Creating a Burst Block Quilt with Island Batik Fabrics

For the March 2025 Island Batik Challenge we were allowed to pick the project of our choosing.  I think these challenges are actually sometimes harder to do.  I have received so many different fabric lines that I have received in my role as an Island Batik Ambassador.  Picking a fabric and a design is sometimes hard.

I finally decided to use the “Broken Glass”. It is a Winter 22 signature collection. Kathy Engle designed it for Swan Sheridan of Swan Amity Studios.

The fabric was a 10″ stack of the 20 different fabrics in the collection. I decided to use this stack with a neutral Island Batik Foundation, Flour.

The fabric and batting were given to me free. They came from Island Batik and its partners. These partners are Hobbs Batting, Aurifil Thread, and Schmetz Needles. They were provided for my role as a 2025 Island Batik Ambassador.

I decided to use a ruler called “Burst Block”, that was created by Rob Appell of Man’s Sewing. I purchased the ruler a few years ago, but had never had a chance to use it. Rob Appell originally created the block creating a paper template of the pieces needed to create the block.  He upgraded the Burst Block by creating a ruler to make it easier and faster to make the block.  There is very little waste when creating this block.

I cut the Broken Glass fabric diagonally in half.

I cut the Flour fabric into 10″ squares.  Then using the ruler with the flour squares, I align the ruler diagonally in the fabric.  Then cut along the two sides of the ruler.

Using the Broken Glass fabric, I sewed one piece on each side of the centerpiece.

After pressing, use the Burst Block ruler. Lay the first marker along the seam of the two pieces. Then, trim.  Flip the ruler over (upside down) and trim the other side using the same marker.

After trimming both sides, you will have the new center piece.  Make sure to keep the trimmed pieces separated to the left and right sides of the block.  This will help when adding the next time.

You will continue to alternate between the two fabrics adding to each side, and trimming using the ruler.  Each step has a new line to use. Remember to flip the ruler over (upside down) to trim the second side.

After adding the second side light piece, square up the block to 10″ x 10″. This is a great block for chain piecing, just make sure to keep the color fabrics in the same order.

I finished all of the blocks. Then, I laid them out on my design wall. This helped me decide how I wanted them to be put together.

Here is one layout.

And other layout option.

I finally decided to sort them into same color groups and create a four-patch of the blocks. Then sewed together.

I created 8 blocks of 4, and 4 blocks of 2.  Then laid out to see if I liked how they looked.

Here are the blocks sewn together.  It gives it a diamond look to the blocks.

I added a 1″ border around using the Flour fabric.

Then added a 5″ border around. 

I  used Hobbs Batting for this quilt. I picked out a 80/20 Cotton Batting, Queen Size.  I love the way the Hobbs Batting makes the quilts warm while not too heavy to carry.

I quilted the top on my Juki Longarm. I used Aurifil Thread in a light purple (2562) from the Color Builder Set, Amalfi Purple. The design was from Quilting Pantographs and is called Swirly Bandits Flip.

Here is my finished Quilt.  (It was a very windy day, so the quilt was having fun flying.)  It finished at 58″ x 86″.

If you enjoyed my March 2025 Island Batik Project, check out the other Ambassador’s projects! 

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs
Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting
Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts Studio
Tina Dillard ~ Quilting Affection Designs

Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany
Kimberly Flannagan ~ Kimberly’s Quilts
Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts
Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts

Kim Jamieson-Hirst ~ Chatterbox Quilts
Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs
Connie Kresin Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River
Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery
Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
Susan Michaels ~ Dragonfly Fiberart
Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion
Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail
Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color
Solomae Stoycoff ~ Cuddle Cat Quiltworks
Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations
Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

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