Foxes for the Island Batik Marvelous Mini Challenge!

 
 

It’s August and that means a new Island Batik challenge! This month it’s the Marvelous Mini challenge and Ambassadors are challenged to create a small project, no more than 24” x 24” using any of the Island Batik fabrics that we’ve received (except for the latest collections which we’ll be using in September’s challenge).

As always my mind was whirling with ideas but I decided to refer to my “want to make” project list and select one of those patterns rather than creating one from scratch. You’ve got a similar list too, don’t you?! 😉 

I selected the “Fox in a Box” pattern by Jeni Baker from the Fun-Size Quilts book published by That Patchwork Place. I’ve always thought this was such a cute design and I knew that the Island Batik fabrics would definitely make the little fox faces pop!

Next, I needed to choose nine different fabrics as well as a background fabric. This was so easy as I could use some fabric from the Island Batik Stash Builders (5” x WOF strips) that I had. The hardest part was selecting the fabrics as there were so many wonderful bright ones to choose from. The background fabric I used was Sprinkles from the Island Batik Foundations collection. I really love this particular neutral and have used it in previous projects.

 
 

I cut out all the fabric and got ready to start the first step in the Fox in aa Box construction.

 
 

As I needed to make some half square triangles in this project, I reached for my Quilter’s Magic Wand from Studio 180 Designs (I have two of these) to draw stitching lines for the half square triangles construction.

 
 

Once the stitching was done, I needed to trim the half square triangles to the appropriate size so again, Studio 180 Designs came to the rescue as I used their Tucker Trimmer I for this purpose to get accurate half square triangles.

 
 

 Piecing the fox blocks together went well and I was really pleased with the Island Batik fabrics I’d chosen for this mini quilt. These blocks are a square in a square and you can see how I added the outer half square triangles in the video below.

 Before I could stitch the entire top together I had to decide how to arrange the blocks: I find that laying them out and then taking photos of the various arrangements helps me to decide on this part of the project (which always takes me way more time than it should!).

 
 

The blocks were then stitched together and it was time to do some quilting on them. Referring to the quilt in the book, I noticed that Jeni had echo quilted around the fox heads and I decided to do the same except I echo quilted two lines ¼” apart. This quilted enough of the project so that I didn’t need to add any additional quilting. Bonus!

 
 

 The final touch was to add the eyes and I had already selected two different types of black buttons that I thought would work well. Another decision to be made: which type to use but it didn’t take me very long to make this choice (thank goodness!). I used the button stitching foot T on my Janome CM17 to quickly and securely stitch on all of the eyes.

And here is Island Foxes!      

 Thanks to Island Batik for the fabric I used in this project, to Oliso for the TG1600 Pro Plus iron that worked so well to get everything pressed so flat, to Hobbs Batting for the 100% cotton batting that I used in the project, and to Studio 180 Design for the tools I used in its creation.

Be sure to check out what other Ambassadors are creating this month – there’s a wide variety of projects that you’ll want to see.

Did you know that you can get Island Batik fabrics and precuts at the Missouri Star Quilt Company? Use my affiliate code to get 20% off your order of over $50.00 (it will automatically kick in when your cart exceeds $50.00).

Be sure to check out my Chatterbox Quilt’s Facebook page to see what else is happening in the studio.

Also, be sure to check out the other Island Batik Ambassadors’ blogs to see what they’re creating. You can find them at:

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs

Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting

Megan Best ~ BestQuilter

Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts

Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts Studio

Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts

Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts

Jane Hauprich ~ Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting

Victoria Johnson ~ Forever Quilting for You

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Connie Kresin Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine

Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique

Lana Russel ~ Lana Quilts

Julia Schweri ~ Inflorescence Designs

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color

Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

Be sure you’re following me on Facebook and Instagram so you won’t miss out on what I’ll be creating next month with Island Batik fabrics!

Note: The products featured in this blogpost were given to me by Island Batik and their sponsors. Thank you!

#islandbatik #islandbatikambassador #loveislandbatik #createwitholiso #hobbsbattinginside #hobbsquiltbatting #marvelousminichallenge #studio180designs

New Island Batik Fabrics!

 
 

Yippee! It’s that time of the year: time for unboxing another treasure trove of Island Batik fabrics and items from the Ambassador program sponsors!

Thanks so much to Island Batik, Aurifil, Hobbs Quilt Batting, and ByAnnie.com for all of the amazing products that they sent in the second Island Batik Ambassador box. I really enjoy working with Island Batik’s fabrics and am so grateful to be able to work with the newest collections - ones that haven’t even appeared on store shelves yet!

While Ambassadors usually create a project each month, in July we have a bit of a break as our only “challenge” is to share what we received in our second Island Batik Ambassador box.

So, let’s get to it, shall we?! 😀

I received two large boxes: one full of Hobbs Quilt Batting, including some of their products like Thermore and fusible batting that I’ve never tried and am looking forward to using in future projects.

The other box contained Island Batik fabrics, both yardage and precuts, as well as thread from Aurifil and a kit to make a ByAnnie.com project in October.

 

Playful Posies by Kathy Engle

 

To show you everything I received, I’ve created a video and you can watch it on my YouTube channel. Click on the image below to watch the video.

I can hardly wait to start working with these new fabrics and am already stitching up my August project for Island Batik.

If you like the new Playful Posies collection, check with your local quilt store that stocks Island Batik fabrics to use for your own projects. This collection is expected in stores in September 2024.

Did you know that you can also get Island Batik fabrics and precuts at the Missouri Star Quilt Company? Use my affiliate code to get 20% off your order of over $50.00 (it will automatically kick in when your cart exceeds $50.00).

Be sure to check out my Chatterbox Quilt’s Facebook page to see what the other Island Batik Ambassadors received in their second boxes. So much fabric goodness! 😀

Also, be sure to check out the other Island Batik Ambassadors’ blogs to see what they’re creating. You can find them at:

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs

Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting

Megan Best ~ BestQuilter

Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts

Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts Studio

Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts

Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts

Jane Hauprich ~ Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting

Victoria Johnson ~ Forever Quilting for You

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Connie Kresin Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine

Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique

Lana Russel ~ Lana Quilts

Julia Schweri ~ Inflorescence Designs

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color

Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

Be sure you’re following me on Facebook and Instagram so you won’t miss out on what I’ll be creating next month with Island Batik fabrics!

Note: The products featured in this blogpost were given to me by Island Batik and their sponsors. Thank you!

#islandbatik #islandbatikambassador #loveislandbatik #aurifil #ByAnnie.com #patternsbyannie #hobbsbattinginside #hobbsquiltbatting

Flying Geese for a Cause

 
 

It’s June and that means another Island Batik Ambassador project!

 
 

This month Ambassadors are creating quilts to donate to Sleep in Heavenly Peace as part of the Quilts Across America initiative started by Deb Tucker of Studio 180 Design in 2023. Here is some information about this organization and their goal:

 
 

Quilts Across America is a program that relies on the generosity of quilters everywhere to provide a quilt with each bed that is delivered. Quilts Across America was initiated by Studio 180 Design and Tucker University in July 2023. Help make this the largest quilting project in America and complete the process of getting kids, Off the floor, Into a Bed, and Under a Quilt. 

All children deserve a safe, comfortable place to lay their heads. Across the US, too many boys and girls go without a bed—or even a pillow—to sleep on. These children end up sleeping on couches, blankets, and even floors. This can affect their happiness and health. That’s where Sleep in Heavenly Peace comes in. A group of volunteers dedicated to building, assembling, and delivering top-notch bunk beds to children and families in need.

As one of the Island Batik Ambassador sponsors, Studio 180 Design have provided each Ambassador with a tool to use to create this month’s challenge quilt. I received a Wing Clipper I tool and a Quilter’s Magic Wand tool (thanks, Deb!) so I needed to create a design that had flying geese in it. I loved that challenge!

 

Wing Clipper I makes flying geese up to 5½” x 10½” unfinished. Photo courtesy of Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design

 

The challenge for all Island Batik Ambassadors for June was to create:

  • a lap size or larger quilt

  • a project using a Studio 180 Design tool (the one that was sent to us)

  • a project that included at least 30 of the units we created with the Studio 180 Design tool

  • a project using any of the fabulous Island Batik fabrics that we have received

I was ready for this challenge so all I needed to do was to create a design and then dig into my Island Batik fabric stash to pull fabrics for it.

When I’m creating a pieced project such as this one, I turn to EQ8 to create my design and created “Flying Diamonds”.

I used a combination of Island Batik white solid and several fabrics from their Blenders and Neutrals in their Foundations line. I wanted three “flying diamonds” on the quilt so chose a green, turquoise, and red fabric from Island Batik’s Foundations line.

When creating the flying geese blocks, the Quilter’s Magic Wand tool was very helpful in marking the stitching lines that I needed on the fabrics. Did you know that these come in different colours? I love that!

 

Quilter’s Magic Wand available in lots of fun colours! Photo courtesy of Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design

 

The flying geese construction technique made 4 flying geese at one time and then they were trimmed down using the Wing Clipper I tool. This resulted in very accurate flying geese and very little fabric wastage.

The unit size I chose was 3” x 6” finished and, as my quilt blocks were 6” square finished, I needed two flying geese to create this size block. This meant that I needed to piece two flying geese units together to create one quilt block before I could stitch these into the quilt top.

Flying geese units ready to be pieced into quilt blocks

I made “mirror” flying geese units - one where the neutral fabric was the “goose” and the other where the printed fabric was the “goose”. When stitched together, they created a 6” square finished unit like this:

 

Flying geese units stitched together to make a 6” finished quilt block

 

My Oliso iron was integral to this process as there is a lot of pressing when making flying geese.

 
 

Once all of the flying geese were made, blocks created and rows stitched together, I added two borders: one in a neutral Island Batik fabric (Sprinkles) and the other in a teal from the Foundations fabrics.

We were asked to quilt the project with an all over design and I chose some swirls and circles and used a cream polyester Glide thread to do the quilting. We were also asked to do machine binding which made doing this final step very quick.

Here’s the finished Flying Diamonds project!

 
 

And some close-ups of the 3 “flying diamond” blocks.

 
 

If you haven’t tried Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design tools, you can find several of them at Missouri Star Quilt Company. use my affiliate code to get 20% off your order of over $50.00 (it will automatically kick in when your cart exceeds $50.00).

I used Aurifil thread for piecing Flying Diamonds as well as a Schmetz (80/12) needle in my sewing machine. I used Hobbs Premium Heirloom 100% cotton batting for creating the Flying Diamonds quilt sandwich.

I hope that my quilt will provide comfort to a little one and that they will enjoy it. ❤️

Be sure to check out my Chatterbox Quilt’s Facebook page to see all the other wonderful quilts created by my fellow Island Batik Ambassadors during this month’s Create for a Cause challenge.

Also, be sure to check out the other Island Batik Ambassadors’ blogs to see what else they’re creating. You can find them at:

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs

Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting

Megan Best ~ BestQuilter

Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts

Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts Studio

Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts

Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts

Jane Hauprich ~ Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting

Victoria Johnson ~ Forever Quilting for You

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Connie Kresin Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine

Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique

Lana Russel ~ Lana Quilts

Julia Schweri ~ Inflorescence Designs

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color

Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

Be sure you’re following me on Facebook and Instagram so you won’t miss out on what I’ll be creating next with Island Batik fabrics!

Note: The products featured in this blogpost were given to me by Island Batik. Thank you!

#islandbatik #islandbatikambassador #createforacause #loveislandbatik #createwitholiso #olisoconnects #schmetz #aurifil #studio180design #hobbsbattinginside

It’s Christmas at the Grove and Fat Quarter Giveaways

It’s Week 3 of the Island Batik Paper Pieced Celebrations blog hop and my turn to present the quilt that I made for it !

 
 

The challenge for all Island Batik Ambassadors in this blog hop was to create:

  • a lap size or larger quilt

  • a project using a paper piecing technique

  • a quilt celebrating your favourite holiday or celebration

  • a project using a specific fabric collection.

 
 

In my case, the fabric collection was The Grove, A Signature Collection for Raija Salomaa of Quilters’ Treasure Chest.

 
 

Here are all the fabrics in this gorgeous collection!

 
 

The Grove fabrics are now available in your local quilt shop that stocks Island Batik fabrics.

When considering what holiday to celebrate with this stunning fabric collection, some were automatically excluded: Valentine’s Day, Easter, Canada Day, etc. With the aqua and green fabrics, Christmas seemed the most appropriate holiday for me to celebrate - and it is my favourite holiday - so Christmas at The Grove was created!

At first I envisioned a Christmas tree and used EQ8 to draft up a few ideas. While I could’ve created several small Christmas tree blocks, I thought some presents would also be interesting (the most fun part of Christmas!), so I decided on one large tree surrounded by presents. The tree would also, of course, need a star at the top. I used one of Island Batik’s blender fabrics in yellow for the star and one of their neutral foundation fabrics, Eggshell, for the creamy background. The rest of the quilt was created using the fabrics in The Grove fabric collection.

 

I photographed Christmas at The Grove outdoors. I’ve altered the grass colour so that you can see the quilt top better.

 

The technique I used for this project was “paperless” paper piecing. With this technique, you use freezer paper to create templates for the various units of the block (there may be several). When paper piecing I often find it difficult to ensure that I have enough fabric to cover the piece on the block unit template for that particular fabric so… I printed out individual templates from EQ8 onto freezer paper as well. I could then press these templates onto the appropriate fabric, cut out the fabric, peel off the freezer paper, and then know that I had sufficient fabric to use on the freezer paper unit template. These individual freezer paper templates could then be reused as required.

 

Victor and Salem helping cut out the individual fabric templates

 
 

The various unit templates for the tree block.

 

For large unit templates, such as those for the centre tree, I printed the unit templates onto regular paper, taped them together, and then glued them to the paper side of the freezer paper.

Once the unit templates were all ready to go, I would press them to the fabric and stitch next to the freezer paper template, rather than on it as in traditional paper piecing. This meant that I could easily peel away the freezer paper template after the block unit was stitched and resuse it.

 

The same freezer paper template was used for all four parts of the star

 

There were several blocks that were repeated and I was able to use the same template for each unit in these blocks. This saved on paper and time as I didn’t have to tear away the paper from the back of the stitched block.

 

Bottom row of the quilt assembled

 
 

Side blocks assembled

 

When using freezer paper templates, a reliable iron is so important and, while I didn’t get any photos during the construction process, my Oliso iron was really put to the test for this project. I really appreciated how quickly it would reheat when I was stitching, making the construction of Christmas at The Grove much faster than if I had had to wait longer for my iron to heat up again.

 

Yes, my Oliso iron makes me very happy 😄. Check out my video review of it here.

 

I used Aurifil thread to piece Christmas in The Grove as well as a Schmetz needle in my sewing machine.

You may’ve noticed that my photo of Christmas at the Grove is only the quilt top. Yes, I haven’t yet quilted it because of some family health issues and a vacation during May but mostly because I have lots of quilting ideas that I am still mulling over.

Here are a few of my thoughts:

  • stitching in the ditch - at least between blocks and maybe even inside some of the blocks

  • stitching a different quilt motif in each section of the centre Christmas tree

  • stitching ornaments on the Christmas tree - wouldn’t metallic threads be fun for this?

  • doing some ruler quilting in the blocks

 

Christmas in The Grove on our deck (which will be repainted this summer when the rain stops!).

 

If you haven’t yet tried paperless paper piecing, I highly recommend it. I find it less confusing than traditional paper piecing and much quicker with less waste.

This is the final week of the Paper Pieced Celebrations blog hop and, as with the other weeks of it, Island Batik is giving away two fat quarters from their latest fabric collections. Be sure to enter your details below for your chance to win!

Be sure to check out my Chatterbox Quilt’s Facebook page to see all the other wonderful quilts created by my fellow Island Batik Ambassadors during this Paper Pieced Celebrations blog hop.

Also, be sure to check out the other Island Batik Ambassadors’ blogs to see what else they’re creating at:

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs

Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting

Megan Best ~ BestQuilter

Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts

Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts Studio

Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts

Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts

Jane Hauprich ~ Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting

Victoria Johnson ~ Forever Quilting for You

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Connie Kresin Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine

Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique

Lana Russel ~ Lana Quilts

Julia Schweri ~ Inflorescence Designs

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color

Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

Be sure you’re following me on Facebook and Instagram so you won’t miss out on what I’ll be creating next with Island Batik fabrics!

If you have ideas for quilting Christmas at The Grove, please leave them in the comments below.

Note: The products featured in this blogpost were given to me by Island Batik. Thank you!

#islandbatik #islandbatikambassador #paperpiecedcelebrationsbloghop #loveislandbatik #createwitholiso #olisoconnects #schmetz #aurifil

Week 3 of the Paper Pieced Celebration Blog Hop and Another Giveaway from Island Batik

 
 

This week Island Batik Ambassadors continue to participate in the Paper Pieced Celebrations blog hop. Our mission - and of course we are going to accept it! - is to create a quilt representing our favourite holiday or celebration using new Island Batik fabric collections and using paper piecing. It might be english paper piecing, foundation paper piecing or regular paper piecing so I’m excited to see what the other Ambassadors will be creating with their fabrics.

Each Ambassador is working with a new Island Batik fabric collection that is now available in your local quilt shop that stocks Island Batik fabrics.

For week 3 of the Paper Pieced Celebrations blog hop, the following Island Batik fabric collections will be featured.

 
 
 
 
 
 

This week Island Batik will again be giving away 2 fat quarter bundles of new Island Batik collections and you can enter to win each week.

Be sure to enter your details below before May 24, 2024 to win a fat quarter bundle of Island Batik fabrics for the Week 3 giveaway.

During this blog hop, you’ll want to check out the blogposts from my fellow Island Batik Ambassadors. Please click on the links below to read each individual blogpost - and see all the amazing projects that they are creating!

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs

Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting

Megan Best ~ BestQuilter

Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts

Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts Studio

Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany

Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts

Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts

Jane Hauprich ~ Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting

Victoria Johnson ~ Forever Quilting for You

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Connie Kresin Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine

Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique

Lana Russel ~ Lana Quilts

Julia Schweri ~ Inflorescence Designs

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color

Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

Note: The products featured in this blogpost were given to me by Island Batik. Thank you!

Be sure to check back on Wednesday, May 22, 2024 when I’ll be sharing my latest creation using Island Batik fabrics.

#islandbatik #islandbatikambassador #hobbsbatting #hobbsinside #createwitholiso #olisoconnects #schmetz #schmetzneedles #aurifil