The world could use a little bit of beauty right now. I hope you will find some beauty, joy and inspiration from this month’s Island Batik blog hop. I have completed my June project as an Island Batik Ambassador and I am so excited to share it with you. This month is a blog hop and if you check out the Island Batik blog, you can enter each week to win a fat quarter bundle of some of the fabrics that the Ambassadors are using in their projects. I will show the other fabric collections later in this blog along with a link to the giveaway from Island Batik and links to other ambassador’s blogs.
The June project was to make a quilt with New York Beauty blocks using an upcoming fabric line from Island Batik. I was so excited when the fabric I was given to use was Jewel Carvings by Kathy Engle. Just look at this gorgeous collection of batik fabrics. The Jewel Carvings may be found at your local quilt shop that carries Island Batik, such as Fabric Smart in St. Petersburg FL. You may find them online at www.fabric-smart.com or call them at 727-914-8850.
The quilt I made is called Beauty Pageant. It is a large lap quilt size 49″ x 59.” This is a dazzling quilt has a diagonal row of New York Beauty blocks surrounded by intricate nine patch blocks.
I will have a pattern coming out later this summer or fall for this quilt after the testers are done testing the pattern. It’s always fun to find cool locations for the photo shoot.
The batik bundle I was provided was the Jewel Carvings collection by Kathy Engle. Look at this glorious selection of blue, teal, green and purple batiks. These fabrics were so beautiful that it was really hard to cut them up.
I downloaded the images of the fabric collection into my Electric Quilt software, which is the software I use to design quilts. This is what the quilt looked like in the software. It’s pretty close to the real quilt don’t you think? I love how the white and black fabrics highlight the fabrics in the Jewel Carvings collection.
NY Beauty
New York Beauty quilts are called that as they have New York Beauty blocks in them. The New York Beauty block got its name as it has spikes just like the famous Statue of Liberty in NYC.
I decided to showcase the NY Beauty blocks as though they are walking on a central catwalk among a sea of admiring fans. The fans are all of the squares in the nine patch blocks. The spikes in the New York Beauty blocks are made with paper piecing so you can achieve those nice sharp points. You lay two fabrics right side together and then sew on the lines.
When you sew the other pieces to the arch with the spikes, there is curved piecing involved. I wanted to make sure that the pieces lined up correctly as I slowly sewed a quarter inch along those gentle curves. Thus, a lot of pinning was involved. This will insure success with those curves. When you press, the block will naturally tell you which direction it wants to be pressed. What’s great about working with Island Batik fabric is that there is no right or wrong side, making the paper piecing much easier and, that the fabrics cut, and press, nice and crisp.
To sew the smaller nine patches, I sewed long strips together and then sub cut units into the appropriate sizes. I then chain pieced the smaller nine patches to the larger nine patch pieces. Mama always said that the back of the block should look as neat as the front.
New York Beauty blocks can be a little challenging to sew and thus even though my blocks look pretty accurate, I knew there could be trouble if I had to place the blocks right next to each other. Thus, I decided to separate them with sashing. This is a good little trick if you are worried that the seams of your blocks may not line up properly. It also creates some definition to the blocks.
I used Amanda Murphy’s Good Measure Circle rulers to quilt some circular designs around the squares in the nine patch blocks. These rulers work well with the rulerwork foot on my Janome 6600. I also used some of the Creative Grids quilting rulers by Angela Walters. I used white and black 50 wt. Aurifil thread on the front and a teal on the back. I used a 70/10 quilting needle from Schmetz Needles. For the batting, I tried Hobbs Tuscany Collection Silk batting. I had never used this batting before and it was very easy to quilt on my Janome. Hobbs Tuscany Silk Batting breathes naturally, making it an excellent choice for airy, lightweight quilts, and while it’s a cool quilt, it can also provide excellent warmth. Hobbs Tuscany Silk Batting is a blend of 90% very fine imported silk filaments and 10% fine polyester, ingredients which are carded and bonded to help retard bearding and fiber migration.
The supplies I used to make this project were provided by:
Island Batik Jewel Carvings for the top.
Aurifil 50 wt Thread
Hobbs Tuscany Silk Batting
Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle
If you are on TikTok, be sure to check out the video I have posted of me with the quilt. (Look for Blue Bear Quilts)
Blue Bear hopes you are ready for summer. Please let him know how much you love the this quilt by writing to him in the comments!
The other amazing Island Batik Ambassadors are also posting their June Blog Hop New York Beauty quilts. Check out their projects by clicking on the links next to their names to be directed to their blog posts.
Week 1
June 6:
Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail
Elizabeth DeCroos, Epida Studio
June 7:
Reed Johnson, Blue Bear Quilts
Andi Stanfield, True Blue Quilts
June 8:
Sandra Starley, Textile Time Travels
June 9:
Jennifer Fulton, Inquiring Quilter
Mania Hatziioannidi, Mania for Quilts
June 10:
Blog Hop Round-Up Week 1 and Giveaway
Week 2
June 13:
Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations
Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine
June 14:
Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts
Anorina Morris, Samelia’s Mum
June 15:
Michelle Roberts, Creative Blonde Gifts
Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion
June 16:
Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese
Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs
June 17:
Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway
Week 3
June 20:
Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia
Brianna Roberts, Sew Cute and Quirky
June 21:
Gail Renna, Quilt Haven Threads
Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts
June 22:
Megan Best, Bestquilter
Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights
June 23:
Suzy Webster, Websterquilt
Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood
June 24:
Blog Hop Round-Up Week 3 and Giveaway
Week 4
June 27:
Jane Hauprich, Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting
Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs
June 28:
End of Blog Hop and Final Round-Up
The week one giveaway of the Blog Hop started on Friday, June 3rd. Two lucky winners will each get a Fat Quarter bundle of a complete Island Batik collection by Kathy Engle – the luminous Jewel Carvings or the bold Nightshade!
To enter for your chance to win one of the two prizes above, follow the simple Rafflecopter prompts below.
This giveaway ends June, 10 at 11:59 pm PST. Two random winners will be notified by email on June, 11 and announced on the Island Batik Facebook page on June, 14. If the winners do not respond within the first two days after being notified, two new random winners will be chosen and notified.
Make sure to follow Island Batik on social media to hop along with the New York Beauty Blog Hop. Be sure to check out the Island Batik Blog at https://islandbatik.com/new-york-beauty-blog-hop/#more-61710
#islandbatikambassador #islandbatik #iloveislandbatik #hobbsbatting #aurifil #aurifilthread #schmetzneedles #doyoueq #Janome
Gorgeous quilt! My favorite quilt shop is Meeting House.
Thank you! The Meeting House does look like a cool shop.
Wow Reed, you ceaslesly amaze me! It is lovely and exciting!!! I miss you my friend…
Thanks Robyn! I miss you too. Hopefully I will get there sometime soon.
I love your design for the NYB blocks. It really showcases their beauty and the colours are so rich and scrumptious. Thanks for sharing
Thank you. I am so glad you like it.
Ooops! I left my comment on your other post. Let me try this again. I enjoyed the story behind your quilt and learning about the NY Beauty’s connection to the Statue of Liberty. I never knew that! Have a great day!
Hi Jennifer. I am so glad that you like it. Thanks for checking out my blog and commenting.
Gorgeous quilt. Love the colors.
Fav quilt shop. The fabric shoppe
Thanks. Im glad you like it.
Striking quilt! I like how the black sashing makes the blocks really stand out!
Thanks so much! I am glad that you like it.
Very cool location photo shoot. Fabulous
Thanks so much. It’s always fun to find cool locations to take the photos of the quilts.
Fantastic quilt, Reed!! I think I posted my comment in the wrong post, but I found this again!
Thank you