try this technique again in the future, I think I will use multiple colors of thread in the same area to add even more dimension.
Edge coloring the letters was challenging. I should have used a stabilizer behind these thin areas. The fabric tried to pucker up on me here. Again, it's a learning process.
Detail of the Mermaid face and Mermaid Cat. So cute!
Detail of the Mermaid tail.
Scales detail.
Overall, I really enjoyed making this quilt top. The edge coloring was fun and I love the way it is turning out. I can't wait to finish and show you the quilted version!
Island Batik is having a fabric giveaway of Floral Fun and Geometrica on their blog this week. Visit their blog to enter to win some of this gorgeous fabric. Both collections are fabulous! Island Batik Blog
Be sure to visit my fellow Ambassadors on the blog hop to see all the new fabric collections and what they made! Here's the list:
September 3:
September 4:
September 5:
- Connie Kresin Campbell, Freemotion by the River
- Brittany Fisher, Bobbin with Brittany
- Lana Russel, LanaQuilts
September 6:
Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway
WEEK 2
September 9:
September 10:
September 11:
September 12:
- Carol Stanek, Stitch With Color
- Julia Schweri, Inflorescence Designs
- Victoria Johnson, Forever Quilting For You
September 13:
Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway
WEEK 3
September 16:
September 17:
September 18:
September 19:
- Pamela Boatright, PamelaQuilts
- Renee Atkinson, Pink Tulip Quilting
- Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine
Don't forget, I'm a Missouri Star affiliate. You can get 20% off your order of $50 or more by shopping through my link: Shop Missouri Star. You get to save $$$ and I get a small commission. Win~Win for us both.
Be Creative ~ Sew Something Beautiful Today!
Jennifer Thomas
Curlicue Creations
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