Butterfly Haven Blog Hop and Giveaway

Hello!  Welcome to the first day of the Butterfly Haven blog hop.  Thanks for stopping by.  Butterfly Haven is my first signature fabric collection with Island Batik, designed by Jerry Khiev.

Butterfly Haven features gorgeous hues of purple, pink, and green.  The designs include butterflies, bursts, stars, flowers, and foliage.  There are 20 fabrics in this collection.  

A few of the stores where you can find Butterfly Haven include:

Creekside Quilts ~ OR

Fabric and Quilting Delights ~ HI

Fabric Square ~ OH

JellyRollFabric.net ~ IN

Roosters Mercantile ~ UT

Mike & Mollys ~ CO

Villa Rosa Designs ~ CA

Here I am holding my favorite fabric in the Butterfly Haven collection.  I was so excited to receive the fabric to make my quilts!

Disclaimer:  The fabric used to make these projects was provided to me by Island Batik.

A peek inside one of the boxes of Butterfly Haven bolts.  I got right to work and made four new quilts and patterns to support the Butterfly Haven fabric.  Here are my quilts:

Wings

Butterflies playfully flit this way and that way across this sweet quilt.  This can be made with a 10" stack or yardage.  Pattern available in my Etsy Shop.

Concert on the Green

This pattern showcases several of the green fabrics in the collection.  Small pink triangles dance across this quilt, like music lovers at an outdoor festival.  It's playful with a bit of a modern twist.  Pattern available in my Etsy Shop.

Ramble On

This quilt is quick and easy to sew with a fun chevron design. It uses a variety of colors in the collection.  Pattern available in my Etsy Shop.

Wonderland

This quilt showcases the entire Butterfly Haven collection.  Colors fade one into the next to create a snowflake design.  This pattern can be made in a light or dark version (dark version shown here).  Pattern available in my Etsy Shop.

I am giving away a complete 20 piece fat quarter collection of the Butterfly Haven fabric along with one of my four new patterns to one lucky winner.  To enter, please sign up for my newsletter (at the bottom of this post) or follow me on Facebook or Instagram.  You will receive one entry for each.  Please comment how you follow me in your entry and let me know which pattern you would like if you are selected as the lucky one.  Open to USA residents only, due to shipping costs.  Please be sure you leave me a way to contact you as well.

Thank you so much for visiting today.  The Butterfly Haven blog hop goes from today through December 7th.  I can't wait to see what everyone made for the hop!  It's going to be fun.  Here's the list so you can visit all the blogs this week:

December 2:  Curlicue Creations (you are here)

December 3:  Bobbin with Brittany

December 4:  Lisa's Quilting Passion

December 5:  The Darling Dogwood

December 6:  Dizzy Quilter

December 7:  Quilting Gail

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It's in the Bag Blog Hop ~ featuring Tools of the Trade

It's my day on the Island Batik and ByAnnie.com It's in the Bag Blog Hop. Welcome.  I made the Tools of the Trade bag in two sizes.

Disclaimer:  The products used to make this project were given to me by Island Batik and Industry Partners.

This month the Island Batik Ambassadors were challenged to make a ByAnnie bag.  We were able to choose from any ByAnnie pattern that included an Add-On Video Tutorial.  Annie sent us complete kits with everything we needed to make our bags.  We also chose the fabrics that we wanted to use for our bags from the collections we were each assigned for the blog hop.

This is Porcelain Blue!  It's the fabric collection that was all wrapped up as a "surprise" from my unboxing video earlier this year.  A full range of blues from palest morning mist to deep midnight!  I will be using these fabrics for my December challenge as well.  They should be arriving in local quilt shops now, so keep a lookout!  Click here to find a store near you.

The ByAnnie pattern Tools of the Trade makes two fairly large artist portfolio style bags.  The large bag is 21" x 26-1/2" x 5-1/2".  The small bag is 14" x 20" x 3-3/4".

If you've never tried a ByAnnie pattern before ~ let me tell you ~ they are wonderful.  ByAnnie patterns are extremely well written.  Each detailed step has a little box to check off as you sew along.  The accompanying add on video is super helpful for tips to get you through any tricky parts.  Annie also has many helpful videos on her website to help you with zippers and other techniques for her bags.  I also love that her patterns come with a sheet of tags to copy and label each piece so you don't get anything mixed up.  I copy my labels onto a piece of sticker paper and just stick them onto my fabric.  Easy-peasy!

One of the first steps to making a ByAnnie bag is quilting the main fabric and lining fabric with a piece of Soft and Stable in between.  This gives the bag a sturdy body and professional look.  You can choose to quilt any design you like, but I went with the standard straight lines.  I used Schmetz needles for this project.  I used a standard microtex 90/14 for most of my bag, but switched to a leather/jeans needle for the thicker parts.

What is this zipper madness?  I was a little stumped by this step, but it really does work out.  If you are making Tools of the Trade and get to this part, don't worry.  

Here's a pic of the large finished Tools of the Trade bag.

This is the small Tools of the Trade bag.  I love them both!  I plan on hanging them on hooks in my quilt studio so they will be ready to grab and go for any sewing related outing I may have.

Back view of the Tools of the Trade bags.

Here's a peek inside the small bag.  There are many sectioned pockets and mesh to store sewing supplies or any other supplies you may need.

The other side of the bag features a large mesh zippered pocket.  I'm thinking this will be perfect for carrying whatever project I'm working on.

Here's an example of some of the items you could store in Tools of the Trade.  A cutting mat, rotary cutter, ByAnnie pattern, scissors, Aurifil thread, an Island Batik 2-1/2" strip pack, and anything else you may need.  Just use your imagination!  And this is the small bag.  You could really go crazy with the large bag.  You can fit a full size ruler and large cutting mat into that one!

I put a stack of 10" precut squares into the mesh zipper side.  More beautiful blues!  I need to make something with these soon.

The front of the bag has this handy pocket with an additional zippered pocket section on the front of it.

There is also a triangle ring on each side of the bag, handy for clipping on anything you need quick access to.

Tools of the Trade

Project Stats:

Pattern:  Tools of the Trade byAnnie.com

Fabric:  Porcelain Blue by Island Batik

Needles:  Schmetz

Please be sure to visit the Island Batik blog and enter to win some fabric from one of the new collections!

Also, visit my fellow ambassadors to see what they made for the It's in the Bag Blog Hop.  Here's the list:

November 1:

• Susan Deshensky, Lady Blue Quilt Studio
• Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail

November 2:

• Lana Russel, LanaQuilts
• Mania Hatziioannidi, Mania for Quilts

November 3:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway

November 6:

• Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs
• Brittany Fisher, Bobbin’ with Brittany

November 7:

• Sandra Starley, Textile Time Travels
• Victoria Johnson, Forever Quilting for You

November 8:

• Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine
• Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood
• Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights

November 9:

• Sarah Pitcher, Pitcher’s Boutique LLC
• Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

November 10:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway

November 13:

• Elita Sharpe, Busy Needle Quilting
• Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts

November 14:

• Reed Johnson, Blue Bear Quilts
• Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations *You are here*

November 15:

• Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs
• Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia

November 16:

• Suzy Webster, Websterquilt
• Denise Looney, A Quiltery
• Randi Jones, Randi’s Roost

November 17:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 3 and Giveaway

November 20:

• Renee Atkinson, Pink Tulip Quilting
• Anorina Morris, Sameliasmum
• Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Be Creative ~ Sew Something Beautiful Today.

Jennifer Thomas

Curlicue Creations

For Curlicue Creations patterns, Island Batik fabric, and more, click here to visit the Curlicue Creations shop.

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Note:  This is an affiliate link.  Clicking this link will not affect the purchase price.  However, if you do make a purchase, I may receive a commission.  Thank you.

Bits and Pieces Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to my day on the Bits and Pieces blog hop.  Thank you for stopping by.  This is my quilt, Stars and Stripes.

Disclaimer:  The fabric used to make this project was given to me by Island Batik.

Bits and Pieces is a gorgeously bright new fabric collection by Kathy Engle for Sherry Shish of Powered By Quilting.  It's an Island Batik Signature Collection.  I just love it so much!

Here's the fabrics from Bits and Pieces that I used to make the Stars and Stripes Quilt.  Aren't they yummy?  I have pack of precut 10" squares of Bits and Pieces that I am planning on using for a future Island Batik Ambassador project, as well.  I love, love, love this fabric!

The Stars and Stripes quilt is a row quilt.  It features four rows of star blocks in three different colorways, alternating with rows of three different crossing blocks.

The first row of alternate blocks features this Crossing block in two colorways.

The second alternate row features the Crossing Branch blocks.  These are made using a fusible applique method.  It was fun to mix up the leaf colors in each block.

The third alternate row features the Pie Crossing block.  This block has a tiny bit of paper piecing to get the angles just right.  It reminds me of a key lime/blueberry pie.  Yum!

Here's another look at the Stars and Stripes quilt.

Stars and Stripes laid out on my lawn, ready for a picnic.

Or an afternoon nap in the great outdoors.

Folded and ready to go.

Front porch dreamin'.

Loopy meander quilting.

Stars and Stripes is backed with Island Batik's Mardigras fabric.  I used the same dotty blue fabric for the binding as I used on the outer border.  I like to match my binding and border fabric.

Stars and Stripes

Quilt Stats:

Quilt Size:  62" x 68"

Block Size:  8" x 8"

Fabric:  Bits and Pieces by Kathy Engle for Sherry Shish Powered by Quilting, Island Batik

Thread:  Aurifil

Batting:  Hobbs

Needles:  Schmetz

Designed in EQ8

The Stars and Stripes quilt pattern is available in the Curlicue Creations shop as both a PDF download and a paper pattern.  Get your Stars and Stripes pattern today.

Click here for the Stars and Stripes PDF Pattern

Click here to order the Stars and Stripes paper pattern.

 I want to send out a big thank you to Sherry Shish of Powered By Quilting for hosting the Bits and Pieces blog hop.  Be sure you visit her blog and check out her post from yesterday if you missed it.

Thank you for stopping by today. Please sign up for my newsletter at the end of this post and follow me on social media for more quilting inspiration.  If you sew a Stars and Stripes quilt, share a pic on Instagram @curlicuecreations.  I would love to see your quilt.

Here's a list of the complete Bits and Pieces blog hop.  I encourage you to visit all the participants to see what they've made with the new Bits and Pieces fabric collection by Island Batik.

March 24 ~ Powered By Quilting

March 25 ~ Curlicue Creations *YOU ARE HERE*

March 26 ~ The Inquiring Quilter

March 27 ~ Epida Studio

March 28 ~ Paleofishdesigns

March 29 ~ ByAnnie.com Blog

March 30 ~ Tamarinis

March 31 ~ Slice of Pi Quilts

April 1 ~ Katie Mae Quilts

April 2 ~ Melissa Marginet

April 3 ~ Sew Cute and Quirky

April 4 ~ Powered By Quilting

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Be Creative ~ Sew Something Beautiful Today.

Jennifer Thomas

Curlicue Creations

For more Curlicue Creations Quilt Patterns, Island Batik fabric, and sewing supplies, click here to visit the Curlicue Creations shop.

Connect with me:

Subscribe to the Curlicue Creations Newsletter

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Email Address *

Note:  This is an affiliate link.  Clicking this link will not affect the purchase price.  However, if you do make a purchase, I may receive a commission.  Thank you.