Triangle Medallion - Island Batik Ambassador December Challenge

  The December Challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors is

"Medallion Quilt"

and

today I am excited to share my quilt

Triangle Medallion.

We are to make a medallion quilt which is all about a center block and borders

using

Island Batik fabrics.

I went in a different direction and may have stretched the challenge a bit.

I took my inspiration from an article in the Fall of 1995 magazine, Quilt, called Corn and Beans.

At first glance, the quilt in the article looked like a medallion quilt made of half-square triangles set on point.  After reading I learned the quilt was all triangles stitched in rows - perfect!

I cut the triangles for the rows with the Accuquilt GO! Half Square Triangle-4" Finished square (55710)  from the Accuquilt Go! Qube Mix and Match 8" Block.

This is my favorite way to cut triangles - the accuracy is amazing.

The fabrics are from a lot of past Island Batik quilts. I wanted to make the quilt look scrappy.

The center focus block features one of the fabrics from the new summer 2020 Island Batik collection, Bliss by Barbara Persing. (Design: Dot RIngs - Color: Ravine)

Each piece was stitched with Aurifil 50 wt and a Schmetz Microtex (Sharp) Chrome 70/10 needle.  If you haven't tried these needles, they are perfect for the tight weave of the Island Batik fabrics.

I had so much fun watching this quilt come to life with each row.

I did the quilting edge to edge with my

 Handi Quilter Avante long arm pro-stitcher

using Glide Trilobal Polyester 40 wt white thread.  

Hobbs Heirloom Premium Cotton batting is in the middle.

Triangle Medallion is about 50" x 50"

It's not a traditional medallion quilt, but it has a center and borders.

It's bright and it's so fun to see all the Island Batik fabrics come together to create this scrappy look quilt.

This is my last post as an Island Batik Ambassador.

It's been a super 2 years and I want to thank 

Island Batik and the industry partners

 for the great products and super fun challenges.

The experience has been priceless!

It's time for me to take on some new challenges.

I will miss my Island Batik Ambassador family

but I'll still be designing quilts with Island Batik fabrics

and

I am really looking forward to plans to come.

Inspired by Nature Island Batik Blog Hop - A Cloudy Rainbow

 Today is the 1st day of the

Island Batik Ambassador

Inspired by Nature Blog Hop

where all the new fabric collections are being showcased.

What better way to show the gorgeous new Island Batik fabric collections

than with a fun blog hop?

I'm thrilled to share my quilt today,

"A Cloudy Rainbow"

featuring the new summer 2020 Island Batik collection, Bliss by Barbara Persing.

During the next three weeks of the Inspired by Nature Blog Hop,

 the team of twenty-five Ambassadors will be sharing projects made with new Island Batik collections we received in our second Island Batik Ambassador boxes. 

 I was so thrilled to find the Bliss Collection in my box.

The rainbow of colors made my nature inspiration easy.  

Rainbow is my favorite color!

In western Kansas, we don't have mountains, ocean, or a lot of trees, but what we do have are gorgeous sunsets, sunrises, and rainbows. 

 Wide-open skies with lots of colors.

The colors of the Bliss collection were perfect to make a rainbow effect,

so I designed the quilt in Electric Quilt 7 

with a pieced orange peel design.

PIecing in curves can be challenging.  

Here are a couple of tips from my experience:

I made all 80 blocks

by marking the center of each "cloud" with one small bite of a pin.

Next, I pinned the first edge to make sure it fed into the machine straight.  This made it easy to just ease the pieces together.  Each was stitched with the "cloud" down and the color on top so no folds happened.

Once all the blocks were made, I found that pressing the seam allowances with one side away from the "cloud" and one side towards it made the construction of the quilt a lot less bulky.

The clouds and sashing are Island Batik Foundation fabric in solid white.

Each block was stitched with Aurifil 50 wt and a Schmetz Microtex (Sharp) Chrome 70/10 needle.  If you haven't tried these needles, they are perfect for the tight weave of the Island Batik fabrics.

I had so much fun watching this quilt come to life with each row
and
love that it's colorful and bright.

It's a great throw size at about 58" x 72"

I did the quilting edge to edge with my

 Handi Quilter Avante long arm pro-stitcher (pre-loaded pattern - swan song)

using Glide Trilobal Polyester 40 wt white thread.  

Hobbs Heirloom Premium Cotton batting is in the middle.

The Bliss collection will be in stores this month.

Be sure to ask your local quilt shop for Bliss!

I hope you have a chance to check out all the new fabrics by Island Batik and the beautiful projects made by the Ambassadors.

November 9:

• Carla Henton, Creatin’ in the Sticks
• Jennifer Fulton, Inquiring Quilter

November 10:

• Carolina Asmussen, Carolina Asmussen Designs
• Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese

November 11:

• Janet Yamamoto, Whispers of Yore
• Alison Vermilya, Little Bunny Quilts

November 12:

• Megan Best, Bestquilter
• Jennifer Strauser, Dizzy Quilter

November 13:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway

November 16:

• Joanne Hart, Unicornharts
• Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine
• Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations

November 17:

• Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail
• Mania Hatziioannidi, Mania for Quilts

November 18:

• Sharon Riley, Sew Riley Designs
• Sandra Walker, mmm! quilts

November 19:

• Carol Moellers, Carol Moellers Designs
• Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood

November 20:

Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway

November 23:

• Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs
• Suzy Webster, Websterquilt

November 24:

• Pamela Boatright, PamelaQuilts
• Michelle Roberts, Creative Blonde

November 25:

• Vasudha Govindan, Storied Quilts
• Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights

November 26:

• Sally Manke, Sally Manke Fiber Artist
• Gail Renna, Quilt Haven Threads

November 27:

End of Blog Hop and Round-Up

Island Batik is giving away Bliss and Just My Type

You can enter here

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Thanks to Island Batik for these gorgeous fabrics

 and

 to you for visiting!

Framed - Island Batik Ambassador October Challenge

 The October Challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors is

Thread Painting with Aurifl

and

today I am excited to share

Framed.

As Island Batik Ambassadors,

we received Aurifil 50 weight cotton thread in our second ambassador box

to use in this month's challenge.

My decision on what to use was made easy because the threads I received matched

the fabrics from the Island Batik Spring 2020 collection,

William's Garden, designed by Kathy Engle.

These fabrics should be in your favorite local quilt shop now

and the 50 weight Aurifil threads are (left to right)

#2021, #2545, #2692, #1148, and #2890.

The blocks are Hawaiian applique designs from Electric Quilt 7

that I printed and cut out with HeatnBond EZ Print Lite. (no tracing!)

Next, I framed the blocks with Island Batik Foundations Solid in White

and "painted" thread "frames" with black (#2692) Aurifl thread.

Once the frames were finished, I stitched them together and added a pieced border.

The top was spray basted and pinned with Hobbs Premium Heirloom Wool batting in the middle

and Island Batik Foundation Neutral - Yolk for the backing.

I chose wool batting to show off the stitching of the frames a bit more

and

the quilting went super smooth with a

 Schmetz Microtex Chrome Professional Grade 80/12 needle.

I stitched the frames one more time and free motion quilted all the blocks with my Aurifil threads

on my domestic Janome MC 6600 sewing machine.

This direct sunlight picture really shows the quilting.

Framed is a 24" x 24" wall hanging and takes me back to vacation time

 and visiting quilt shops in Hawaii.

This month's Ambassador challenge was a lot of fun.

I always enjoy creatin' with thread and Aurifil makes it easy with all the colors and weights.

Check out the 

2020 Island Batik AmbassadorsHERE.