One Block Wonder - Blue Heron Panel

This is my second One Block Wonder using a panel 

I saw this Panel made into a OBW on the One Block Wonder Quilt Forum Facebook Group and knew I had to make one.

 The first panel I used last fall on the Halloween OBW  had a border around the panel.
This time I wanted to skip the border and have the hexagons blend with the panel. 

I cut my original strips 2 3/4 inches and got a lot of small hexagons to work with. 
I used almost all of them for this quilt.

Finding the perfect layout took quite a while.  

I had it up on the design wall for a long time and moved hexagons around several times till I found a layout that spoke to me.

I pressed all the seams open. 
Makes it lay flatter and easier to quilt.

For the quilting, I wanted to carry the design elements from the panel into the hexagons.  

I used the quilting to follow the curve of the clouds on through to the hexagons. For the rest of the panel I traced the bird and the lilies in with the thread.

The rest of the hexagons got an all over flower meander.

These One Block wonder quilts are addicting.  

I have already purchased fabric to make a couple more.

 With this one finished I can cross one item off my list for the second quarter Finish-A-Long for 2019.  Yay! I finally have a UFO finished off my list for the first time in a long time.  Each quarter I usually work a little on a lot of them, but never finish one.  So I'm super excited to have one completed!!  This one was started in December of 2018 and I finished it, complete with label and hanging sleeve, in June 2019.

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Make It Modern with Island Batik and Hobbs Batting

This month's challenge for Island Batik Ambassadors was to make a modern quilt and use any of the Hobbs batting that was sent to us. 

 I went with the Hobbs Heirloom Natural Batting with Scrim Binder.  I love how this batting sticks to the batik fabric, I never have to worry about it bunching and puckering on the back while quilting.  

For this quilt, I really wanted to use the Snowberry Strip Set that was sent to me from Island Batik, but I had a hard time deciding on a pattern.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to go super modern with improv pieing and lots of negative space or just a tad modern with an altered traditional block. 

I really wanted something to show off all the fabrics.  I looked at all kinds of patterns on the internet (there were so many good ones to choose from) and even drew some of my own, but time kept ticking away and still couldn't settle on a pattern.  It was getting close to the end of the month and I hadn't even cut one strip for this project! Ack!

Is there a word for Excessive Quilter Pattern Choosing Indecisiveness??

If so I suffered from it big time this month.

As the end of the month drew near, I ended up having to go with a pattern that could be sewn up in a couple of days so I went with my version of a Strip Tube Quilt.

I used all but the lighter colors from the strip set and added some of the gray mini dots yardage from the same Snowberry collection for the larger strips.  My Strip sets ended up being 6.5 inches wide.  This made nice size blocks, which made the quilt come together even quicker.

I am totally in love with this color scheme of Snowberry and the gray Aurifil thread I used for the quilting blended well with all the different colors of the fabric line. 

 The gray thread disappeared on the gray fabric and wasn't too over powering on the dark purples and blacks. It was the perfect color for this project.

I like how the placement of the squares created some fractured square diamonds. 

This quick quilt has turned out to be one of my favorites.  I see different patterns depending on the angle it is placed.  It measures approximately 50 x 67

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Island Batik Ready. Set, Go! Baby Quilt with Accuquilt

I love bright colors, small pieces, and easy cutting and this baby quilt has all of that thanks to Island Batik and Accuquilt.  

   

The main challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors this month was to use the Accuquilt Go system to cut out our project.

 Accuquilt graciously sent the 8 inch block bundle of the Ready. Set. Go! to the Island Batik Ambassadors this year.

The Ready. Set. Go! bundle comes with a book by Eleanor Burns that has instructions for making 46 different blocks using the dies that come in the bundle.

My quilt is made up from two blocks from the book: 

Old Maid's Puzzle

and Flying Birds

Each block was alternated and set on point in the quilt

EQ8 helped me get the layout and colors I wanted.

EQ8 Version

Final Version

I used the Stash builder rolls sent to me by Island Batik as a 2019 Ambassador along with some yardage for this little quilt.

I cut every single shape using the Accuquilt.

I used dies #2, #3, and #5 for the blocks and used die #4, the quarter square triangles, to get the smaller yellow and pink half square triangles for the sides of the quilt

 I love these half square triangle dies.

They cut perfect triangles every time with no dog ears, and they sew up perfect with no trimming down.  I am hooked on these dies!  I need one for every size HST!

I pieced together two small left over pieces of my Hobbs 80/20 batting for this one. I save all my leftover batting. Larger leftover pieces are perfect for smaller quilts.

I broke out my Aurfil Threads to quilt this one up. Patel yellow was used for the pink, green, and yellow fabrics and the blue went over the purples and blues.

The Auriful and the Hobbs combined sure made the quilting pop.

I got a break in the clouds for an outside picture at the park. I love the new park only two blocks from my house.  The trees are turning green and getting g fresh piles of mulch. Check out the pile put on that tree on the left.  You can never have too much mulch. Haha.

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Island Batik Vintage Reimagined - Jewel Box

For the March Island Batik Ambassador challenge, Vintage Re-imagined, I wanted to work with a vintage block that I could create using one of the Island Batik precuts I had and I also wanted a block that could showcase all the fabrics in the pack. 

I decided on the Jewel Box pattern.  I had a stack of 10 inch squares of Island Batik's Moroccan Bazaar I purchased last fall that was perfect for the "jewels". The other fabrics were provided to me by Island Batik for being an Island Batik Ambassador.  I used a full three yards of the solid black batik and half a yard of the Orange print for the binding.

The Jewel Box block is made up of a smaller four patch blocks. In the Encyclopedia of Quilt Blocks by Barbara Brackman this four patch block has many names, with one of them from dating back to 1884:

 Hour Glass

Railroad Crossing

World’s Fair 

Jacob’s Ladder 

Double Four Patch

New Four Patch (1884)

Buckeye Beauty

Going To Chicago.  

After doing some research on the internet I learned the name Jewel Box was popularized by Eleanor Burns in the late 1990’s.  The actual Jewel Box block is made up of four smaller blocks. By rotating them with the color of the HSTs on the corners it creates the Jewel Box block.

For this quilt I was able to use all but two of the 10 inch squares with very little waste. I cut the 10 inch square in half and used that half to get two 5 inch squares for my half square Triangles.

Then I cut the other half into two 2 2.25 x 10 inch strips to make the four patches. I cut the black background to match.   I needed 160 HSTs and 160 Four patches.

I laid out the HST and four patches on the design wall trying to make sure I didn't put the same fabric next to each other. I sewed a couple test blocks and then started sewing rows together in strips.

Hobbs Batting sent some fantastic 80/20 black batting to use as an Ambassadors so I tried it out on this project and it turned out great! My "jewels" are poppin'.  

Can you see the black batting in the above picture on the edge of the quilt? 
It blends right in with the 2.5 inch border. 

The quilt measures approximately 61 x 75.

If you want more vintage re-imagined inspiration check out the blogs of the other ambassadors.  You can find them all here: 2019 Island Batik Ambassadors. 

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