Island Batik “Try a Tool” Blog Hop with Studio 180 Design.

The items used to make this quilt were given to me by Island Batik as part of their 2021 Ambassador program.

Hi Guys,

Welcome to my stop on the Island Batik “Try a Tool” Blog Hop with Studio 180 Design. For this months challenge we had to make a quilt using the new ruler we recieved in our second Ambassador boxes, and a brand new fabric collection, mine being Sun Kissed Soleil designed by Kathy Engle for Jackie Kunkel. This super fun and vibrant collection ships to stores this month! The ruler i used is the Wing Clipper, its makes the perfect Flying Geese unit in multiple sizes ranging from 1″ to 10″. Deb Tuckers rulers are so fun and one of the things i love is that there is hardly any fabric waste.

For ths project i used the largest block unit which measures 10″ x 5″ finished, This size really showcases the fabrics and you can see all the gorgeous prints from the collection.

I made 72 blocks in total and my quilt finishes at 60″ x 60″. I pieced and quilted using Aurifil 50wt thread in colour 2024, Hobbs 100% Cotton batting and a Schmetz Micro-tex sharp chrome needle 80/12.

Please do check out my fellow Ambassadors, This Blog Hop has been so fun and so many beautiful quilts have been made! Check out the list and dates here xx

Island Batik are also doing a Giveaway this week, Enter here for chance to win some of these gorgeous fabrics!

Thankyou so much for reading!

Until next time…

Happy Sewing! x

Jo xx

Island Batik February 2021 Challenge

The items used to make the quilt in this post were given to me by Island Batik as part of their 2021 Ambassador program.

Hey Guys,

Welcome to my Island Batik Ambassador February challenge blog post! This month is “Create for a Cause” We had to make a quilt for a charity using a brand new fabric collection, The fabric i used is Painted blossoms, designed by Kathy Engle for Seams like a dream quilt designs, its shipping to stores this month! Its such a gorgeous collection, and it makes me think of Spring and Romance, so many beautiful things could be made with this collection x

One of the items we have received each year is a pack of Hobbs Batting in the 80/20 black, i still havent used it yet as most of the quilts i make have a light background and i thought the black would really pop against all these gorgeous colours and because i really really wanted to try it out! verdict… i love it!

So i decided to create a big star using the fabric from this collection with a black background, I also added an applique heart into the centre.

I pieced the quilt together using Aurifil 50wt in colour 2630 which is a dark grey and quilted using Aurifil 50wt in colour 2425 which is a lovely soft pink, again i wanted this pop against the black of the quilt. For all the sewing i used Schmetz microtex chrome quilting needles.

Heres the finished quilt….

The charity i have chosen to give my quilt to is Linus UK.

“Project Linus UK is a volunteer organisation. We aim to provide a sense of security and comfort to sick and traumatised babies, children and teenagers through the provision of new home made patchwork quilts and knitted blankets, and give volunteers across the UK the opportunity to contribute to their local community.

Our volunteer Area Co-ordinators and their Assistants deliver around 3,500 quilts and blankets to sick, disabled or disadvantaged children across the UK each month. We cannot reach out to every distressed child but we can help to provide them with tangible evidence that someone cares, along with the physical reassurance that comes with being snuggled up in a quilt.”

Do also check out my fellow ambassadors to see what gorgeous new collections they have used and which charities they have chosen, you can find them here with links to their blogs and social media. Also Island Batik are running weekly giveaways all though this blog hop, you can enter here for a chance to win this weeks prize.

Thankyou so much for reading

Until next time..

Happy Sewing! xx

Jo x

Island Batik June Challenge

The items used to make this quilt were given to me by Island Batik as part of their Ambassador 2020 program.

Hey Guys,

I can’t believe it is the end of June already! This year is whizzing by! For this months Island Batik Ambassador challenge we had no brief to follow, It was a free theme and we could do whatever we wanted.

I wanted to make a scrappy quilt and I had some of the lovely Smooch (designed by Kathy Engle) Fabric left from last months project that I wanted to use along with some other scrap pieces I had from previous projects. I used these pieces for the stars and a selection of low volume and solid prints for the background.

For my stars I used 3 1/2″ finished half square triangles keeping the same background for each quarter of the block, to create 6″ uniform squares in the background.

I pieced and quilted using Hobbs 100% Heirloom Cotton Batting, Aurifil 50Wt in white 2024 and Schmetz microtex chrome needles in 80/12.

I quilted using my favourite matchstick technique that takes forever to do and uses up oh so much thread, but I do love the finish and its well worth it in the end.

Its been another great challenge, and I love how my quilt turned out! thankyou so much to Island Batik and industry partners for giving us the awesome supplies to work with!

Thankyou so much for reading!

Stay Safe all!

Until next time….

Happy Sewing! xx

Jo xx

Island Batik April Challenge

The items used to make the quilt in this post were given to me by Island batik as part of the 2020 ambassador program

Hey Guys,

April brings a new Island Batik ambassador challenge and this month is all about creative borders and binding. For this project, we had to create a quilt 36″ x 36″ or larger and be as creative as we can with borders/binding. The fabrics I used were:

Almond – Neutrals range (for the background)
Fern leaves – Basics range
Carnation – Mini Flower
Mustard – Basics range
Dot – Dreamsical (one of my favourite prints)
Lemonade – Circles
Thistle Bloom – Wildflower (for the backing)
White – Solids range

I wanted to do foundation paper piecing for this challenge (as i always want to do foundation paper piecing!) I started out with my Unicorn pattern for the centre piece which i enlarged to be 17″, and created a simple modern border to go around to tie in the the modern feel of the quilt block.

For all the piecing and quilting on this project, i used Hobbs Heirloom Premium cotton batting, Aurifil 50wt white thread, colour 2024 and Schmetz microtex chrome needles in 80/12

For the outer 3D border i used solid white 5″ squares folded corner to corner twice to create the prairie points and 4 1/2″ cirlcles cut in half to create the half moon shapes. I then basted them evenly around the quilt and sandwiched them imbetween the layers and topstitched around the edge to finish.

Thankyou Island Batik and industry partners, its been another super fun challenge as always, Stay tuned for next month where all Ambassadors will be sharing brand new fabric lines! x

Thanks for reading guys! Stay Safe!

Untill next time..

Happy Sewing! xx

Jo xx

Island Batik November Challenge

The items used to make the quilt in this post were given to me by Island Batik.

Its Island Batik time again and November’s challenge is “Tool Time”.

The Brief:

Lap size or larger.
Use special quilting tool like speciality rulers, templates, dies etc.

For this challenge I decided to use the awesome Accuquilt Go cutting machine i received as part of this ambassador program, (any excuse to play with it some more!) I used the 2.5″ strip cutter die and the 2.5″ square die for this quilt.

I love how this machine cuts up your fabric so quickly, its so easy to use and each shape is always perfectly cut! I had a few leftover jelly roll strips from the Mermaid cove collection I received and then used the dies to cut the rest of my fabric.

I pieced each block using 3 different fabrics, 2 for the checker board centre and 1 for the outside square. I made 25 blocks in total for this quilt.

I used Hobbs Batting 100% cotton and pieced and quilted with Aurifil 50wt thread in colour 2600.

Me and boys were lucky enough to visit America this month (Yosemite and Colorado) we had the best time and of course I had to bring this quilt along with me for photos!) These photos were taken on our hike to North Catamount Reservoir which was so so beautiful!.

As always, I had so much fun making this quilt and using all the gorgeous Island batik Fabrics. I’m going to gift this one to best friend for Christmas! I hope she loves it! xx

Thanks for reading guys! Until next time…….

Happy Sewing! xx

Jo x

Island Batik September Challenge

The items used in this post were given to me by Island batik.

Its Island Batik time and September’s challenge was to work with the BOB (Block on Board) Accuquilt Go die we recieved in our second Ambassador box. I recieved the Ohio Star.

This die comes with all the shapes you need to make the Ohio Star block and also comes with a pattern to follow if you wanted to.

For this project i used the gorgeous collection “Sunny Side Up” which came in the form of a 10″ stack pack and the coordinating yardage to go with it.

With the 10″ squares, i folded them twice to create 4 layers and cut them on the die board to get the perfect sized 4″ finished squares.

I did the same with the remaining 10″ squares and coordinating yarding to create the half square triangles. Once all my blocks were complete, i layed them out in the order i wanted to sew them, and stitched them together.

I used Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 Beached cotton batting.

I also used Aurifil 50wt thread in colour 2615 for the piecing and quilting, this is probably my most used thread colour as it blends really well into most fabrics. i did matchstick quilting for this one, it’s my favourite way to quilt at the moment, it takes quite a bit longer to do but really adds to the modern feel.

My finished quilt measures 60″ x 60″

I got some help with the photos from one of my favourite boys “Mr Darcy” of course after bribing him with treats! 🙂 and here’s the the gorgeous model himself….

This has been another really fun make! The accuquilt Go gets the cutting done in less than half the time it would take to use a ruler and rotary cutter and the sqaures are always perfect!

Thanks for reading guys!

Until next time

Happy Sewing! xx

Jo x