Island Batik Ambassador's Step by Step Challenge Part 2

Yesterday I showed you my quilt made from the scraps from my original idea for using the gorgeous Island Batik Ravishing Reds gradation.  I finally got the binding on the first quilt so now I can share it with you!  

When I was trying to decide what block to use my gradations in I immediately thought of my Pickle Dish Accuquilt Die.  It has 15 pieces in the arc which made it easy to incorporate a lot of colors.

I started by laying out sets of fabrics for the interior and exterior triangles.  

Then I cut a LOT of pieces and had fun starting to sew the arcs together.  I had to be really careful not to get the pieces out of order.

I also decided to put in some drunkards path blocks for interest and to add something different to the quilt to make it my own.  I have sewn curves before, but I feel like this time I really got the hang of it.  I have much more confidence in myself.

I ran into a challenge on the inside orange peel shapes.  I had fat quarters of all the fabrics and now matter how I laid it out I could only get seven shapes from the fabric.  What to do?  I pieced one.  That was the only way.

Now it was time to quilt!  I used Aurifil Invisible thread to stitch continuous curve in all the arcs.  It flowed quite smoothly through my Schmetz Microtex needles.  I really didn't want to have to switch colors all the time and it worked excellently.  In the orange peels I quilted a simple feather.  I thought about using Hobbs Black 80/20 batting in this quilt, but decided against it because there were a lot of light fabrics so I used regular Hobbs 80/20 batting, my favorite.

In the center of the quilt are four curvy areas, I decided to add some interest by diving it into separate areas as shown.  I did some pebbles in the center and arches at the edges.

In the white areas I wanted to mimic the arches of the interior black areas.  I made four arches for each piece which made them easy to space out.  I also did something in the center arc to add interest.

The outer black ring left me stumped for a while.  I finally decided to go simple and do a wide feather to fill all the space.

I'm REALLY happy with how this turned out.  Ironically...this is the second pickle dish quilt I've made.  The first isn't done yet...haven't we heard this story before?  LOL.  My pile of quilts layered and waiting for quilting is exploding of late.  I have a few to keep me busy. Or a dozen.

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy