New York Beauty Blog Hop

New York Beauty Blog Hop

Welcome to my day of sharing in what is turning out to be a very popular blog hop and I hope this post will inspire you to create your own NYB quilt.

Some of the products featured on this site were provided to me free of charge by Island Batik, Hobbs Batting, Aurifil , AccuQuilt, ByAnnie and Schmetz Needles.

First, I would like to thank Island Batik for this generous fat quarter bundle of 20 fabrics from the Snowsicle Collection designed by Kathy Engle. Snowsicle is from the Fall/Winter 2021 release and is shipping to shops this month.

For the Store Locator click here and enter your zip code. It will pull up a list of shops that carry Island Batik Fabric. Ask for Snowsicle if they do not have it. Another option, follow @island_batik on IG as they share shop posts with collections or @fortheloveofgeese. When I see IB has shared a collection in stock at a shop I share it also.

Snowsicle is one of the most beautiful collections of blue that I have had the pleasure to work with. There were only 4 of the lightest fabrics that I did not use for the quilt but don’t worry, I have something planned for them.

Planning and progress

First I had to work on a design that I was happy with and that process took way longer than I had planned. Curved piecing is not one of my favorite so I had to work extra hard to “straighten” everything up.

As I began working on the design a name quickly came to mind, “Gear Head” because it reminded me of pulley’s on the front of a small block Chevy motor, lol.

I’m neither messy or unorganized but when paper piecing you would never image that could be true. Perhaps we should start referring to this as our artistic genius coming out.

So here are the templates being pieced, all straight lines. It was a lot more work than it needed to be but again, curved piecing is not my thing.

Nice glorious points.

With the paper adding layers to already heavy seams you would think 40wt or better is a must, right? Well, its okay if you think that because I shared that thought for many years. Today I like to use 50wt thread from Aurifil and it works just fine. It is strong enough that the thread does not break while removing paper and because it’s a little finer than 40wt it does not add much to the seam allowance.

Schmetz Needles pairs nicely. I love their Microtex Needles for paper piecing. They punch through the paper differently than my previous brand and most of the paper is removed.

This was the first completed block, minus the center circle, paper still in place.

A freshly finished papered flimsy is always so gratifying.

To further avoid the curved piecing and heavy seams for the center of the blocks I did a little reverse applique. Then when I quilted it I ran a straight stitch along the seam.

Quilting oops

I really enjoyed watching this quilt come together, the colors of Snowsicle are pleasing to the eyes. Trying so hard to line up all of these seams and would you believe I found this?

3/4 was already quilted. What did I do? I blended that seam with quilting on the border. That may not have been the right thing to do but to be honest it had come together so well without any major mistakes and I didn’t want to press my luck.

Loki loves the Tuscany Cotton Wool Blend from Hobbs Batting as much as I do and takes the opportunity to cuddle when the tail finally hits the floor. The Cotton Wool blend adds just enough fluff to the finished quilt to compliment the design.

For cutting most of my fabric I used the strip dies from AccuQuilt even though I am paper piecing. If you have never tried foundation paper piecing using strips of fabric instead of cutting everything to size you should really try it. Doesn’t make sense, see my YouTube videos.

Meet Gear Head a 66″ finish

For quilting Aurifil Forty3 is great, I purchase mine from fellow Ambassador MaryMackMadeMine. She also sells Island Batik Fabric. If you do not see what you are looking for in her Etsy shop send her a message. You never know.

The background has a medium meander, there is a lot of straight line quilting around the gears and the border, just a lot of back and forth straight lines.

Other New York Beauty projects

Visit other Island Batik Ambassadors to see what they are working on by clicking the logo below. You can also click here to be taken to the hop schedule on the Island Batik blog and see their giveaway.

Put your foot down

Normal linky party will return next week, but please link up your WIPS.