It is not every day that you get an email from Studio 180 Design team and are invited to provide mockups of designs using their brand-new batik collection for Island Batik.  But this actually happened to me on a quiet January 2021 day.  When I saw the digital images of this new Tranquility collection, I was in love!  Was it because this collection reminded me so much of my home country of Finland which has an abundance of beautiful nature, or was it the beautiful soothing colors and texture of the collection that whisked me away to dreamland?  Maybe it was a bit of both.  This collection beautifully captures the treasures of nature, from beautiful river rocks to ripples of water often seen after a playful throw of rock has been tossed into the lake.  

While working with these beautiful images one mockup stood out above all the others.  And that was a design named Gives Me Butterflies.  How fitting it was to use these beautiful, nature-inspired fabrics to create a quilt that also features nature.  Butterflies are such an important part of the beauty that surrounds us, so mixing these lovely fabrics with this pattern was like a match made in heaven!

The above four fabrics emerged as winners when I was playing with my EQ8 software in the quest to come up with the best possible mockup.  I think the mockup that spoke to me the most was soft and feminine, and it really represented the name of the collection quite well. Or what are your thoughts?

The soft neutral and pink make a wonderful background for the butterflies to spread their wings.  The darker two fabrics nicely represent the butterflies.  The pattern uses a V Block tool by Studio 180 Design to easily and accurately make all those butterflies.  Ready to make your own quilt using these beautiful fabrics and this fun pattern?  Visit your local quilt store to get started.  The pattern is also available on my website.

This post is part of a Blog Hop.  Make sure you visit all the other designer's Blogs and take part of the giveaway!  Here is the schedule and links to other participants:
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• Monday July 11th, Deb Tucker of Studio 180 Design
• Tuesday July 12th, Tina Dillard of Quilting Affections Designs
• Wednesday July 13th, Raija Salomaa of Quilter’s Treasure Chest That is me - so glad you found me!
• Thursday July 14th, Diana Mann of Murgaboo Quilts
• Friday July 15th, Studio 180 Design wrap up and giveaway

​Happy quilting!

My friend, Tammy Silvers, a fellow Certified Instructor for Studio 180 Design, is behind these amazing fabrics that are just reaching your favorite quilt stores!   There are so many wonderful opportunities to use these luscious fabrics.  Whether you are needing a quilt in a hurry, are needing to make a major masterpiece, or do a small project such as a bag, these fabrics are perfect for the task!

Lately, I have been working on patterns that take more than a day to make.  So, when I was invited to participate in providing a digital rendering of a quilt using these fabrics, I decided to use one of my easier patterns called Let It Be.  We all need to treat ourselves every once in a while with a project that doesn't require a huge commitment and is just quick and easy to make.  Selecting the right fabrics to go with a simple pattern will make even the easiest quilt look fantastic.  And I believe it to be the case here with Let It Be.  Let It Be comes in three sizes and is truly the pattern to go to if you are needing a quilt in a hurry or just want to take a break from making a quilt needing a lot of patience and accuracy!

If you are interested in this pattern, you can buy it as a downloadable pattern or as a printed pattern.

Many other designers are participating in Savannah Blog Hop as well, so make sure to visit their Blog posts as well!  You can find links to their posts below:

Happy Quilting and until next time, 
​Raija

The hard work that goes into designing, writing, and getting a pattern ready to be published is rewarded when you see the pattern arrive from the printers.  I have had two recent releases - Magic Potion and JouJou and both have received a really warm welcome.  

Magic Potion is a layer cake friendly, but you could easily use your own stash for it as well.  The tools of the trade are Corner Pop and Corner Pop II by Studio 180 Design.  These tools make this quilt come to life with ease and precision!  Magic Potion comes in three sizes - Lap, Twin, and Queen.  This is truly a very impressive quilt to make that is sure to wow others!

JouJou is a super fun quilt to make.  The tools used to make this quilt are Corner Pop II and Square Squared by Studio 180 Design.  This quilt uses light and dark fabrics along with six accent fabrics that make this quilt pop!  JouJou comes in three different sizes: Baby, Lap, and Twin.  The layout is the same for each three sizes as only the measurement of the block changes between the three sizes.  This quilt is getting people really excited - get your own pattern to impress your loved ones!  A few kits are available for this on all sizes - contact me via e-mail at [email protected] if you are interested in making the quilt in the exact fabrics as the cover quilt as the kits are not listed on my website as of now!
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I'm excited to be a part of this wonderful Blog Hop to celebrate the new Island Batik Signature Collection by Kathy Engle for Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis.  This is day four of this blog hop.  Make sure to visit all the other designers who have joined Tammy to celebrate the debut of this wonderful, new fabric line (see all the participants at the end of this post).

Don't you just love these wonderfully rich fabrics!  And yes, I'm partial to purples and pinks!

I played with a couple of my existing designs and my favorite renditions were produced using my popular pattern, Colors of the Wind.  If you like these renditions, you can buy Colors of the Wind pattern here. 

Which one is your favorite one?

If you have fallen in love with these beautiful batiks you can find them now at your local quilt store.  Here are the SKUs for them:

Let me know how you have enjoyed the blog hop thus far.  Below you can find all the other designers' blog posts and their wonderful renditions so you can get many ideas how to use these fabulous fabrics:  

Sept 27:        Tammy Silvers - Tamarinis 
                      Jen Frost - Faith and Fabric
                      Geeky Bobbin  
Sept 28:         Leanne Parsons - Devoted Quilter
                      Laura Strickland - Orange Blossom Quilt Design
                      Sara Flynn - Offbeat Quilts
                      Pamela Boatright - Pamela Quilts
Sept 29:         Swan Sheridan - Swan Amity Studios
                      Lisa Ruble - Love to Color My World
                      Claudia Porter - Create with Claudia
Sept 30:        Laura Piland - Slice of Pi Quilts
                      Raija Salomaa - Quilter's Treasure Chest (me!)
                      Kathryn LeBlanc - Dragonfly's Quilting Design Studio
Oct 1:            Kate Colleran - Kate Colleran Designs
                     Sherry Shish - Powered By Quilting
                     Becca Fenstermaker - Pretty Piney Quilts

Magic Potion came along while I was playing on my EQ8 (Electric Quilt 8) software program.  I didn't have anything specific in my mind - just wanted to have fun and play.  As I designed my first block and populated the quilt layout page with it I knew I was up to something special.  In the end, the quilt comprises of four different blocks to give a cohesive composition that I just adore!

For a pattern designer, the design is just the beginning   The next part is figuring out exactly how to make the quilt, what sizes the pattern will come with (this comes with Lap (above), Twin and Queen sizes) and then to write up the actual pattern.

I'm fortunate to be working with some fantastic fabric companies.  Soon after I had made my lap size test quilt I got a design call from Timeless Treasures for their upcoming Tonga Potion fabric collection.  I thought the fabrics in that collection would really play well with this design and I proceeded to pull these digital fabrics into my EQ8.  The above rendition is a Twin size quilt using Tonga Potion collection.  Isn't it adorable!

​A week ago I received the fabrics for this collection, and I have been working all week to getting the quilt made.  This quilt takes advantage of using Studio 180 Design's Corner Pop and Corner Pop II tools.  While making the blocks this time around I figured out a special way to use these tools so that each unit comes out perfect!  Because of that, I'm updating the instructions to reflect this new method of using these tools.  Stay tuned - the pattern will come out later on in September!  This is a pattern you don't want to miss out!