Christmas in July - Island Batik Ambassador Challenge

I love sharing my love of quilting and this month Island Batik and Accuquilt are letting me do just that in a big way!

For the July Challenge, Ambassadors were sent a an Accuquilt GO! Me Fabric Cutter Starter Set, a small version of their GO! Fabric Cutter that includes a GO! Half Square Triangle-3” Finished Square and GO! Quarter Square Triangle-3” Finished Square.  

We were challenged to make a project using only the dies that came with the starter set and give that project and the Go Me Starter Set to someone.

I chose to give it to my friend Catrina. She came to my beginner quilt class over a year ago and has really taken off with quilting.  A month before class she had never even opened her sewing machine and now her goal this year is to finish nine quilts for her relatives for Christmas. She is almost done with all the tops! She said the next quilt she is going to make is a pinwheel quilt so this cutter set is perfect for her! 

I wanted to make a throw sized quilt for Catrina and asked her in advance some of her favorite colors. She gave me a lot to play with: Blue, green, teal, ocean colors, and sunset colors. 

I went through all the fabrics Island Batik sent me ended up using the last bit of my blues from River Valley fabric line - created for Deb Tucker of 180 Studio Desings by Kathy Engle, a wee bit of orange from the Ancient Etchings line - designed by Jackie Kunkel of Canton Village Quilt Works, and several pieces from Island Batiks foundations: Pumpkin, Cornmeal, Lagoon, Wavy Dots Cherry, and Sprinkles for the white background,

I cut strips wide enough to cover the die, layered them up and ran it through the Go Me.  I cut out my Half Square Triangles within 15 minutes the first night and cut out the Quarter Square Triangles the next evening. Cutting was super quick.

This quilt is made by alternating two different variations of the Ohio Star Block, each block is made with only HSTs and QSTs.

Block A

Block B

Block B.   I like to sew one block and then chain piece the rest.  I stack the finished squares in the layout I want them and then start sewing.  

These are the pieces for the Quarter Square triangles for Block A.

Again, I put all my pieces in the layout they should be in the quilt.

Then turn them slightly so the seam I want is facing the way they will go under the sewing machine.  That way I know I am sewing on the correct edge.

All my Block Bs with one block A.

Working on Block A. I stacked these as well and eventually made one big pile of unpieced A blocks then chain pieced them together in rows.

These blocks show off a lot of the River Valley blue fabrixs.

 

I wasn't sure how to quilt this until Catrina commented on one of my instagram photos this block reminded her of Hawaiian Lava, then it hit me to quilt some all over flames.  I used a lovely soft yellow Auriful Thread for this, #2130 and in the middle of the quilt sandwich is Hobbs Nautical Cotton batting. 

 

And of course I quilted it with a Schmetz microtex needle.

I seldom think to take a picture of the needle, but these needles work great with my projects!

Some of the Quilting

This one ended up being border-less.  And goes slightly over throw size by a few inches.

It measures 45 x 63.

Make sure to check out all the other Island Batik Ambassadors to see their Christmas in July projects and their recipients.  Happy Quilting!

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Island Batik Ambassador Box #2

It's that time of year again when Island Batik sends us ambassadors a box of wonderful supplies to finish up the challenges for 2020. Check out my unboxing video to see all the goodies I get to work with for the rest of the year!  Close up photos and links below.

Happy Quilting!

Ruler from 180 Studio Design by Deb Tucker

William's Garden.  Precuts Available now.  Yardage coming in September/October,

Island Batik Foundations.

American Frontier available now.

byAnnie supplied everything to make the Divide & conquer bag.

Thread by Aurifl

Several different battings from Hobbs

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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.

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