Thursday, June 23, 2022

Island Batik Ambassador's New York Beauty Blog Hop

I was thrilled that my New York Beauty I titled Spiraling Around New York took an Honorable Mention Ribbon at the Minnesota Quilter's Show!  It features the new Woodblock Bouquet collection from Island Batik.




Here are the gorgeous fabrics in this collection.  I'll be the first to admit I am not a big fan of brown.  However, I love a warm rich chocolate brown which is heavily featured in this collection and I found them great fun to work with.



My first block complete!


This is the first block's twin sister.  I made two of each style,


And I did a whole lot of pinning to make sure the curves worked well.  I definitely learned a lot about curves on this project.


I also figured out how to make the inner and outer curves easier.  I used and Accuquilt die for Drunkard's Path for the inner curve and the outer curve is from the Accuquilt Pickle Dish die.  Then I drafted my block size in Electric Quilt 8 to make these two pieces fit perfectly. What size were they?  9 7/8.  A strange size to be sure, but when paper piecing the middle section it really didn't matter and I didn't have to hand cut all the curves.


So nice not having to cut these pieces.


My stack of blocks.  I think this arrow one is my favorite.


The biggest stumper on this project for me was the layout.  I wanted these blocks I had spent so much time on to SING.  I went through many possibilities...





I finally decided I liked these off center spiral designs best.


But of course I was short...and had to make a few more!


Top complete!


I decided this needed to be quilted like a show quilt, so each area is quilted in matching Aurifil thread.  I don't have a lot of brown in my thread collection so my mom and I drove around to many quilt stores in the Minneapolis area collecting them.  I used my favorite batting for show quilting Hobbs silk batting.  It drapes so nicely.  My Schmetz Microtex Needles also were great at going through some of the really densely layered intersections.


I decided to add a piping to separate the quilt from the binding.  I also used a fat half inch binding to get a picture frame effect.


Blocking the quilt to lay flat is always a scary proposition as you have to get it wet!  I didn't prewash these fabrics.  However, when washing the whole quilt I use Synthrapol in the washer on hot as well as a few color catchers and the quilt came out perfectly clean.  No bleeding!


My quilt hanging at the show.  Always so fun to see.


To win one of these FQ Bundles from Island Batik, Click Here

To win my scraps (and there is quite a bit, many fat quarter sized) leave a comment below.  I will choose a winner by random draw on July 1.
I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy
Be sure to see what my fellow Ambassadors have created:

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs
Megan Best ~ Bestquilter
Pamela Boatright ~ Pamelaquilts
Elizabeth DeCroos ~ Epida Studio
Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter
Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts
Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts
Reed Johnson ~ Blue Bear Quilts
Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs
Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood
Denise Looney ~ For The Love Of Geese
Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine
Anorina Morris – sameliasmum.com
Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion
Claudia Porter ~ Create with Claudia
Gail Renna ~ Quilt Haven Threads
Brianna Roberts ~ Sew Cute And Quirky
Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde
Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail
Andi Stanfield ~ True Blue Quilts
Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels
Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations