The items used to make this cushion were given to me by Island Batik as part of their Ambassador 2021 program.
Hey Guys
Welcome to my April Island Batik Ambassador challenge. This month was all up to us, we had no brief to follow and could make anything we wanted. I decided to make a cushion using my “Pick me please” flower Foundation paperpiecing pattern, I am loving sewing this pattern at the moment, its goes together so quickly and its super cute too! The hardest part was choosing the fabric to use!
For the majority of this cushion, I used the Painted Blossoms collection by Kathy Engle, I had some left over from my project in February and i absolutely love it. The colours are right up my street! so soft and girly. For the background i used Almond from the neutrals collection and for the back i used Coconut also from the neutrals collection.
The patterns itself finishes at 10″ x 14″ so i added borders to the sides and top to fit an 18″ cushion pad, I then added and extra 2.5″ border all around for the flanged edge. Adding the border made it so easy to sew, stitching in the ditch all the way around with no need to mark and measure. This is my very first flanged edge cushion and i love how it looks, I think this is going to happen to lots of my cushions going forward.
A new year brings a new Island Batik Ambassador challenge. This month we had to create a set of placemats using any technique and any fabrics. I chose to make Union Jack placemats or should i say Union Jack inspired placemats, yep, i got the design wrong and didnt realise until i looked at the finished photos! does this ever happen to you? ah well, i still love how they look.
I pulled out a selection of blues, reds, pinks and whites to create my place mats and added a different fabric in each section apart for the red center cross. Its given them a real vintage look and i love how the island batik fabric has given them so much texture.
I used Foundation paper piecing to put all my flags together, its my favourite technique and a great way to get a super crisp finish!
Im super excited to share with you, I have been selected to be an Island Batik Ambassdor for the year of 2021, This will be my third year, I have loved being a part of this amazing group and cannot wait for the year ahead. I recieved my first 2 boxes a couple days ago and heres what i recieved…….
4 yards each of White, Grey and Black Solids and 6 yards of a neutral fabric, this one is called Coconut.
2 Yards of this beautiful Rayon, a lovely mid blue called Iris Paisley.
A pack of precut 10″ squares from the gorgeous collection “Painted Blossoms” designed by Kathy Engle for Kate Colleran of Seams Like a Dream Quilt Designs. This pack also came with 2 yards each of a dark and light coordinating fabric. This collection will be shipping to stores in Feb.
Another Precut pack, this time 2 1/2″ strips from the collection “Farm Fresh” designed by Kathy Engle, again with a light and a dark coordinating fabric, 2 yard cuts of each. This collection will be shipping to stores in May.
This gorgeous Half yard bundle of “Painted Blossoms” designed by Kathy Engle for Kate Colleran of Seams Like a Dream Quilt Designs with 2 yards each of light and dark coordinating fabric.
A selection of foundations in half yard cuts, 12 pieces in total consiting of solids and prints.
2 packs of Stash builder rolls, each pack consists of 5 rolls with 4 pieces of 5″ x WOF in each roll, I love recieving these in our boxes and they are super handy to have around.
And finally on the fabric front is a suprise, its a new collection that i cant share with you just yet. Stay tuned for the reveal in May, i have had a quick peak and its gorgeous!
Now onto Industry Partners……
Hobbs Batting always send us a great selection of batting to use in our projects and this year is no different! We have 4 packs of queen size batting, each one measuring 90″ x 108″, Natutal cotton with scrim binder, Premium Cotton, 80/20 Black and Premium Polyester which i am yet to try. Thankyou so much Hobbs Batting.
Aurifil thread sent us 7 large spools of their 40wt and 50wt 100% cotton threads, One is a varigated thread which i love! Im looking forward to using these! Thankyou Aurifil.
Accuquilt sent us all a new die, I recieved the Arkansas Traveler, this will be used in one of our challenges. Thankyou Accuquilt.
Schmetz sent us some new needles to use, i’ve really enjoyed using the chrome range, they are super sharp, we also recieved a pocket guide, colour chart, note pad and cleaning cloth. Thankyou Schmetz.
Thats my first 2 boxes complete, Thankyou so much to Island Batik for all the wonderful goodies and for having me on the team again, Its going to be another fun year of making! The challenges look great and i hope you follow along with me to see what i make.
Take care and Happy Sewing! x
Jo x
PS please do check out my fellow Ambassodors here, they have also shared what they recieved in their boxes via youtube, blog and facebook xx
The items in this post were given to me by Prym Consumer apart from the Magnetic Arm Pin Cushion which I purchased with my own money.
I first locked my eyes on this new colour collection from Prym Consumer whilst I was at the H+H Cologne back in March and fell in love straight away! A few of these tools already exist in other colour ways but some are brand new and very exciting indeed!
Im starting off with the one I am most excited about and brand new! This Magnetic Arm Pin Cushion! It has a slap snap closure made from silicone so will fit any sized wrist. It has a decent sized stainless steel magnetic plate measuring 4cm x 5.5cm so you can get a good few pins on there. Its a great one to have whilst your at the your machine taking your pins out of your work as you go, I don’t know about you but I am forever leaving my pin cushion on the floor, on the cutting table, by the iron, basically anywhere but next to my sewing machine and then I have nowhere to put my pins so this will come in super handy!
The next tool I am also very excited about is this little bird Needle Threader. You place the needle onto her beak so the metal beak goes through the eye of the needle, there is a little hook at the end of the beak for your thread to catch on, once that’s done, pull the needle off of the beak and wah – lah your needle is threaded! I love the design of this one, its so adorable, and so simple to use too, I’m starting to do a lot more hand sewing nowadays so its definitely a must have tool for me and I will get lots of use from it.
If your a fan of butterflies, Prym has you covered with these new Flat Head Pins, not only are these great for keeping your layers in check but they also make super cute photo props too! These come in a pack of 50 with 2 different designs and 3 colours.
Prym also do Binding clips, these are the larger sized ones and come in really handy when your working with really thick layers!
Another must have tool for me is a tape measure! I use a tape measure every day, I’m always measuring stuff to make sure this bit will fit that bit and I mean pink polka dot! can you get any cuter!?. This tape measure also comes in blue polka dot and both are available in either 150cm, 150cm/60″ or 300cm/120″.
Next up and continuing on with the polka dot theme is this marking pencil, this pencil is white, a good one to use with darker coloured fabrics, I use mine for marking quilting lines and this one disappears with water.
One of my all time favourite Prym tools are these Vario Pliers, I cannot rate these enough! They are great for bag making. They can be used with snaps which come in an array of colours and designs including hearts and stars, I also use these for eyelets and they can be used with eyelets upto 8mm in size. they are so easy to use, you don’t have to use much pressure to secure each piece to the fabric and they are so much better than using a hammer, a really great tool that I highly recommend! and now they come in Pink! Yay!
The final tool in this post is this corner and edge shaper, it’s not only another great one for bag making, but cushion making too, in fact anything that needs a corner poking out, there will be no more accidently piercing holes with your scissors and you can put those chop sticks back in the kitchen drawer, this handy little gadget will do the job for you.
So, if your a fan of anything pink (like me) then you will absolutely love this new collection. These tools are great quality anyway and having them in pink is just the icing on the cake!
If you are based in the UK, you can pick up a great selection of Prym tools from the following retailers: