Sunday, January 15, 2017

Island Batik "New Beginnings"

Every time January rolls around, many of us think of  New Beginnings as it is the start of a New Year! Therefore Island Batik thought it would be a great idea to have "New Beginnings" as their Blog Hop theme this month for the Island Batik Ambassadors

 I had so many ideas for "New Beginnings" that it was hard to settle on just one. However when I looked at the fabric collection I was to use, I knew that I was definitely going to have to go to Plan B and I wasn't sure what that was.

The collection is called Glowing Embers and it is absolutely beautiful. I thought of so many designs where it would be "purrfect" but none of them suggested "New Beginnings". Don't you just love all those bright vivid colors!





 
Here is my stack of fabrics. We were asked to use at least eight of the colors in our designs. What I thought would be easy turned out to be a real challenge.

Just for the record, I am not a purple person. It was my favorite color as a child only because it was fun to say. But since then I have given purple the slip!

Until this quilt.... 



 
For some reason the purple kept calling to me as well as the gold and green.  These are Mardi Gras colors and here on the Gulf Coast we have just started to celebrate. I knew exactly what I was going to do. I was going to make a "Mardi Gras" quilt as that is definitely a "New Beginning". Mardi Gras  is the beginning of  Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and ending on   Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday which is the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. And Lent is a time of reflection, fasting and preparation which ends at Easter which is definitely a New Beginning!
 


 There is a King Cake which is usually eaten on Three Kings Day, January 6, but you can find the cakes throughout the Mardi Gras season.The King Cake historically marks the arrival of the three wise men/kings in Bethlehem who delivered gifts to the baby Jesus. King Cakes contain a small figurine in the shape of a baby which symbolizes the baby Jesus. This is a key part in the celebration of the holiday for which the King Cake is made. (This is a King Cake from our local bakery and it needs more yellow sprinkles in my opinion.) Nevertheless it was good! But check out the fabrics that I chose for my quilt! 




 And so I present to you my quilt which I have named "Crescent City King Cakes". 

New Orleans has many nicknames but Crescent City is one of my favorites as it was built around the crescent of the Mississippi River. 

The quilt measures 34" x 34" and I used YLI thread to stitch in the ditch for quilting. This pattern will be available later this spring. 







Thank you for stopping by and please leave a comment about what New Beginning you like as I will be giving away two of my new Island Batik patterns which were introduced at Fall Market. They are using the new fabric collections which have been featured in this blog hop by other Island Batik Ambassadors.  Here you will find a list and I hope you will stop by each and every one as there are some great prizes available.

Thank you again and have a good week.

Until next time bye ya'll,

             Nan
 


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34 comments:

  1. wow your quilt is lovely. New begginings mean so many things. this year for me personally it means loosing weight, whipping my house in order now that we are empty nesters and putting limits on my crafting. (last year I stressed myself out way too much, so this year I will write things down)

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  2. New Beginnings and that fabric says "Sunrise" to me

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  3. New beginnings to me mean spring is coming and fresh colors.

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  4. Oklahoma twister is my favorite design. 24Tangent@gmail.com

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  5. Pretty quilt. I will finish my UFO and stay caught up on quilt.
    patsystitch@gvtc.com

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  6. Very very nice..New bigginings means ...I just moved back to Michigan after 30 years in maine now this is new bigginings. ... lol ...happyness04431@yahoo.com

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  7. Beautiful quilt, Nan, and a great way to express "New Beginnings"! - Glad you'll soon be making the pattern available!

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  8. Crescent City King Cakes is a beauty! Those batiks framed in black are a perfect way to showcase them. I'd love to show that on my family room wall! Well done.

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  9. My new beginnings this year will be to go what I want in my quilting. No more follow the leader and get too many projects going at once . No block of the months, no mystery quilts, no sew alongs, no more quilting guilds, just sew things that are on my bucket list.

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  10. I think my new beginning is going to be enjoying the outdoors more this year (once the snow melts).

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  11. Loved hearing about the tradition of the King Cake! That's a beautiful new quilt, too.

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  12. i love hearing tradition stories! I really like how you used the dark purple as background and contrast.
    my favorite color is purple. My favorite beginning is spring, because i look forward to warm but not hot temperatures, green, and flowers! I love watching my purple irises bloom with the deep green leaves, the lavender/pink irises, sorbet orange, and raspberry/gold irises in my yard, along with purple columbine and daffodils of all colors.
    reillyr2(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  13. I think Fifi and Fido is a great new collection and I can't wait to make kennel quilts with it, for our own dogs and to donate to the rescue group that brought us three of our dogs from San Antonio, TX.

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  14. Very cool Nan. A pattern to keep on eye out for! ;-)

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  15. Lovely quilt although thinking about asking Cake is making me hungry! mumbird3(at)gmail(dot)com

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  16. I've been looking forward to buying Fifi anf Fido...and designing a quilt to show them off

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  17. Nice quilt and I love the fabric. Each new day, new sunrise is a new beginning in my book. It's a fresh start.

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  18. I am looking forward to the new year, finishing UFO's, and getting a break from the holidays.

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  19. our family's new beginning is a new grandson born 12-23-16. love the mardi gras quilt.

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  20. Crescent City King Cakes is beautiful!

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  21. I love your quilt, batiks work really well

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  22. Wonderful pattern. Looking forward to it. New Beginnings is a tough one. I know what I want to do to begin anew, so I would say that each day I have that chance when I wake up.

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  23. I find new beginnings in every season, the smell of spring dirt means the coming of beautiful little bright green seedlings! I could go on and on about the new beginnings of nature~ Thanks for sharing your thoughts on new beginnings. I truly enjoyed it.
    anitalynette(dot)simmons(at)yahoo(dot)com
    http://quiltlovefordomesticfelicity.blogspot.com

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  24. Ah new beginnings with a new year to work on my list of things that need sewn. With the snow so deep right now i wait for the new beginning of spring when the flowers start to pop through the ground.
    sewfabrics at outlook dot com

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  25. In January, the beginning of a new year, I spend time planning and making lists. But what really seems like a new beginning to me is spring when my garden comes back to life. Your quilt looks great! I like how the black makes the colours pop.

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  26. I love the color scheme, and when I saw the photo of the cake, I had to wonder. It's a great interpretation of the theme, and I like the happy feeling it gives to me. You'd never know you weren't a purple girl!

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  27. Just wonderful....love love Island BAtik Fabrics!!

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  28. everyday is a new beginning....a new chance to be a better version of myself!

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  29. Well, today is Chinese New Year so that's a beginning. Its the year of the fire rooster though. Huh. Makes me think of fried chicken! LOL.

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  30. Beautiful colors in this group--New Beginnings could mean finishing a quilt and starting a new one!
    bjkaup(at)(abbnebraska)(dot)(com)

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