August 2023 – It’s all up to you!

For August 2023, we had a great opportunity to stretch our creative muscles to create whatever project we wanted to with the Island Batik Fabrics!

Sometimes getting to create a project on your own can be a challenge in itself. Deciding what pattern, fabric, size or design you want to use. I purchased last year an Accuquilt 4″ Mix and Match Go!! Qube set. I figured this would be a great project to use the Qube with.

I created a quilt layout in Electric Quilt 8, for a simple block. Accuquilt provides a booklet of some blocks that you can make using the die. I selected “Trellis” block pattern. Depending on how you lay the blocks out, will give you different designs.

After I had decided on a layout, I tested some color schemes for the quilt. I decided to use “Oster” as my lightest color. I used “Purple” Foundation Basic, and two 5″ strips from some of my “Stash Builder” fabric sets.

There are so many choices in the Island Batik “Stash Builder” sets. They are 5″ strips of fabric, and so easy to use.

Using two different dies from Accuquilt, I cut out my fabric pieces. One to cut out the 1 1/2″ squares, and one to cut out all the triangles to make the 1 1/2″ HST.

The quilt has 20 blocks, so I need to cut out

Oster – 200 Half Square triangles (3 strips of fabric)
Blue – 160 Half Square Triangles (2 strips of fabric)
Purple – 40 – 1 1/2″ squares & 80 Half Square triangles (1 Strip of fabric)
Red – 40 – 1 1/2″ squares & 40 Half Square Triangles (1 strip of fabric)

The Accuquilt, made this process go so quickly, and they were cut the correct size. Look at all those pieces.

First, I laid out the pieces for one block, so I could figure out the best way to sew together. You could layout each block (20 times) and sew individually, but I wanted to chain piece so I could get them done quicker.

Using the 160 Blue Triangles, and 160 Oster triangles, I sewed them squares.

Using 40 white triangles, and 40 purple triangles, I sewed them into squares.

Using 20 Red triangles, and 20 purple triangles, I sewed them into squares.

I grouped the squares and the Half Square triangles (HST) into sets for each block. I then laid out the blocks, to make sure they were laid out correctly.

I then sewed the blocks together. Creating 20 identical blocks.

A very important step when working with little pieces, is to make sure that your block is square. Each of these blocks are 4 1/2″ unfinished. I used my 4 1/2″ ruler to square the blocks. I used the diagonal line on the ruler to match with the diagonal line between the purple and red fabrics.

Next, I laid out the pieces on the table in the pattern that I liked and sewed them together. I like the way the blue fabric makes a square around the red fabric.

After the blocks were sewn together, I wanted to add a small 1″ border. (forgot to take a picture with the border).

I used some scrap pieces of Hobbs Batting from a previous project, 80/20 Cotton Batting.

With more Oster fabric for the back, and using Aurifil gray thread, I quilted the quilt on my longarm, using a Pantograph from Quilting Pantographs, called “Silly Stipple”. A simple, fun stitching.

I bound the quilt with a 2″ strip of Oster Fabric.

The quilt finished at 22″ x 18″. Here is a better picture of the quilt, in a doll cradle and baby doll.

I hope my niece likes it. At some point, I plan on making this into a large quilt.

What do you think, 4″ blocks or 12″ blocks? I came to realize that larger blocks are way easier to work with. They are more forgiving for little mistakes.

If you enjoyed my quilt, make sure to check out the other Island Batik Ambassadors and their projects for August.

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

#hobbsbatting, #aurifil, #aurifilthread, #schmetzneedles, #juki, #accuquilt, #islandbatikAmbassador, #iloveislandbatik, #islandbatik