Christmas in July with Island Batik and Accuquilt.

I love being an Island Batik Ambassador, and enjoy when the partner companies give us different challenges.  This month, Accuquilt wanted us to make something using the new GO! ME die cutting set to give to someone, and then give them the cutter, too.  We were asked to pick someone who would enjoy using the GO! Me.  

It took me a little time to figure out who I would like to share this with.  I know others who have the GO!  Who could use a ME!?  I know my niece Lisa wants to get more involved in quilting.  I taught her to sew when she was little, and gave her a Janome Magnolia for her wedding gift.  And a serger later.  I kind of had hopes she would do lots of sewing, lol.  We've made a baby quilt together for a mutual friend, and her college friend convinced her to take a quilting class, too.  Lisa lives in Colorado, and was having a house built, which was going to include a craft room for her and her 3 kids.  I knew she would like a new table topper for the house, and that Noah, 12, and Abigail, 7, would be perfect ages to learn to sew.  Eliana is 4, and will be learning soon.  I called Lisa and asked if she was interested, and she was thrilled.  She said she had just purchased curtains for the sun room/dining area, in shades of grey and yellow stripes on white.  

So, my plan, using the Accuquilt GO! 3" half square triangle die, was to create quarter square triangles, larger than the 3" finish, and make a topper.  I picked Island Batik Sterling, which is a Basics, along with Grey solid, White solid, and an older Butter yellow.  Here's the EQ8 version

My original plan was to not have sashing, but when I played with the die, the 3" finished half square triangle die made 4+" units, not 6" as I was hoping.  The die is the right shape, even if 4 sewn in the Hourglass unit block is not a standard size.  I think they were about 4 5/8" along each side.  It's still a great way to make the unit, if it's not being added to another block.  So, to make the top about 32" square, as Lisa requested, I added 1" sashing and corner stones.  

It took just a few minutes to cut all the units for the Hourglass blocks, and then I used a rotary cutter to do the strips and squares, and the 2 1/2" strip die (I used my GO! for that) for the border.  

 Because the dog ears are already cut, I started chain piecing from the square corner, with half sewn with grey on top, and the other half with white.  

 Match up the centers (pressed towards the grey) and stitch the units.  

I love webbing the top together.  I sewed the Sterling with the sashing, then the horizontal sashing, to a square.  Keep going down the column, joining 1 and sashing.  Then add column2, sashing,  3, sashing, 4, sashing, and 5.Then you just sew the rows together, nesting seams along the way.  You can check that it's perfect before you have the whole top sewn, and fix if needed.  So smart!

 TaDah, it's a top!  Press it with seams going towards the white sashing, add the border (skip the outside sashing and cornerstones from the EQ8 plan, if you wish, lol)  and choose backing and batting.  I used more of the solid White for backing and a scrap of Warm & White, and put my Handi-quilter with Prostitcher to work.

I picked an all-over floral design and Aurifil 40-3 in white, 2021.  

 I wish I could have given this in person, but we're over 1800 miles apart.  I would have loved to share the cupcakes and lemonade with Lisa and her family.  But I can't mail cupcakes.  

I packed up the topper, the GO! Me and some additional Island Batik fabric, some elastic (she was planning to make more masks) and some Aurifil 50wt thread, and sent it off to Colorado.  

Lisa got it just in time to use the runner for Sunday brunch!  

Good match to the curtains, right? I love having such a great supply of Island Batik.  

I wrapped the GO! Me in Christmas tissue paper, because I wanted to add to the fun.  The topper was wrapped, too. 

 Lisa is exited to try this!

Lisa and I will be doing some Zoom calls to help Noah and Abigail learn about the sewing machine and GO! Me, and I provided fabric for them to make pillow cases, as well as Stash Builder rolls to use on the GO! Me.  Lisa is looking forward to trying the GO! Me as soon as she gets the sewing room set up.  She's thankful that I first shared my love of sewing with her as a child, and for this gift, to make quilting easier so she can share it with her children.  She said she loves that we've always had this connection.   I'm excited about passing quilting on to the next generation, even if we can't meet in person.  I do hope to visit them again soon and can't wait to see what they make.  

Thanks for stopping by!  

Maryellen and Lisa