Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Island Batik Ambassador Threaded Chaos Blog Hop

This month the Lumin Fabrics Island Batik Ambassadors were challenged to use some gorgeous Aurifil thread to create a crazy quilt.   



For this challenge I received the beautiful Stone Strata collection by Kathy Engle for Terri Vaden Bosch of Lizard Creek Quilting.  Now I'm going to pause here and be honest.  I adore these prints.  Nautiful shapes, bubbles, and other great patterns. But the colors?  They're a little dull for me.  I'm a screaming brights kind of person.  HOWEVER, sometimes it's good to go outside your comfort zone.  The fabrics definitely are pretty!  So I took a deep breath and I got started.


I decided to make a baby size quilt for this challenge.  I started with big sheet of 24 inch by 30 inch paper.  Then I drew a big block that's sort of like a wonky log cabin block.  Then I foundation pieced the whole thing right on the paper. 


Here is the final block all complete and ironed flat with my wonderful Oliso iron.  Once I was done and stepped back I realized how fun the fabrics were and how much they played well together.  


I knew this project was coming so I bought a pack of tan crochet laces.  I started auditioning where they could go on the quilt.  To attach them I used a thin cut strip of Steam a Steam 2 light and fused them in place.  Then I stitched on top of them in Aurifil invisible thread or a tan thread depending on complexity.  I also used my fun Aurifil threads to do some decorative stitching.


Here are the beautiful threads I received.  The darker brown on the right came from my own stash because I wanted to add a thicker thread.  The orange threads are 50 weight, the green thread spool is 40 weight, and the gray thread spool is 28 weight.  I used a tan as well, but I already used it all up so it is absent from the picture.


I have a fabric store near me that carries tons of trims and decorations.  I had a blast picking things out for this project.  Below you can see some blue roses.  These were premade out of ribbon and I was wondering how to attach them.  Before I put the pin in the roses stuck to the needle and lifted up off the quilt.  Fortunately I could use a pin to anchor then and sew right through them.  My Schmetz Microtex needles sure did the trick!


Let's look at some of the fun details on this quilt.  I found 8 different kind of butterfly appliques so I decided to start with that.  I also found some fun trims and LOTS of buttons!


Look carefully.  You can see that I often did some decorative stitching and then layered appliques on top.


In the corner of the picture above you have a white lace.  If you look closely the top is overstitched with a light blue decorative stitch.  It was a fun way to soften the hard edge of the lace and add a pop of color.  Also those buttons!  My sons decided they looked like pineapples. 



These brown and sequin butterflies were some of the first things I picked out for this quilt.  I love them!  And the thick blue rick rack?  I love rick rack so much.  I have a whole shoebox full.  The flower buttons in the upper corner?  They're wooden!


Here is another place where I did some decorative stitching with my Aurifil thread over the edge of the lace.  And then there are some decorative flowers underneath that I added some yellow rhinestuds to.  At the bottom you can also see some thick dark blue decorative stitching.  I love the way that patterned turned out so much I added a second line.


Here is also added rhinestuds on top of the decorative stitching to help emphasize patterns.  On the left is a tan ribbon.  I added the blue decorative stitch on top of the ribbon to make it fancier!  Such fun.


Below I used a stitch to try to make clouds.  It didn't turn out quite as even as I wanted....so what to do?  Why hide the worst part under and applique of course!  And the far left than piece?  That's a leather ribbon.  It was quite the challenge to stitch on top of as the leather wants to stick to the bottom of the presser foot.  That's what Teflon presser feet are for!


On the left I added some French knots with embroidery floss to my decorative stitching.  I also added a bead to the top of the butterfly appliques.


Crazy quilts have never been my thing.  I have always admired them and all the work they entail, but I've never really wanted to make one or hang on in my house.  HOWEVER, this one!  It was so fun.  Who knew?  I think the reason I so enjoyed this project was having a limited color palette.  That way I could be sure that everything was going to coordinate.  I loved it so much I couldn't put it down and finished in just over a week.  Who knew?  I'll have to make another some day!

I hope you get to quilt today! 
Suzy

Be sure to check out all the other amazing Island Batik Ambassadors on the blog hop!
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