Saturday, July 30, 2016

Island Batik Christmas in July Challenge


YAY! It's time for the Island Batik #christmasinjulyib
Post!

I've been an Island Batik Ambassador for a few years, and have made some items with the Island Batik collections.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the fabric, and the designs, and the colors? It's awesome being an ambassador for such a great company.

Here's one of the quilts I made from one of the earlier collections. The pattern is Radiance by Quilt In A Day. I used almost every scrap of the bundle. It has a whole variety of red, gold and green, many with metallic accents, including deer, snowflakes, pine boughs, and stars. It was one of my favorites to make. I quilted it with feathers, using Superior Thread's Gold Metallic. It's so much prettier in person.

Last year, I used some of the black, tan, and gold holiday prints to make this runner.

This was fun! Sew strips together, use a 60* ruler, and sew it back together. I have some pieces to make something else. I just need to decide on the layout.

So, this year, I used some of the prior years collection, and some from this year's

My idea was to create a new (hopefully) star block, name it Jack's Star, and make a tree skirt to honor my father, who passed away in May. I also wanted it to have a secondary design. My dad was always working on 2 things at once. Working with an assortment of Fat Quarters made some of the design process a challenge.

My first design was this. I drew the block in EQ7 #EQ25. I used the Color tab, instead of the Fabric tab, to color the design. It's easier to figure yardage when it's going to be scrappy.
I loved the look of this, but was limited in the amount of gold batik fabric I had.  I didn't think I had enough to make all those Flying Geese blocks.  
I went back to EQ7 and played with another unit, the Triangle in a Square.  I enjoy making these with the Quilt In A Day ruler.  
And I had just enough of the gold to do it.  

So, here's Plan 2 (actually 4, but I didn't like 1, and 2 had smaller blocks which means more units and more work).
I loved playing with the block to see the secondary design.  I did the units with the fabrics I had, which means that there are a few different reds, a few different greens, and different metallic designs on the gold.  

Here's the top so far.  

I'm not sure if I have enough green for the inner border, and have to figure out if I have enough scraps for the piano key border.  I'll then decide if I'm going to cut the center and opening for the tree.  I may just leave this as a square quilt when it's done. I do know I'll be using Superior Thread's Metallic thread in Gold.  It's the only one I'll use, as it actually stitches, instead of shredding in the eye of the needle.  


Here's one of the blocks by itself. 
And a close-up of the secondary design starting to appear.  

I'm having fun attempting to do these challenges.  I really love the metallic accents on the batiks.  It just adds such a gorgeous touch.  I just wish I had more time to actually sew.  There's still so much to do to get the studio finished, and make sure Mom's okay, and get the house cleaned.  There are so many changes so far this year, and sewing is keeping me grounded, but I need to get some stuff done.  The "WIP"s are growing, and the "need to be quilted" pile is getting bigger, too.  

I'm sure I'll get it all figured out.  
In the meantime, I'm still moving forward, one day at a time.  

Thanks for visiting.  I found out today the Ambassadors are getting new fabric soon.  I'm wondering if there's something in the new box to finish this quilt.  It's so much fun being and Island Batik Ambassador.  

I need to get going on August's project.  I'm playing with Red Tide.  I can't wait to show you what I create.  


Maryellen

5 comments:

Connie Kauffman said...

I still have some Holiday Happenings fa ric. Let me know what yyou I might need.

Connie Kresin Campbell said...

Beautiful work Mary and I have continued to use my Holiday Happenings batiks too. Can't wait to see what you make with Red Tide, I have had so much fun with that collection and how fun to see my Confetti Steps quilt in the picture!

Quilts for Sale said...

Lovely! I like secondary designs, too! Love those fabrics!

Pam Geisel - For Quilts Sake said...

I love the design with the secondary pattern. I couldn't possibly consider cutting into it, even to make it into a tree skirt! And thanks for the tip about the metallic thread, I haven't had any luck using it before, but I wasn't using the Superior thread.

Barb said...

Wow....that is a lot to take in, love your designs