Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Island Batik Ambassador Child's Play Challenge

Hi.  This month's challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors was to use an Accuquilt GO! BOB (block on board) die to make a child size quilt.  If you haven't seen the other designs, and how you can use the dies for many different designs, please do so.  I'll link to a list at the bottom of this post. 


My die was the Spider Web, which Accuquilt provided in the second Ambassador box this year.  My first thought was that a spider web is scary and not something I would make for a child, but I played on EQ8 with the die block shape, (file shared by Gene Black) and a variety of colors and placement until I had something less scary.   I've seen others do something amazing with it, and mine is kind of basic in comparison, but I do like it.  Before I played too much, I made a test block with the die, and a few left-over 10" squares.  I did like the scrappy random colors, but there was just a little too much going on for my taste. 


When placing the blocks, you have options for the design.  I love to rotate the block until something pops.  In this case, I saw a star.  The kite shapes in the center is what caught my attention.  I decided to use that idea to color just a few stars, and then set on a size and shape.  I wanted to use some of the 60" square batting that Hobb's provided to the Ambassadors, too.  I don't often make square quilts, but this seemed like a good chance to do it. 


I picked the Petal Pushers collection of 10" Stack squares and the 2 yards of yellow and green that Island Batik also provided in the last box.  These are currently in stores, or will be soon.  I have some in my Etsy shop.  I used the yellow for the star kite shapes, and then first border, to make them pop.  I used the green apple design for the outer.  The backing is a snuggle-worthy minkee in a pale grey from JoAnne's and batting is Hobb's Tuscany cotton wool blend (80/20).  The wool and the minkee helped to make the quilting design look really good. 

If you want to make something similar, you can do it with one 10" stack, and about a yard of yellow and 1 1/2 yards green for borders and binding. 

First, cut 36 yellow patches of the KITE section (the wider bottom one) on the die.  I think I used  strips that were 4 1/2" wide (I didn't write it down, but don't fan fold, only place 6 layers on the die over just that section, then move to cover the die again.  You'll waste less fabric for this shape, since you can flip to fit).  From the 10" stacks, cut 2 sections that are 4 by 10, and save the 2" by 10" strip.  You'll need some of this.  Pick your favorite 36 pieces and cover the whole die with the 4" by 10" piece, being careful to place the fabric for less waste.  You'll need to use the other 4 by 10" section to cut 3 more sets of 36 pieces of the smaller sections of the die, plus some of the extra from the first 4 by 10, and maybe some of the strips, just so you get enough pieces.  I cut a few extras to make sure I had variety when doing the block assembly, so I wouldn't have too many of the same color or print next to each other.  There's very little left when it's all cut, except for some of the strips, which I'm sewing together to make 4 patches.  I'll share that later. 


Put each section in a small baggie, and put them in a small box or tray.  I decided to chain piece these, which went pretty fast.  I did all the yellow triangle halves, then the color ones.  Press the seams open, according to the GO! DIe instructions, and you'll soon get 72 triangle units. 

I LOVE using the wooden press I got from Quilt in a Day.  It's great for this and for paper piecing.  Once the blocks are done, use your iron.  Having this center seam already pressed made that go so much faster.  Sew the yellow half with the color half to make 36 6" blocks.  I chose to lay these out in my pattern first, rather than making 9 12" blocks with the star centers, to help make sure I really do have a good mix of colors.  

I added a 2 1/2" inner border and 6" outer border.  I had some extras of the 6" blocks (mixed, no yellow) and was thinking of adding these to the corner, but opted to just make the border simple. 

I loaded this on Vanna, my Handi-quilter Amara long arm, and chose the Flower swirls design by Deb Geissler, and Aurifil 40wt 3817, Marrakesh, for the quilting from edge to edge.  Marrakesh is a variegated that has shades of green, pink, yellow and I thought it would look great on the mix of colors.  The flower design picks up the flowers in the fabric, too.  Since I'm still new to Long-Arming, I'm trying to learn something new with each project.  I figured out how to repeat and fill the design and to crop out the extra on the last row.  I was very happy to get those skills in my set.  I'm hoping to soon be able to quilt for others.  






I have to do the binding, but wanted to get this posted while it was still September, (at least in California, lol).  I took it to Rath Park, where I spent most of my summers in the pool when I was growing up.  I had fun getting some quick photos of Child's Play in a child's playground.  There was one little girl, maybe about 14 months old, who saw it on the bar over the bridge and stopped her dash towards the slide just to look.  I thought that was adorable!  Her grandmother prevented her from touching it, and encouraged her to keep going to the slide, but for a moment, a child was wowed by this.  Great compliment, I think.  On the way out of the park, I saw someone had drawn a flower in chalk on the pavement.  I thought it was great, since it was so much like the design I played with on the quilt.  

This will be bound soon, and probably added to my Etsy shop.  It's about 54" square, so a great size for a lap or toddler bed, and so snuggley with the backing and batting.  

As promised, I'm adding the links for the other Ambassadors, so you can look for more inspiration, and see the amazing quilts they've done with GO! dies.  

Carolina Asmussen ~Carolina Asmussen Gene Black ~ Gene Black Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts
Connie K Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River Anja Clyke ~ Anja Quilts
Tina Dillard ~ Quilting Affection Designs Becca Fenstermaker ~Pretty Piney
Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter Barbara Gaddy ~ Bejeweled Quilts by Barb
Dione Gardner-Stephen ~ Clever Chameleon Sarah Goer ~ Sarah Goer Quilts
Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts Lori Haase ~ Dakota City Quilter II
Joanne Hart ~ Unicornharts Mania (Magdalini) Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for Quilts
Carla Henton ~ Creatin’ in the Sticks Stephanie Jacobson ~ Steph Jacobson Designs
Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs Joan Kawano ~ Moosestash Quilting
Kim Lapacek ~ Persimon Dreams Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood
Leanne Parsons ~ Devoted Quilter Bea Lee ~ BeaQuilter
Toby Lischko ~ Gateway Quilts & Stuff Bill Locke ~ Studio Bill Locke
Denise Looney ~ For the Love of Geese Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
Sally Manke ~ Sally Manke Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack's Blog
Kathleen McCormick ~ Kathleen McMusing Carol Moellers ~ Carol Moellers Designs
Karen Neary ~ Sew Karen-ly Created Lisa Nielsen ~ Lisa Lisa and the Quilt Jam
Jackie O’Brien ~ If These Threads Could Talk Laura Piland ~ Slice of Pi Quilts
Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde Vicki Schlimmer ~ Vicki's Crafts and Quilting
Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail Sherry Shish ~ Powered by Quilting
Anita Skjellanger ~ Quilt in a not-Shell Laticia "Tish" Stemple ~ Tish's Adventures in Wonderland
Jennifer Strauser ~ Dizzy Quilter Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations
Terri Vanden Bosch ~ Lizard Creek Quilts Alison Vermilya ~ Little Bunny Quilts
Sandra Walker ~ mmm! quilts Suzy Webster ~ Adventurous Applique and Quilting
(Debora) Anne Wiens ~ Seams like a Plan Geraldine Wilkins ~ Living Water Quilter
Janet Yamamoto ~ Whispers of Yore
Thanks so much for stopping by! I LOVE being an Island Batik Ambassador. We've gotten wonderful supplies and had great challenges this year. While caring for my mom, who has Alzheimer's. this really is my therapy and sanity. Getting the chance to play, and use other brands through Island Batik's partners, is awesome.