Timeless Traditions

November is a blog hop month with beautiful Island Batik (Lumin Fabrics) collections. The challenge was to make a quilt using at least five out of ten pre-determined blocks. Electric Quilt 8 was most definitely my life saver for this challenge. I designed a layout using the colors of my bundle; blue, tan, brown and golds. I was given the Bloom Grove collection designed by Jerry Khiev, which will be shipping to shops in January 2026. Bloom Grove reminds me of Sedona and the Southwest.

I sorted my fabrics by color and tacked a copy of my quilt layout and color scheme on my design wall. I also used Island Batik white solid batik. The five blocks that I chose were: nine patch, four patch, default variable star, friendship star and quarter square triangle. My blocks finished at 9” and my quilt finished at 63” by 63”. I used Aurifil 50 weight thread, my Oliso mini iron and Schmetz needles.

The first block that I made was the default variable star block. I paper pieced this block.

The second block that I started making was the quarter square triangle blocks. I used a triangle template from EQ8. I did switch fabrics around, until I found a pleasing color layout.

Next, I made four nine patch blocks using one colorway and eight using another colorway. I strip pieced this block and cut my strips 3-1/2” inches wide.

With the four patch blocks, I cut my blocks 5” by 5”.

The last block was the friendship star. I used templates for the squares and the triangles.

I made the forty-nine blocks, then sewed them into seven rows.

Time was running short and I knew I had to get it quilted. It’s not that I am afraid of my longarm, it was just always easier to bring it to my friend, Janice to longarm. Wait, did I say I wasn’t afraid? I promised my husband that I was going to use the longarm and I knew he was keeping a keen eye on me and the longarm to see if I upheld my promise. So, off I went to the other room. I tried four times to pin it correctly and I was watching how to videos on You-tube, but I did it. No major catastrophes occurred! I used Hobbs cotton batting.

I am calling my quilt “Just Meandering Along”, because that’s how I quilted it and because, that’s how my life has felt for the past year. I am just meandering along, trying to figure out which path(s) too take. Since the tragic death of my nephew on October 28, 2024, I have experienced grief, like I have never known before. Andrew came to live with my husband and I, when he was in the 6th grade, so he was like our son. Sometimes, I feel like I am living in a different world, because my boy is not in it. I lost my sewing mojo more than once during the past year and I wanted to give away all of my fabric and sewing machines. Thankfully, I did not follow through with that, because quilting and my love for color is sending me down a new path of acceptance and healing. I have thought of new designs expressing what grief is to me and quilts that will honor and remember our Andrew. Unfortunately, in our culture and country, there is a stigma attached to grief. I am thankful for T.A.P.S.; it is an organization that helps survivors of military loss. I am also thankful for those friends who stuck by me into my new world. P.S. I have learned that it is common for people who experience grief, to feel like they now live in a different world, because their person is no longer with them.

My quilt is going to be bound with brown binding.

Don’t forget to check out my fellow Ambassadors November projects. They are an amazing and talented group of creative minds. Remember to enter the Lumin Fabric giveaways each week during the blog hop, for your chance to win a bundle of beautiful batiks.

The products used in the making of my quilt were provided to me by Lumin Fabrics and their sponsors.