MaryMack's Blog: December 2022

Just wait until you see the inspiration with this hop! The Island Batik Ambassadors were asked to use the collections shipping to stores soon, and make a lone star style quilt. I'm sure you'll see some unique ones, and I can tell you the colors and collections are gorgeous. Thanks for stopping by on my day. Lone Stars are a very popular design, using a variety of diamond shapes to create a larger diamond, which becomes a star with setting triangles and corners. I used the book Radiant Star by Eleanor Burns for my quilt. I've done a few this way, and think the directions and design options are great.

I was given the Baby Bloomers collection, by Kathy Engle for Karen Overton, The Quilt Rambler. It's a collection full of pastels: lavender, yellow, aqua, pink and gorgeous cotton candy multi blends, and the tjaps include clouds, moons and stars, checkerboards, and the cow jumping over the moon. It's sweet and happy, and I loved using it. We were also provided Hobb's batting, Aurifil thread for piecing, Schmetz needles for the domestic machine, and a great Alpaca and wool pressing mat to make our seams flat, by Prairie Spirit Alpacas. The bundle was the Surprise bundle in our June Ambassador boxes.

The first step is to decide how many colors you want to use, and I picked 7, but the book has options for 4 and 6. The second step is to make strip sets, which are then cut on a 45* angle to make the diamond strips that make up the design in the large diamond.

We're asked to use as many fabrics in the collection, and I used 17 total. I sorted them into shades of lavender, pink, yellow and aqua, then the multi color ones. The deeper lavender is the center and star points, and the medium lavenders are the Radiant row. The multis surround that row. We were also given 2 yards of a light and a dark, which I used for the 2 outer borders and binding. I used White solid for the background, after trying out Sprinkles and some of the other batik Neutrals. White seemed to make the colors and shades stand out more. Here's photos of me testing out the backgrounds, once I had some of the star wedges done. Of course, when tying to use as many fabrics as possible, I went big. Like really big. My quilt finishes at 94" square. That's a large queen size.

I lay out ideas on the guest bed, and take a photo. It helps me decide.

I opted for the small stars for the corners, and think it adds more sparkle to the top. This photo is just before adding borders. First I used a white solid, then leftovers of the strip sets for the diamonds, then the Yellow Oatmeal dots I got as the light, and Pink Raspberry dots for the outer border.

I quilted it on my Handi-Quilter Amara with Pro-Stitcher, using Feather Dreams edge to edge panto from My Creative Stitches, and a Aurifil 40-3 in 2410, Pale Pink. I wanted something that added a little to the white, and still looked good on the other colors. Subtle, but pretty.

I used Hobb's Tuscany cotton bleached batting, and a wide white tone on tone backing I had. As you can see, it's a big quilt. The frame for the long arm is 10 feet long.

Details: Baby Bloomers collection

Pattern: Quilt in a Day's Radiant Star

Size: 94" square

Thread: Aurifil 50wt for piecing and 40-3 for quilting.

Schmetz size 12 Micron needle for piecing.

Batting : Hobb's Tuscany bleached cotton King size.

Machine pieced and machine quilted by me!

On my queen size bed.

Early Morning in the frosty air.

Pieced Border details, along with the Little star.

Center shot.

What happens when you swirl the star?

Little star with detail of the quilting texture.

True colors in the sunlight. It was a challenge getting the photos. Thankfully, my son is visiting and he's tall, but the quilt is huge. The colors is so much prettier in person.

Please stop by Gail's blog to see what she did with the same collection, and click on the link for the Rafflecopter for Island Batik's give away. Please comment here, as well, if you want to be entered in a give-away for some Island Batik fabric from me. Have you made a Lone Star? I do hope you're on my mailing list!

Remember to check the blogs for the rest of the week, too. Have fun, and get inspired, and see the new collections coming to a store near you. If they don't carry Island Batik, ask them to get the collection you love, or check on the Island Batik website for stores that carry it. I have some for sale in my Etsy shop, and can't wait to get more of the new collections.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

WEEK 1

December 5