June Challenge - Island Batik Ambassador

June was a free theme for Island Batik Ambassadors.  That meant we could make anything we wanted!  I knew I better decide on a project fast, otherwise I would dilly dally with a hundred different ideas and end up rushing at the last minute to finish one.  

This quilt came about from a comment made by one of my young friends, Christopher. It was a comment he made on my fabric giveaway post last month on Instagram. To enter the giveaway you had to leave a comment about what you would make if you won the fabric. Christopher commented, "I'll keep it and ask my friend's mom to make me something memorable for my apartment during/after college."

Of course his friend's mom is me. Well, the random generator didn't pick Christopher's comment, but I could not pass up this opportunity to make him a quilt, particularly since I already knew what fabric colors he liked!

The fabric line is River Valley designed by Kathy Engle for Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design.

Island Batik had given me plenty of fabric for my May Challenge so I had enough left over to make something for Christopher. I just needed to find a pattern that fit the amount of fabric I had left.

I asked my son if Christopher would like triangles. He said, "Sure. I think he would like anything you made." So I decided to recreate the Diamond Bar quilt I made in February using River Valley.

This quilt is made using two different triangle blocks.  One with a large colored triangle center surrounded by neutral bars, and one with a small neutral colored triangle surrounded by colored bars. These are similar to making log cabins, but with triangles instead of squares.

Below are the measurements I used for cutting my triangles.  If you want to make your own you can use your favorite 60 degree ruler to cut your peices.

Triangle A: Colored Center

Using a 60 degree  ruler, cut 36 triangles from a colorful 4 inch strip.

Using neutral fabrics cut 1 1/2 inch strips. Line up the 5 inch mark on the triangle ruler with the bottom of the 1 1/2 fabric strip and cut out 36 bottom bars. Do the same, lining up the ruler on the on the 6 inch and 7 inch line and cut 36 pieces of each.

Triangle B: Neutral Center

Using a 60 degree ruler, cut 36 triangles from a neutral 2 1/2 inch strip.

Cut the outer bars from 2 inch colored strips.  Use the 4, 5 1/2, and 7 inch markings on the triangle ruler to cut 36 each colorful bars . Cut 36 of each size.  Or you can sew and trim each section one triangle at a time.

I used the off white fabric I had left from River Valley and then supplemented the rest with Whip Cream from Island Batik's Foundation fabrics.  Whip Cream is perfect for River Valley since it has very subtle hues of green and blue.

I cut all the pieces out and sewed a little on it several days throughout June. Some days it was just 15 minutes a day, but progress was made each time. This past weekend, I finished it up.

For the quilting I wanted a color that would show well on all the different fabrics.  I didn't want white, because that would be too bright on the dark fabrics, and a dark blue thread would be too harsh on the whites and creams, so I went with this beautiful aqua color from Aurifil.  It blended perfect on all the fabrics.

I quilted it using Hobbs Natural Cotton Batting. I had a bag of leftover batting and pulled out a piece that was wide enough, but not long enough, so I pulled out another piece to see if it was wide enough to piece together and low and behold it was the perfect size! No piecing batting together this time. Yay!

And of course I used Schmetz Needles. They never disappoint.

The orignal quilt I made had white edges, but I decided to change that up a bit for this one and went with a printed border.  

Hope you enjoyed this quick quilt.  Be sure to check out all the other Island Batik Ambasadors to see what they have been playing with this month.

Now I need to give Christopher a call,  and let him know he has a new quilt to pick up.

=^..^=