The Tonga Block - Aurifil Designer of the Month

I can't believe it's halfway through June already! That means I am the Aurifil Designer of the Month and my new Tonga Block has been posted! Last year (Quilter) Pat Sloan invited me to be a part of this years Designer line up and I couldn't have been more excited! Naturally I picked June (because it's the best month = summer) and created for all of you the free Tonga Block in EQ8. I had a lot fun making various color combos and playing with potential layouts in EQ8 and you can too. EQ8 makes it so quick and fun!

As I was playing with the colors in EQ8, I was looking at some of my Aurifil threads and using some of those colors in the layouts. I figured the brown could easily replace the black, but I was leaning more towards black in the end anyway. I'm still trying to figure out which color combo I love the most to sew into a quilt. Here's the Tonga Block in just 2 colors not including the binding.  (Turquoise and White)
Here's the Tonga Block in 3 Colors, not including the binding. (Turquoise, White and Black)

And the final combo, the Tonga Block in 4 colors. (Turquoise, White, Black, Rust)

I think my fav is the 4 color combo. Do you have a fav? I ended up using the same layout, but wanted to show that with various color combos, it can look very different.

Do you want to know what inspired my Tonga block? You can read more about it on the Aurifil blog. And when you are done printing out your free Tonga Block, head on over to Pat Sloan's blog to see some Tonga Block Sewing Tips she shared. When you finish sewing your Tonga Blocks, please share them with me on social media by tagging me @KidGiddy, #kidgiddy and AurifilDOM2018!

Thanks so much for stopping by, please be sure to sign up for the Kid Giddy newsletter by clicking the link below....

Disclosure: As a brand ambassador for the Electric Quilt Company, I received EQ8 program for free, but the opinions and comments provided are always my own.

New EQ8 Foundation Paper Piecing Patterns

I've been rather quiet here on my website, because I've been so busy in the studio with tons of secret sewing and designing, that I haven't shared with you some fun new patterns I've created in EQ8 yet!

I could sit and design patterns in EQ8 all day because it's so easy. Getting those designs sewn up and formatted into a PDF for you is the harder and more time consuming part, but worth it in the end...right?!

Well here are some new patterns I have listed in my shop.

First up is a collaboration I did earlier in the year with AnnKelle (Kelle Boyd). She had these cute giraffes and owls prints and I just had to make them into paper piecing blocks. I wanted to keep them relatively simple - so I stuck with her designs instead of going crazy detailed. I'm only offering them in my Etsy shop (to control the VAT tax purchases), but after all the etsy and paypal fees are taken out, the rest of the money from each set sold, will go to a Backpack program that puts food into children's backpacks on weekends, during school vacations and summer. I'm so excited to help this cause and ask that you help contribute where you can as well. Food insecurity leads to learning difficulties as well as many other issues. Kids should never go hungry.

My next quilt is more of a personal design. I'm going to be making various Martial Arts animals for a quilt of my own, and started with the Tiger Tiger Quilt, as a gift for my former Sensei that moved down to Texas. He felt the Tiger was his Martial Arts animal, but I was also born in the year of the Tiger. I included the character for Tiger up above the face of the tiger. Each animal I design, will also have it's Mandarian/Kanji character above it so I can learn a little of the languages as I go. I also find Chinese and Japanese calligraphy to be beautiful and couldn't leave it out of the design.

I finally sat myself down and mapped out the Vintage Photo Album Quilt blocks. I've had this idea for well over a year, and kept pushing it further to the back, silly me. It's one of those really quick and easy mix and match patterns that you can fussy cut to your hearts content. There are so many options and the results are super cute! I'd love to print some of my family photos onto fabric and make a genealogy quilt that shows my family tree. It would make a great memory quilt too. There are so many blocks and options (just two shown below), but please know - no quilt instructions or measurements are provided because of the mix and match - make your own concept.

I'm excited to share that Electric Quilt has come out with a new EQ8 Designing Quilts book where you can learn all the tricks and tips from EQ8 designers. Myself included. See that Sailboat Ship block on the back cover of the book? I teach you how to design the block and quilt using my very own photo, step by step! You can grab your copy at Electric Quilt (and make sure you use the code "EQ8Kerry" to save 20%).

There's a few more new blocks coming, but those are still a secret. Hopefully these can keep us all busy sewing for a bit until I can release the others. Do you have a favorite? Is there a design you are pulling for? Maybe it's a new block I've got in the works, or can add to the future list?!

Thanks so much for stopping by, please be sure to sign up for the Kid Giddy newsletter by clicking the link below....

Disclosure: As a brand ambassador for the Electric Quilt Company, I received EQ8 program for free, but the opinions and comments provided are always my own.