Island Batik Ambassador's Step by Step Challenge

I love Island Batik fabrics.  I was so excited to get a gorgeous Ravishing Red gradation bundle in my first 2022 Ambassador Box!  Here's the ironic part....this is the leftover quilt.  Yes, you read that right.  I took my remaining scraps and used my AccuQuilt Prairie Star die to cut diamonds that finish at 1" across.  So naturally you ask...what happened to the first quilt?  It's not quite done yet.  WHY?  Well, I went on quilt retreat and I had the thread to quilt this one with me, but I didn't have the thread for the first quilt along.  So this one got done first.  Don't worry, the first quilt will be revealed tomorrow (as soon as I get the binding on!)

Despite all of that I am totally in love with this quilt!

Here is my stacks of fabrics being laid out for sewing my lone star.  I was very careful to make sure I was pinning them in the right way since I only had my scraps.  I didn't have quite enough fabric to make an 8 by 8 unit star point, so I cut some out of the background fabric (Mahogany) to fill in the gaps.  I have seen a few lone stars over the years that break traditional rounds.  I decided that's what I wanted to do with mine. 

Here is one star point completed.  

I had fun quilting feathers in the large background areas.  I used Hobbs 80/20 Cotton/Poly blend in this quilt which is my favorite batting.  I love how it gives my feathers a little puff.

I simply did continuous curve inside all the diamonds.  I didn't want to have to switch color all the time so I used Aurifil Invisible thread which worked excellently with my Schmetz Microtex needles.  I don't like to use invisible thread in the bobbin so I used a cream Aurifil 50 weight.  I was very pleased with how smoothly the stitching with the invisible thread went and it was a relief not to have to change colors tons.

I didn't have much background fabric left so I found a red Island Batik in my stash to use as the binding.

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy