You Can Quilt! Building Skills For Beginners Blog Hop

Welcome to the blog hop for You Can Quilt! Building Skills for Beginners.  Marlene is an ambassador for Island Batik and has organized a blog hop with the other Island Batik Ambassadors.   Island Batik has provided the Ambassadors (and me!) with fabrics from their New Fall/Winter lines of fabric debuting at Fall Quilt Market.  Over the next four weeks we will each highlight one Skill Builder Set in the book and make the three quilt blocks in that set with our Island Batik fabric.  It will be a great opportunity to get a really good look at the book (and the new fabric lines).  I hope you will follow along and check out all of the posts.

I am kicking it off with Skill Builder Set 1: Learning the Basics.
This Skill Builder Set covers all of the basics: cutting, tips on sewing accurate 1/4" seams and pressing.  The three blocks in this set are all very basic, but give beginning quilters the chance to practice those basic skills before moving on to more complicated blocks.  The blocks were also chosen because they introduce chain piecing, sub-cutting and experimenting with value.

I was given a choice of fabrics from Island Batik's new lines and I choose the Jersey Shore line.  I love the bright colors!  To be honest, I have never really worked with batiks, so this was a new experience for me.  I wanted to make my blocks into a finished product (I don't need any more orphan blocks floating around!) and decided to make a table runner for my friend who just moved.  She loves batiks (perfect) and is decorating her kitchen and dining room in blues and green (perfect).

I edited the fabrics to blues and greens and got cutting.  These blocks come together quickly.  The batik fabric had a different feel than "normal" quilting cottons and I loved the way it pressed - nice and crisp.  

In no time I had the blocks finished and was ready to join them.  I like how you can see the different blocks, but the table runner is still cohesive.

I used some of the leftover fabric for the backing so the table runner would be reversible.

I quilted it with a small leaf and swirl - it seemed like the right motif with all the blues and greens.  Now it is all ready to go to it's new home.  A quick project, perfect for a beginner, that could be made with any of the blocks in the book.

We would love to give you the chance to win some fabric and a copy of You Can Quilt! Building Skills for Beginners.  For a chance to win you can enter with the Rafflecopter below.  You can also enter to win on each of the Ambassador's blogs throughout the blog hop. 

At the end of the blog hop we will randomly choose 4 winners.  Each winner will receive a copy of You Can Quilt! and a bundle of fabric.  There are two fat-eight bundles of Island Batik's Sweet Georgia Peach and two fat-eight bundles of a variety of Cotton and Steel prints that I used to make this Skill Builder quilt.  When we email the winners they will be able to indicate which bundle they would prefer on a first come, first serve basis.  Good luck!

Unfortunately, this giveaway is only open to US residents.
If you would like to purchase a copy of You Can Quilt! you can get a signed copy from Marlene or myself.  It is also available through AQS (as a hard copy or e-book) and Amazon.

I hope you have fun visiting the other posts during the next few weeks!  It will be great to get to see all of the blocks made up in Island Batik fabric.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Oct. 9  -  1, Learning the Basics - Leila Gardunia  sewnbyleila.blogspot.com

Oct. 12 - 2, Half Square Triangles - Tammy Silvers  .tamarinis.typepad.com/

Oct 14 -  3, Quarter Square Triangles - Connie Kresin Campbell conniekresin.com

Oct. 16 - 4. Flying Geese - Maryellen McAuliffe teachpany.blogspot.com

Oct 19 -  5. Wonky Blocks - Christine McCrann Martinez madeinscraps.blogspot.com

Oct. 21 - 6. Improvisation - Connie Kauffman  kauffmandesigns.blogspot.com

Oct. 23 - 7. Foundation Paper Piecing - Joan Kawano moosestashquilting.blogspot.com

Oct. 26 - 8. Curves - Marlene Oddie  kissedquilts.blogspot.com

Oct. 28 - 9. One-Patch Blocks - Bea Lee beaquilter.com

Oct. 30 - 10. Applique - Barbara Gaddy bejeweledquilts.blogspot.com

Nov. 2  - 11. Inset Seams - Pamela Boatright  pamelaquilts.blogspot.com/

Nov. 4 – 12. Challenge Blocks - Linda Stewart Pearl onequiltingcircle.com

Nov. 6 – 13. Finishing – Marlene   kissedquilts.blogspot.com