Island Batik Planes Trains and Automobiles Blog Hop

Hi, and welcome to all my new visitors.  I'm SEW excited to share my project with you, as you hop along with the Island Batik Ambassadors.  I hope your passport is up to date, because we're going on a tropical vacation, to explore some coral reefs.  

My collection is CORAL REEF, and the colors are bright and fun and perfect for our tropical trip, with time on a sunny beach, and some snorkeling and scuba diving thrown in.  Have you ever gone Scuba diving?  I did, and it was awesome.  I swam through a sunken ship on a coral reef, near St. Thomas Virgin Islands.  We saw fish in so many beautiful colors, and the reef and the blue water, and gorgeous turquoise sky.  It was a perfect day.  

(Photo from web, ScienceClarified.com, not my photo)

This is my favorite from the bundle I received:

This print is also in the bright pink colorway, too.  

The dragonflies and butterflies are so cute!  I would wear this as a shirt or skirt, too. 

There are so many great fabrics in this line!  I had used the Coral Reef purples for this table runner, for a previous hop (See HERE for that post)

So, this time, I wanted to use the orange, yellow, red, and pink fabrics and make something that reflects the fun and scenery of the coral reef, with a block that ties into our destination. 

I made Ocean Waves on the Reef.

The background is GLAZE

I quilted it with Aurifil 50wt in 3840, the pale variegated lavender thread named French Lilac, and used 4225,  eggplant, for the borders.  I stitched waves on the smaller triangles, and feathers in the border, and plan to add shells, fish and other Coral Reef inhabitants on the larger purple/white sections.  I needed to get photos done for this post, so I'll add finished detail photos when the quilting is done.  

(Thanks, Mom, for being a trouper and holding my quilt while I took photos at the Freeport Nautical Mile, Long Island, NY)

There are several free versions on Ocean Waves blocks and quilts online.  

Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville has THIS scrappy version, with smaller blocks.

Eleanor Burns and Quilt In A Day had a larger size block in Quilts from El's Attic now in preorder. I love both of these versions, and the directions.  I'm a member of Eleanor's block party series, and I had a copy of the directions from that, which I used to assemble my 20 blocks.  But I wanted my blocks to be larger (Hers are about 8 1/2") , so I went to EQ7, and drew the block design, and played until I had a 12" block.  I made the larger triangles 2 colors, to get the different blocks in the center, and made sure the corner triangles were the same, so I could create pinwheels where the blocks meet.  I love secondary designs! 

For a 12" block, you need 10 assorted HSTs (half square triangles) measuring 3 1/2" (3" finished), plus 2 light triangles (cut a 4" square in half, once on the diagonal) and 2 dark triangles (vary these, but again 4" square cut on one diagonal).  You'll also need the larger triangles.  Cut 7" triangles on one diagonal.  I used 12150719, and each square cut was enough for 2 blocks (I needed 10 7" squares of purple, and 10 white for the whole quilt).  

CORAL REEF - 12150719

Lay out your HST units like this, with the 2 light triangles at the bottom in rows 1 and 2, and the darks at the top in 3 and 4.  

Follow Eleanor's video to sew the block together.  

Ocean Waves is the second half of this show.  Trim the tips and the block shape.  

 To sew the large purple triangle and the background triangle, fold the triangle in half, to find the center of the long side.  Finger crease this.  Put a pin about 1/4" from edge at this fold, and use the tip of the pin to locate the match point on the block, the place where the triangles and square meet.  Wiggle the fabrics together until your pin is straight up and down, and the edges are even.  Stitch.  Remember to sew the dark triangle to the side with the light HSTs and the light triangle to the darks (in my case, the purples).  Also, notice that the top left HST is red/purple (the same in each block) and the bottom right HST is the multi-colored print that looks speckled.  These form the pinwheels when sewing the block together. 

I did put a pin at the center, to make sure, when I trimmed my block to 12 1/2", I would have enough on the corners.  I only needed to really trim these last 2 large corners to make the block square.  

I made 20 blocks, and added 3" strips (6 strips cut) for border.  I used 6 2 1/2" strips for binding, using a variety of the other prints for a scrappy look. 

My quilt measures about 54 by 66".  

I think my larger block really shows off the design and the gorgeous colors in this collection.  

So, now for some hopping fun.  I hope you've visited the other blogs, so here's the list.  

Monday, February 15  – Caribbean Splash
Bejeweled Quilts
Pamela Quilts

Tuesday, February 16 – London Fog
Moose Stash Quilting

Wednesday, February 17 – French Roasted
KISSed Quilts
Made In Scraps
Happy Cottage Quilter

Thursday, February 18 – Crystal Cove
Freemotion by the River

Friday, February 19 – Florida Oranges
Fun Threads Designs 
Kauffman Designs
Tamarinis

Monday, February 22 – Coral Reef
Mary Mack Made Mine  You're here!
Purrfect Spots Designs

Tuesday, February 23 – Sweet Georgia Peach
One Quilting Circle
KISSed Quilts

Wednesday, February 24 – Hollywood Hills
The Fit Quilter
Maria Michaels Designs

Thursday, February 25 – Desert Rose
For Quilts Sake
Lemon Tree Snippets

Friday, February 26 – Sea Salt Sandy
Tamarinis
KISSed Quilts
Moose Stash Quilting
Pamela Quilts
Bejeweled Quilts

Monday, February 29 – Jersey Shore
Beaquilter
Lemon Tree Snippets

Tuesday, March 1 – Tuscany Sun
Tammy Silvers

Wednesday, March 2 – Lavish
Freemotion by the River
Moose Stash Quilting

Thursday, March 3 – Fire Island
KISSed Quilts

Friday, March 4 – Tinsel, Holiday Happenings
Purrfect Spots Designs
KISSed Quilts
Moose Stash Quilting

And Island Batik has a give-away, too!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

AND, leave a comment on my blog to be entered in a give away from me!  I'm not sure what it'll be yet, except that it's Island Batik fabric, at least 4 FQs or some fat 1/8's!  I recently moved, and my studio isn't set up yet.  I have a little more painting to do, and then I'll share my new space.  My Island Batik collection is in that room, somewhere! (It's in a special bin, but just not within reach!).  Now that this quilt is (almost) done, I can get back to painting and setting up the space.  This give-away closes on the last day of the hop, March 5, and I'll ship international if you don't mind paying the additional charge in postage.  

Thanks for hopping along, and I hope you enjoyed our little scuba excursion!  You can find Island Batik at many great online shops, but please also ask your favorite shops to carry it.  I promise you'll love it! 

Maryellen