Island Batik Ambassador's Celebration Challenge

This month the Island Batik Ambassadors were challenged to make a holiday related project.  Since it's almost Christmas I decided I needed a new Christmas table runner. 

For this project I decided I wanted to play with Accuquilt's Tangled Star die.  I've owned it for awhile, but not used it.  And the center has 8 pieces coming together which could be fun in red and white like a peppermint.

Here you can see my center!  It turned out just as I wanted.

I did some matchstick quilting in the white areas to sink them so the red could really pop.  I used my favorite Hobbs 80/20 Cotton/Poly batting, Schmetz Microtex Needles and Aurifil thread.

It fits so nicely with my Christmas tree and will be beautiful for Christmas dinner!  

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Island Batik Ambassador's It's In The Bag! Blog Hop

This month the Island Batik Ambassadors were asked to create a bag from byannie.com.  I chose the Clam Up zippered pouches because I have been needing small bags to take my tools around with me.

Having made a few by Annie patterns this was by far the easiest I've made.  It has an added bonus of having and Add-On Video Tutorial which I watched and really helped me make my bag.  

I decided to make three of these bags and am happy to report that I had them done in just a few hours using by favorite Aurifil Thread and Schmetz Microtex Needles! 

For this project I received the cute Vintage Charm collection by Kathy Engle for Terri Vanden Bosch of Lizard Creek Quilting.  It was a fun color palate to play with. 

I recently went to International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas and needed to take some supplies with me for my classes.  These cute pouches worked PERFECTLY!

I was able to fit my oval pin cushion in to the small bag.

I was able to fit all my pens and marking tools and scissors into the large bag.

It was perfect!

Island Batik is hosting a giveaway for this Blog Hop!  Be sure to enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Be sure to check out all the other AMAZING Island Batik Ambassador's blogs!

November 1:

• Susan Deshensky, Lady Blue Quilt Studio
• Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail

November 2:

• Lana Russel, LanaQuilts
• Mania Hatziioannidi, Mania for Quilts

November 3:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway

November 6:

• Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs
• Brittany Fisher, Bobbin’ with Brittany

November 7:

• Sandra Starley, Textile Time Travels
• Victoria Johnson, Forever Quilting for You

November 8:

• Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine
• Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood
• Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights

November 9:

• Sarah Pitcher, Pitcher’s Boutique LLC
• Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

November 10:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway

November 13:

• Elita Sharpe, Busy Needle Quilting
• Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts

November 14:

• Reed Johnson, Blue Bear Quilts
• Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations

November 15:

• Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs
• Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia

November 16:

• Suzy Webster, Websterquilt
• Denise Looney, A Quiltery
• Randi Jones, Randi’s Roost

November 17:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 3 and Giveaway

November 20:

• Renee Atkinson, Pink Tulip Quilting
• Anorina Morris, Sameliasmum
• Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Island Batik Ambassador's Falling for Accuquilt Blog Hop

This month the Island Batik Ambassadors were challenged to create a project using Accuquilt's North Carolina Star Block.  

I have already created one project for Accuquilt using this block which can be found on their website here.

I also made this quilt for one of my Island Batik Ambassador month challenges.

So Island Batik asked me to combine the North Carolina Star with another block of my choosing.  I picked Accuquilt's Chinese Lantern die to use.

One of the things I love about the North Carolina block is that there are so many pieces there are a lot of different ways to play with fabrics and color.  One of the things I love about the Chinese Lanterns is that it is constructed in 4 inch units which is like a half square triangle with an additional triangle.  It too has LOTS of design possibilities.  

I started playing around in Electric Quilter with the blocks and fabrics and came up with this.  It uses the Chinese Lantern block to make star points to extend the North Carolina Block.

Now the challenge was to find the right fabrics!  So I dug into my Island Batik stash to find just he right greens and purples.

I then pieced my block using my favorite Aurifil thread and Schmetz Microtex Needles.  I then added a backing to create a pillow!  Such fun.  It would be really fun to play around with creating a larger quilt using this combination of blocks too.

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Island Batik Ambassador's Pieced to Perfection Blog Hop

This month the Island Batik Ambassadors were challenged to create a foundation paper pieced or English paper pieced project.  I have a great love for New York Beauty blocks.  I also like to make 4 of them to make a complete circle.  

For my paper pieced project I received the gorgeous Ornate Gems collection by Kathy Engle for Heidi Pridemore of The Whimsical Workshop.  When I looked ta the patterns to the fabrics I knew I wanted to make a large New York Beauty to showcase the beautiful fabrics.

I designed a simple New York Beauty block in Electric Quilt 8, but it wouldn't let me print it as large as I wanted it.  What to do?  Make a smaller print and then take it to FedEx Office to increase the size on their large scale printer.  It was more expensive than I had anticipated, but made the job so much easier!

I then cut my pieces and started paper piecing.  Here is the middle ring all complete.

The next challenge was connecting the rings to each other.  The first thing I did was stitch along the edge of the ring with no thread in the machine to perforate the fabric and the paper.  Then I peeled back about an inch of the paper and was able to glue baste the circle's seam allowance down.  This was easy due to the perforation in the fabric.

Then I pinned the rings together and sewed a 1/8" topstitch around the edge of the circle to connect the rings.  Then there was a lot of paper ripping to do!

This project got so big I finally brought up an extra table to help me pin.

I then layered my quilt with my favorite Hobbs 80/20 Poly Cotton batting and had fun quilting wavy lines radiating from the center of the quilt with Aurifil Thread and Schmetz Microtex Needles.

Here's a giveaway for some gorgeous fat quarter collections!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

See below for a list of stores who have Ornate Gems precuts available!

All About Quilts-MA MA

Bill's Sewing Machine Company NC

Calico Cat-HI HI

Cary Quilting Co-NC NC

Creekside Quilts-OR OR

Custom Stitchery-OR OR

Fat Tuesday Fabrics and Gifts LA

Hancocks of Paducah KY

Laural's Fabrics and More, LLC MN

Little Timber Quilts MT

Loose Threads-WI WI

My Favorite Quilt Store-TX TX

Pam's Fabric Nook FL

Prairie Point Quilt and Fabric Shop KS

Queen Bee Quilts WI

Quilter's Cove-OR OR

Sandy Creek Quilts WI

Texas Roots Quilting TX

The Jewel Box Fabric Shoppe KY

The Needle Workshop WI

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Check out all the other Island Batik Ambassadors!

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs

Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting

Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts

Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts

Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts

Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts

Reed Johnson ~ Blue Bear Quilts

Victoria Johnson ~ Forever Quilting for You

Randi Jones ~ Randi’s Roost

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Denise Looney ~ Quiltery – 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

Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique

Claudia Porter ~ Create with Claudia

Lana Russel ~ Lana Quilts

Elita Sharpe ~ Busy Needle

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

Island Batik Ambassador's It's All Up To You Challenge

This month the Island Batik Ambassadors got to choose what project they wanted to create with some of our gorgeous Island Batiks.  I had fun posing my project near my flowers!

I had a lot of different ideas for what to make for this challenge.  Honestly, I was having trouble deciding!

When I dug into my second Island Batik Ambassador box I found a 10" square stack of the Chromatic collection by Deb Tucker's Studio 180 design.  I love how modern this fabric feels and the colors are so fun.  Now what to do with it?

My next stop was to my Accuquilt Qube cutters.  I knew I wanted to make something I'd not done before with them.  I notice the trapezoid piece in my 12" Qube Angles Companion Set.  I decided to add my 3" half square triangle die from 12" Mix and Match Qube to make some square blocks.  By ironing the seams all in one directions the blocks were easily able to nest seams during construction!

I of course used Aurifil thread and my favorite Schmetz Microtex needles to complete my quilt as well as Hobbs 80/20 Cotton Poly batting.  It was a quick and fun quilt that measures 36 inches square and will be a baby gift at some point.

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Island Batik Ambassador's Fly Away Challenge

This month the Island Batik Ambassadors were challenge to make a quilt with flying geese using a precut of our choice.  This is not where I thought the quilt was going....so how did it get here?

I started out with a 2.5" strip set and my 8" Accuquilt Qube.  I then cut the large part of the flying geese from these strips.  I then cut the small triangles from a gorgeous creamy yellow batik.  

I then laid out all my geese and sewed them in a gradation.  I had 8 of these units altogether.

My original thought was to make a table runner like this.

But then my youngest (and very artistic) son got involved.  He did this and declared it okay, but boring.

I alternated them and thought it was good and was planning on sewing it.  But...

Then he did this!  I LOVED it.  I decided it would look amazing on point.  But of course I didn't have enough background fabric.  Fortunately I found another fabric in my Island Batik stash that was similar and I used for the outside triangles.  So that's how I ended up with my quilt!

I sewed this gorgeous quilt with my favorite Schmetz Microtex Needles, Aurifil thread, and my favorite Hobbs 80/20 Cotton/Poly batting.  

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy